Glenn started offering tuition courses to make extra money while he was a PhD student, and this is when his dream of connecting with all educators worldwide was born.
He observed the shortcomings of conventional tutoring systems during his time as a tutor and determined that the issue was a lack of technology that could make instruction more efficient and effective.
He then established a tutoring business and matched students with tutors. Less than three years after establishing his company and working for a multinational firm (MNC), he founded SmartJen in 2018 after deciding it was time to pursue his goal through an EdTech venture.
Glenn enrolled in the Alibaba Cloud – SUSS Entrepreneurship Program in January 2021 with SmartJen (a current HeyHi product), an adaptive learning system that increases educational efficiency by streamlining work processes, allows assessment of students’ learning progress, and allows for personalized education based on the identified learning gaps.
Soon after, Glenn discovered the ideal business partner, HeyHi, to help him carry out his aim of offering a more comprehensive training experience. Today, they encourage cooperation and active exchanges between both parties on a single platform and enable educators to provide learners with personalized learning experiences. Since then, HeyHi has grown to a staff of 35 and now serves more than 700,000 users in more than 30 countries.
“Everyone is looking to make changes,” Glenn said in reference to HeyHi’s future aspirations to expand into developing nations like Vietnam and Indonesia. It is preferable to view related startups as partners rather than rivals.
Glenn also emphasized the value of utilizing startup ecosystem players, like as incubators and government organizations, to grow their firm through mentorship and network expansion. Glenn gave credit for this to the Alibaba Cloud – SUSS Entrepreneurship Programme.
Glenn gave the following advice: “Singaporean entrepreneurs need to think globally in order to continue product improvement and validate HeyHi’s business model in other nations. Finding the correct partners in the murky waters of emerging markets may be difficult, but entrepreneurs must have faith in their ideas, persevere, and never give up.
Join the Alibaba Cloud – SUSS Entrepreneurship Program to access beneficial networks and mentorships. Since SUSS is an authorized Enterprise Singapore mentor partner, it is possible for SUSS to suggest deserving entrepreneurs for the $50,000 StartupSG Founder Grant.
Source: Startup Story: Innovating for the Future of Learning