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Gen Y Speaks: I was a gangster and this is how I turned my life around

When I was 14 years old, I joined a gang and had what I naively thought was a “good” time by playing truant, smoking, sniffing glue and selling pirated VCDs for a quick buck.

The writer spent two years at the Singapore Boys' Home but is now a co-owner of start-up Eezee.

The writer spent two years at the Singapore Boys' Home but is now a co-owner of start-up Eezee.

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When I was 14 years old, I joined a gang and had what I naively thought was a “good” time by playing truant, smoking, sniffing glue and selling pirated VCDs for a quick buck.

I did not listen to my parents and one thing quickly led to another. In no time, I was onto hard drugs and robbery, earning myself a sentence of two years at the Singapore Boys' Home. 

My parents were disappointed and sad. Still, I was unrepentant and fought with the boys at the home. The officers even had to put me in a segregation cell.

I remember one cell mate asking one day: “What do you want to do when you get out of here?”

I went blank because I really did not know. It was also then that I realised that I did not have any aspirations nor anything to look forward to. That question, however, got me thinking about my future.

Even then, I was filled with much doubt. I often asked myself: “What is the point of having dreams when I cannot seem to do anything right in life?” 

I had never excelled in my studies. When I was in Secondary 2, I failed all my examinations. 

At the Boys’ Home, I stayed away from the books altogether. But my teacher then, Ms Lim, did not give up on me. Her relentless support helped me to improve.

When I entered the home, I could not even finish a simple algebra question. With patience, Ms Lim taught me the fundamentals. Slowly, I was able to finish an entire tutorial paper and eventually, I managed to pass my Mathematics examination.

For the first time in a long while, I finally felt like I did something right in my life and that also gave me the confidence to look ahead.

My parents were proud of my change in attitude, and so were my social workers.

A NEW START

I was finally discharged from the home in April 2011, painfully aware that I had thrown away two years of my life. So I went back to school with a clear aim to do well, despite having to also work part-time as a waiter to cover my daily expenses.

Not content with just getting into a polytechnic, I wanted to be part of the Polytechnic Foundation Programme (PFP) where top-performing GCE "N" Levels’ students get to be admitted to polytechnic directly without having to take the GCE "O" Levels.

My hard work paid off when I topped my school cohort for the "N" Levels and qualified for PFP.

At first, I was not sure what I wanted to study. But I always had a knack for business. When I was seven years old, I made some money selling paper ninja stars to my friends. When I was 11, I sold in-game character levels of the popular game — MapleStory.

With that, I applied to study business, only to be rejected. I never found out why. Though I was accepted into the Aerospace Technology course, I could not help but be disappointed.

During the first year of my engineering course at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, I took a computer programming module that taught me the basics of programming.

Back then, I was working part-time at a maid agency and I saw the need to improve its workflow. With the limited programming knowledge I had gained from school coupled with self-learning, I developed a program that automated certain administrative tasks.

This little project paved the way for me to work at a software development agency later during my course where I implemented multiple programs that streamlined and automated the manual work and paperwork for Singapore’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 

That experience would later give me the confidence to co-start Eezee, a one-stop online store for industrial goods and supplies.

I had met my co-founder Terrence Goh when we both took part in Ngee Ann’s NP Christieara talent development programme, where we attended leadership dialogues, conferences and went on overseas learning trips.

I graduated from Ngee Ann as a valedictorian in April 2017. I was 23 years old and all pumped up for what the world can offer.

By then, Terrence and I had started a software development company. But we knew that we could not develop software for others forever. Our plan was to pivot the business from a service-oriented one to a product-oriented one.

Around this time, I was introduced to Logan Tan, a then 29-year-old entrepreneur who was looking for developers and designers for a business idea he had.

He shared that there was potential in developing a platform for hassle-free business procurement. Terrence and I bought the idea, and over the next five months, the three of us set about building such a platform.

We called it Eezee to reflect our business proposition that the platform would be easy to use. We launched it in beta mode on Oct 1, 2017 and received nine orders in the first month.

When we received our first order, I even thought that Logan was playing a prank on us.

The author with Eezee co-founders Terrence Goh, 23 (front, right) and Logan Tan, 32 (front, left). Photo: Raj Nadarajan/TODAY

We started as a team of four — one software developer (myself), one designer (Terrence), one business developer (Logan) and one overall coordinator (John Ng).

We did not know how to grow a marketplace. We did not know how to plan for marketing. All we had was a vision, a relentless hunger to make that vision a reality and a great team spirit. But in just over a year, we grew to be a 10-man team.

We are now working with Enterprise Singapore to digitalise and transform more than 1,000 SME suppliers in the wholesale trade industry. We are also in the midst of raising investments to improve our product and expand overseas.

Today, my 14-year-old self would not have recognised this 25-year-old co-founder of a start-up. I am grateful to my parents for not giving up on me, even in my darkest days when all I gave them was despair, worry and disappointment.

I owe a world of debt to the Boys’ Home’s Ms Lim, whom I unfortunately could not keep in touch with because of the home’s rules.

My experience shows that no matter how hopeless one’s situation is, one can achieve his dream if he works hard and not give up.

It is a lesson which I will hold dear as I take on more challenges in growing the business and scaling new heights.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jasper Yap is co-founder and chief technology officer at Eezee, a one-stop online marketplace for industrial goods and supplies in Singapore.

Related topics

gangster start-up Education Ngee Ann Polytechnic Eezee

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