“My dream,” says the 25-year-old student-entrepreneur of an education business, “is to become my own version of a super app.”“What that means is that from the time you’re five years old, all the way to the day that you get your first job, my company will be supporting you every step of the way.”
It’s not all about big money, though. A firm believer in social capitalism, Mr Heng also wants to plough back profits from his core business of tuition centres to launch a free-to-use online learning platform so that everyone aged between seven and 18 – not just in Singapore but also the rest of South-east Asia – can receive a world-class education.
The late bloomer found his footing in junior college. One of a handful of H3 students – the H3 programme, among other things, allows top students to study subjects at an advanced level in university – he was active in muay thai and floorball at Anglo-Chinese Junior College. “There was no ‘snap moment’, but that process of really trying to understand myself better made me realise that what made me happy was, as generic as it sounds, helping others. I derive happiness from people’s happiness.”
Serendipity, however, gave him a nudge. His classmates, he says, used to always ask him how he did so well when he studied so little. “The first year made me think that I was a good teacher, the second year helped me realise that it might be a calling. Think about it this way – because of me, they could get into the school of their dreams. Then parents started texting me, like, ‘Thank you so much for helping my kid get the scholarship.’”
“Since Day 1, our focus has been on how to maximise the amount of value for the students and their parents. I knew that if I just give all the value, they will give me back,” says Mr Heng, who, in addition to free and discounted lessons, also stocks his centres with food, coffee machines and even massage chairs.