​These Singaporean students show that you can start up before your 21st birthday

What were most of us doing when we were 18, 19, or 20 years old? Probably trying to date the prettiest guy/girl in college or something eh? (I believe). An increasing bunch of young hotshots decide to not wait till the largest milestone party of their lives to become entrepreneurs themselves. Say no to university internships – these students are their own bosses! But I digress.

(clockwise from top left) David, Robin, Sonia, Valerie, Jian Rong, Jun Wei.

Even at 24, I’ve not had a single company nor equity to my name, so I decided to speak to a few of these younger ones to find out more about their motivations, challenges and anything else they could possibly inspire us with. I wasn’t disappointed.

Biggest motivation: by chance!

Many of these young hotshots shared with me that they didn’t consciously spot an opportunity and then dive into it. It’s amazing where life can take you, eh? For a start, here are some early self-discovery stories:

• When Valerie Pang (currently at Yale-NUS College) was exposed to TED talks, crowdfunding and social entrepreneurship through an internship at The Thought Collective, little did she imagine she would meet a like-minded co-founder at a MUN conference and ended up starting SDI Academy when she was 19.
• Tan Jun Wei, who studies at Republic Polytechnic now, first came in touch with social causes through the CITI-YMCA Youth for Causes 2015 – he ended up raising $14,000 for oxygen concentrators for Assisi Hospice. When in RP, he attended a startup bootcamp with no business idea in mind, but is now building a social-focused IoT prototype called the “Affordable Alerting Device”.
• David Chin, SMU student and co-founder of CIO Academy (just before he turned 21), was appointed the organizing chairperson for the Youth Entrepreneurship Symposium back in 2012. This rare chance led to him first starting “a humble design firm” out of his passion for creation and gap-filling, then to where he is now.

Personal beliefs and values

While some of these young ones had chanced upon entrepreneurship, many others started out with strong conviction – fighting for what they believe in…

• …or at least tried to. At just 21, Teo Jian Rong is already a serial entrepreneur. Inspired by Robert Kiyosaki through his dad, he started a T-shirt printing studio and a startup called Inderr, all while still studying at Singapore Polytechnic. He has since ventured into community building with EDGE Startups, ACE’s newly-minted youth wing.
• Robin Lim, co-founder of snack delivery startup Made Real, also shared that they didn’t start out as entrepreneurs, but simply as 19-year-old activist-campaigners addressing our society’s pervasive body-image issues, fuelled by personal struggles. Look where they are today!
• Saravanan Sonia of NUS High School sees her entire life centred on her desire to help others. She took two epic leaps of faith despite having little support from family and friends – to start a social enterprise LAMP, and to convene and curate the Singapore chapter of YouthHack to plug the technopreneurship gap in Singapore’s school system.

Most common challenge: time management

Photo credit: Sonja Langford

Most, if not all, entrepreneurs under 21 are still in school. Unless, of course, you intentionally dropped out, which usually isn’t the case in grades-focused Singapore. Many of these young entrepreneurs have to, hence, balance between school, startup/initiative, and commitments such as family and friends (which 21-year-old doesn’t want to have a great social life anyway?) After all, it’s all about trade-offs and sacrifices.

Jian Rong sacrificed his sleep when he first started out at 16, adding that his brains work better at night and that all the ideas must be written down, or he’ll risk insomnia. Valerie experienced having many things on her plate, and of course had to “make several sacrifices – in terms of school work, sleep, extracurriculars and social life.”

“Sometimes, I will just get out of bed and write down all my thoughts and plans (if not I couldn’t sleep).” – Teo Jian Rong, co-founder, Imprintee, Inderr, and EDGE Startups

David found that maintaining his grades (for his school scholarship) and balancing that with CIO Academy took “its toll physically, mentally and emotionally”. Meanwhile, Jun Wei echoed the same – he had to “sacrifice time (for loved ones, friends & family) … so plan your time wisely and set priority in what you need to complete first.”

Slay the naysayers

It’s a journey of ups and downs

Grit your teeth through inadequacies

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Some words of advice?

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