In The End... Here's To New Beginnings

Today, is a momentous day for me. 

About 9 years ago, 'School of Media Technology', a school that I had founded along with my good friend Chandan Mahtani - collapsed. I was one foot away from absolute financial ruin. It was the third company that I had started, and my first failure. 

After applying for many jobs, I finally got one offer; from Singapore Polytechnic. To come on-board with them as a Senior Lecturer. I grabbed it with both hands and was thankful for the monthly salary that helped pay my bills. This was more than 8 years ago. 

For 2 years after that, I kept my head down and went through the daily grind. Thereafter, I was asked to develop an Entrepreneurship program. I did that and we launched the program with about 20 students. This later went on to impact more than 1000 students on campus.

Last year, I was asked to set up SPINOFF as the Entrepreneurship Centre at SP and lead it as it's inaugural director. Since then, along with the help of my colleagues, we have made this program available to almost 15000 students across Asia, making it the largest entrepreneurship education program of its kind in this region. 

It is why, today is a sad but a momentous day for me as I leave SPINOFF with mixed emotions...

A sense of pride of what our students have achieved and with what we as SP have achieved. With sadness, that I will be leaving behind something that I started and nurtured it to where it has reached now. And with a sense of excitement of what lies ahead...

After being in academia for almost 9 years, I am stepping out into the unknown once again. The road ahead maybe tough - but I believe, it is always worth it to fight the good fight. I'm starting up a mission driven business venture, Akadasia, through which we hope to impact even more students across Asia. My goal is to provide free access to education to more than 7.5 million youth across Asia in 3 years!

Of-course I can't do this alone. So, if you are passionate about helping the youth build an entrepreneurial mindset & relevant skills that make them employable in the future, then please do reach out to me through a DM and let us explore on how best we could work together to make this happen.

In the end... here is to new beginnings!