This 35-year-old had 5 failed businesses before starting her grocery store chain – now it brings in over $8 million a year

Success didn't come easy for Pang Gek Teng.

The 35-year-old serial entrepreneur went through five failed business attempts before her efforts to build a multimillion-dollar grocery store chain in Singapore finally bore fruit.

Today, she is the proud founder and CEO of Surrey Hills Grocer, an Australian-inspired grocer and café brand with five locations across Singapore.

Her business brought in about $8 million in sales last year, according to an unaudited company statement shared with CNBC Make It.

Growing up in Singapore, Pang never expected she would become an entrepreneur.

Her mom, a homemaker, and her dad, an engineer, have always encouraged her to pursue the traditional path of success: go to university and get a stable job.

That's just what she did — but she was not happy.

"I don't quite grasp the whole idea of education, so I basically go to school to answer to [the] needs of society and that's about it," Pang told CNBC Make It.

"My approach towards school is — it's something I need to do, so I just get it done. It's something that my parents would like me to do."

In 2008, Pang moved to Australia, where she attended university.

After obtaining a bachelor's degree in management and marketing at the University of Newcastle, she landed a job as a banker — but she did not feel fulfilled.

"I knew that it was not a job that I could work until I retire," Pang said. "I have this thing about me [where] if I don't believe in that thing, it's very hard [for me] to do that task."

Eventually, she started casually brainstorming business ideas to start with friends and by 2015, Pang decided to quit her job as a banker and took the leap into entrepreneurship.

Between quitting her job and starting Surrey Hills Grocer, Pang founded five