From PhD to CEO: Merging Engineering, Vision and Education

Grow­ing up in Sin­ga­pore, edu­ca­tion was always seen as the gate­way to oppor­tu­ni­ty. I wasn’t born into priv­i­lege, but I was for­tu­nate to expe­ri­ence a sys­tem that reward­ed hard work and per­se­ver­ance. My par­ents, like many oth­ers, believed in the pow­er of edu­ca­tion, and they instilled in me the val­ues of learn­ing, dis­ci­pline, and resilience.

I remem­ber the long nights spent por­ing over text­books, fueled by the qui­et deter­mi­na­tion that every child in Sin­ga­pore is famil­iar with. The sys­tem was rig­or­ous, but it was also fair as those who put in the effort could go far. 

And I did. I earned a schol­ar­ship to study Mate­ri­als Sci­ence and Nuclear Engi­neer­ing at Impe­r­i­al Col­lege Lon­don, and lat­er, I pur­sued a post­doc­tor­al degree (PhD) in Solar Engi­neer­ing at the Nation­al Uni­ver­si­ty of Sin­ga­pore under the Prime Minister’s Office Schol­ar­ship. On paper, I was on a clear tra­jec­to­ry toward a future in sci­ence and research.

But some­thing didn’t feel com­plete.

Finding Fulfillment Beyond the Numbers

For most of my ear­ly life, I fol­lowed the tra­di­tion­al def­i­n­i­tion of achieve­ment: good grades, pres­ti­gious schol­ar­ships, and a promis­ing career in engi­neer­ing. I spent years in research labs, div­ing deep into solar ener­gy inno­va­tion. I even served in the Repub­lic of Sin­ga­pore Navy, where I was taught dis­ci­pline, lead­er­ship, and per­se­ver­ance.

Yet, amidst all these accom­plish­ments, I found myself drawn to some­thing else entire­ly.

It wasn’t in the high-tech lab­o­ra­to­ries or with­in mil­i­tary strat­e­gy meet­ings that I felt most alive. It was in the qui­et moments spent men­tor­ing oth­ers.

In the Navy, I took great pride in train­ing the younger offi­cers under my com­mand. I wasn’t just teach­ing them tech­ni­cal skills; I was guid­ing them through their chal­lenges, help­ing them find con­fi­dence in them­selves. 

In research, I found immense joy in nur­tur­ing young sci­en­tists, break­ing down com­plex ideas so they could grasp them with ease. 

Even back in my school days at Anglo-Chi­nese School, I would find myself explain­ing con­cepts to class­mates, not because I had to, but because I want­ed them to suc­ceed along­side me.

I start­ed to see a pat­tern that what tru­ly ful­filled me wasn’t per­son­al suc­cess, but help­ing oth­ers achieve their own.

The Leap into Education

Then, in 2017, the co-founders of Think Teach Acad­e­my, friends I deeply respect­ed, approached me with a bold vision. They were not just start­ing anoth­er tuition cen­ter; they want­ed to rede­fine edu­ca­tion itself. Their pas­sion was con­ta­gious.

They spoke about teach­ing smarter, not just hard­er. About unlock­ing a student’s poten­tial beyond rote learn­ing. About bring­ing the Sin­ga­pore brand of edu­ca­tion to the world.

The more I lis­tened, the more I realised that this was the mis­sion I had been search­ing for all along. I wasn’t just join­ing a com­pa­ny; I was join­ing a move­ment.

I had spent years wit­ness­ing stu­dents strug­gling, not because they weren’t capa­ble, but because they weren’t taught in a way that made sense to them. I had seen bright minds fal­ter under the weight of mem­o­ri­sa­tion and rigid learn­ing meth­ods. I had also seen the impact of a great men­tor as some­one who could inspire, chal­lenge, and believe in a student’s poten­tial.

So I took the leap.

Transforming Education, One Student at a Time

At Think Teach Acad­e­my, we set out with a bold vision to bring the Sin­ga­pore brand of edu­ca­tion to the world. But we didn’t just want to repli­cate what already exist­ed. We want­ed to rev­o­lu­tion­ize learn­ing by inte­grat­ing:

• State-of-the-art tech­nol­o­gy that makes lessons dynam­ic and engag­ing
• A cut­ting-edge cur­ricu­lum that focus­es on deep­er under­stand­ing, not just mem­o­riza­tion
• Robust teacher train­ing to ensure that every stu­dent gets a men­tor, not just an instruc­tor

In the past few years, we have had the priv­i­lege of guid­ing thou­sands of stu­dents toward aca­d­e­m­ic excel­lence. But more than that, we’ve seen trans­for­ma­tions of stu­dents who once doubt­ed them­selves begin to believe they can achieve any­thing.

I remem­ber one stu­dent in par­tic­u­lar. He was bright but lacked con­fi­dence, con­stant­ly sec­ond-guess­ing him­self. His par­ents were con­cerned and believed he had the poten­tial, but he didn’t believe in it. Through our tai­lored approach, we worked on build­ing his crit­i­cal think­ing skills, refin­ing his strate­gies, and, most impor­tant­ly, instill­ing self-belief. When he final­ly saw his break­through, it wasn’t just his grades that improved. It was his con­fi­dence, his out­look, and his dri­ve.

This is why I do what I do.

The Future of Education: A Vision for Tomorrow

Edu­ca­tion is not just about get­ting top grades. It is about unlock­ing pos­si­bil­i­ties. It is about show­ing stu­dents that their strug­gles do not define them, but rather, how they choose to over­come them does.

We are at the dawn of a new era in edu­ca­tion where tech­nol­o­gy, strat­e­gy, and men­tor­ship come togeth­er to per­son­alise learn­ing like nev­er before.

Imag­ine a world where every stu­dent learns at their own pace, where lessons adapt to their unique strengths, and where edu­ca­tion is no longer just about pass­ing exams but about prepar­ing stu­dents for the future. A world where stu­dents don’t just mem­o­rise facts but learn to think crit­i­cal­ly, solve prob­lems cre­ative­ly, and approach chal­lenges with resilience.

This is the future that Think Teach Acad­e­my is build­ing.

I took a leap from the world of engi­neer­ing into edu­ca­tion because I knew this was where I could make the biggest impact. Today, as I stand along­side an incred­i­ble team, I am more cer­tain than ever. 

This is where I am meant to be.

To the par­ents read­ing this: you want the best for your child, and so do we. Togeth­er, we can shape the next gen­er­a­tion of thinkers, lead­ers, and inno­va­tors.

And we are just get­ting start­ed.