On a typical dinner one night in 2020, my husband and I were explaining to our children about what we do for work. At this time, both of us were working in an ASX listed company as senior executives living in Malaysia.
I started regaling stories on how I started a Math and English tutoring service at 16. I remember designing and printing up some flyers on my parents' computer, and distributed these flyers around my neighbourhood and before long I started teaching 3 nights a week whilst in high school. That was the start of my entreprenurship journey and the skills I'd learned from my various ventures since then had attributed to the success in my career later on in life.
This sparked a real interest in our then 11 year old daughter and she asked us to teach her about business. It wasn't until weeks later that we realized she's serious about it when she came to us with some ideas on what she wanted to do. We decided to loan her some capital and this was how she started Kiwi Chic, selling clothes on Facebook to tweens and teens in Malaysia.
The transformation we saw in her during this time was nothing short of impressive! We started to see more drive in her as she started having a bigger sense of purpose. She gained confidence and became more curious about money. She started having an appreciation of what it means to work hard, and how much things cost. Whereas in the past, she would spend her birthday monies from the grandparents on buying things on a whim, she now realizes how hard it is to make each dollar and her appreciation of money changed.
We had a lot of fun learning and doing this together. It hadn't been an easy journey but with each challenge, she learned to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions to each problem that she faced. She became resourceful, and learned to overcome challenges. She's understanding the concept of grit.
We would have kept up the business as it was gaining traction but in the thick of Covid, we decided to move home to be closer to family.
After settling down in the beautiful BoP, before long our daughter Qiqi decided she wanted to start another venture. At this time she's 13, and started getting interested in crystals. So with some additional loan from us, and with the savings she had made from her Kiwi Chic venture, she started selling crystal carvings and hand made crystal jewelleries at the weekend markets.
Selling at the markets is a very different experience from turning on the camera and going-live from the comfort of our own living room. She now has to communicate face to face with her customers, and she's learned invaluable communication skills. She had to overcome shyness and as a result, gained confidence. She learned to do quick math in her head as she hands out change and she now understands hard work as she had to get up early on the weekends to set up her stall (no more sleeping in!)
But through all of this, she's having fun and with each victory and success, she's blossoming into a confident and responsible teenager with a sense of purpose. Her school work is also thriving. Confidence really does wonders - as she had learned that every problem has a solution, that belief had propelled her to do even better at school.
Inspired by their big sister, before long Qiqi's younger twin sisters also wanted to have their own business venture so now, you would probably see us at most weekend markets! Qiqi has her crystal stall and the twins, now 12, have their own little stall selling personalized pens and key rings.
Through witnessing the journey of our kids, we really believe that teaching children entrepreneurship at a young age brings about invaluable skillsets that not only will serve them well in later life, but already, it has transformed their lives as teenagers.
This is why we decided to start Little Tycoon Academy. Seeing firsthand the transformation in our own children, we really want to be able to share this with other like-minded parents, and children with similar aspirations and make a difference in our community. Especially with teenagers struggling with a lack of direction or motivation, we know without a doubt that we could help spark purpose in their lives by getting them invested in their own venture.
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