In junior college, Evan Heng paid little attention to his lessons and homework. Ironically, he now runs a successful tuition agency yielding a million-dollar annual turnover, all while pursuing this BBA degree. Evan’s meteoric success earned him due recognition in The Straits Times “30 and under Asians to watch” list.
Learning to Succeed
BBA second year student and Founder of Zenith Education Studio, Evan Heng
Finding his career calling
Evan’s affinity with tutoring began before his National Service (NS) enlistment, when he started giving tuition to his juniors. He was highly recommended by his own cohort mates, whom he took the initiative to coach. His strong reputation was built through diligent self-study, which earned him good grades in spite of his poor in-class engagement. Even during NS, Evan continued to tutor his juniors in his spare time.
He found deep fulfilment in seeing his students master the subject despite others telling them otherwise, and decided to make a career out of it. Although he knew that a career as a tutor might not be as lucrative as a corporate job, making a meaningful and lasting impact on students would be far more rewarding.
This led to a pivotal decision – declining an offer to read his dream course in University College London, and enrolling in the Business Administration programme at NUS Business School.
“I believe that a business degree would equip me with the necessary skills to scale my company, and was drawn to NUS because of the NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) programme, and NUS Business School’s innovation and entrepreneurship specialisation,” said Evan.
Evan (front row, left) with his junior college juniors. (Photo taken pre-COVID-19)
Behind Zenith’s meteoric success
Evan started out with a goal to help as many students as possible, and his tuition centre grew quickly, beyond his expectations. The centre boasts a 99 per cent promotion rate for first-year junior college students, twice the national distinction rate for A-levels students, and is even staffed by former scholars and heads of department. The student enrolment has been so strong that Evan has reached full capacity for 2021.
Evan said that student-centricity is at the core of Zenith Education Studio’s teaching philosophy. Bringing maximum value to the students at competitive pricing is a top priority for Evan, which translates to providing a holistic coaching experience that extends beyond the tutoring classroom.
His tutors provide round-the-clock support through WhatsApp and more recently, Zoom conferencing. This is coupled with offline welfare such as dinner during breaks, excursions to Universal Studios Singapore (before the pandemic), and free extra lessons and one-to-one consultations whenever necessary.
Even after his students graduate, Evan continues to provide them with advice for choosing university courses and career guidance. Evan believes that this approach is what distinguishes Zenith in a highly-saturated market.
Learning to lead at NUS Business School
Evan is grateful for his learning journey at NUS Business School. “The experience has improved my competency and knowledge in many aspects of running my business, from marketing to operations, and even legal matters,” he said.
One module he thoroughly enjoyed was BSN3703: Entrepreneurial Strategy. “The module refined my understanding of the determinants of business success, and the guest lecturers that my professor invited generously shared their wealth of knowledge and solutions,” said Evan.
These guest lecturers spoke about the different challenges they face when scaling their business and how they devised solutions to overcome these challenges. They also shared about their failures candidly, so the class could learn from their mistakes.
Another module that Evan benefitted greatly from was ES2002: Business Communication for Leaders. He said, “I now appreciate why it is a core requirement for all business students, as communication and negotiation skills are crucial to effective business management. I am now a more confident public presenter and savvy negotiator.”
Evan at Zenith Education Studio
The road ahead
Despite achieving remarkable success for his age, Evan does not plan on coasting along. In the future, he hopes to strengthen the tuition centre’s secondary school programme, as well as open more branches.