Evan Heng, the 25-year-old founder of Zenith Education Studio, wants to take Singapore’s world-class education system and put it in an online virtual setting so that anyone with a smartphone can receive the same education system that Singaporeans get — for free.
Apart from conducting classes in the traditional bricks-and-mortar classroom setup, Heng, who is still an undergrad at the National University of Singapore (NUS), aims to incorporate technology into his business and expand into online classes. “When I started the company three years ago, amid Covid-19, we were too small to venture V03 into tech. But Covid-19 pushed the need for hybrid learning, just like hybrid working conditions,” says Heng.
The way he sees it, there are benefits to both online and offline teachings. While offline is more engaging, online is more accessible and is 24/7. “We want to be at the intersection of both, where we can provide data-driven, engaging, effective offline lessons but also have the online component to complement,” says Heng in an interview with The Edge Singapore.
From conducting home classes in his dining room, Heng’s passion drove him to start Zenith in May 2019. Zenith is an MOE-registered education centre that aims to be the industry leader in providing top-quality, holistic education to secondary and JC (junior college) students in Singapore.
Having worked as a part-time tutor to JC students during the weekends even when he was studying, Heng was passionate about teaching and how a teacher can strongly impact his students.
“I look at education as the most tangible impact on the lives of the people on the receiving end,” says Heng. “Since young, I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to set up a business that has a purpose and contributes to the world,” he adds.
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Although Heng was accepted by University College of London and income from his tuition classes was meant to help fund his overseas education, Heng chose to forego the chance to study in the UK and stayed here to start up Zenith instead of using the same funds he had set aside.
“If I did go to the UK, I will live with the regret of not knowing how this business opportunity would have panned out,” says Heng, who entered NUS in August 2019.
While Heng juggles work and studies, he has achieved several milestones, including expanding his tuition centres from one in 2019 to four currently, along with the opening of its headquarters at Suntec City. Another five centres are slated to open this year.
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And as the company expands, Heng’s role has changed from being a teacher to a business owner. “I used to teach, but now I have to transition from a tuition centre operator to a CEO and a leader. The company’s size has grown exponentially from just 15 to about 100.”
Growth plans
Heng clearly has big growth plans. But is he worried about executing and achieving them?
As someone in his early 20s starting a business who “didn’t know anything except how to tutor”, Heng sought mentors to help him achieve his business goals. They include former Southeast Asia president for JD.com, Soon Sze-Meng, who is now managing director of SSM Global Advisory, which provides business advisory and leadership coaching services to founders.
Another mentor is Jeremy Au, chief of staff at Monk’s Hill Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage tech companies.
“The advice from my mentors helps us a lot in terms of how to build a strategy for hiring and fundraising,” says Heng.
Heng says his mentors do not hold shares in the company but merely provide “unbiased” advice. Meanwhile, Heng reveals Zenith is closing its seed fundraising round, which is expected to be between US$1 million ($1.33 million) to US$2 million, subject to due diligence.
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Heng shares that the funds from the fundraising round will help the company expand into new markets such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam, which Heng is looking to enter within the next three years. The funds will also go to “designing tech to help teachers teach better, children learn better and keep parents more informed”.
Sustainable success
With an average two-hour lesson priced at $90, Zenith generated revenue of $6.7 million in 2022. This year, Heng expects the topline to hit “eight figures” with January bringing in $500,000 despite being a seasonally slow period.
“We knew what worked and just replicated it,” says Heng, adding that the growth of its centres and headquarters was self-funded. Last year, Zenith made about $2 million in profits. Margins also came in at a “comfortable” 30% to 35%.
Heng may have an eye on overseas expansion but he recognises that the company can still grow its market share locally. “In Singapore, we are only targeting mainly JC students or about 5% of all students. Over the next two years, we will try to target the rest of the 95%,” says Heng.
Heng says the company will next expand into secondary school space, which it has a small presence. It also plans to provide tuition classes for primary school students.
“Our growth in Singapore is probably only about 10% of where we want to be so we want to grow that over the next five years,” says Heng.
In the longer term, Heng says that he is looking to publicly list the company and is not interested in selling the company to others as they could steer the company in a different direction. As Heng intends to continue managing the company and keeping the company’s social impact, he says Heng says “the only route he can offer investors is probably a listing”.
When asked how he intends to strike a balance between making a social impact and profit-making, Heng explains it is all about having the right revenue model. For the next few years at least, Heng says the offline business will help subsidise the development of the free online platform where work has already started.
“About 50% of students in Southeast Asia are scoring below the baseline proficiency in math, reading and science because several governments are not giving enough funding [to education],” says Heng, adding that supporting the gap in the market was one reason he started the company.
“Even though we are for-profit, I also see ourselves as a social enterprise — a for-profit business that is focused on making a social impact,” says Heng.
