#StrongerThanEver: 19-year-old student juggles school work while running four start-ups

Being an entrepreneur is no easy feat. 

Tackling the world of business and the many risks involved might seem daunting to many, but there are still youths who are willing to rise to the challenge – such as Chloe Pang, a 19-year-old pursuing a diploma in Republic Polytechnic’s Industrial and Operations Management. 

Apart from her being a full-time student, she is also a passionate entrepreneur who juggles four start-ups alongside her studies.

This all started when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Due to the financial situation, Chloe’s family had to cut down on living expenses. Hence, this sparked her interest in entrepreneurship and pushed her to set up her own businesses to help out with finances. 

One of her first start-ups was Alnovate 3D, aimed at improving enunciation in children aged two to six years old.

The idea was inspired by the COVID-19 regulations, which mandated that all teachers must wear masks when teaching. Chloe realised that it was difficult for children to visualise how to form shapes with their mouths when pronouncing alphabets without visual aid from their teachers.

This prompted her to design and experiment with different 3D prototypes of a mouth that she printed at home. Using these 3D prints, teachers can guide children on how to move their mouths correctly to pronounce better. Subsequently, she also started her own keychain, tuition and 3D printing business.

Chloe’s burning passion drove her to actively participate in youth-development programmes and competitions, which equipped her with valuable experiences and entrepreneurial skillsets. Not only that, she also managed to gather support and funding for her start-ups.

One such programme was National Youth Council’s (NYC) Asia-Ready Programme Exposure, where Chloe got the chance to interact with Indonesian students and even craft a solution to tackle one of the country’s problems.

The programme gave her the opportunity to participate in the Virtual Student Overseas Trip (E-commerce) – Indonesia 2021. 

Through the cross-border collaboration between Indonesia and Singapore, Chloe gained a holistic understanding of the social and cultural context of both countries. She also learnt to be more aware of economic opportunities and industry growth trajectories around her.

Chloe went on to partner with students from her polytechnic and Stimlog Indonesia to develop a wireframe to improve e-commerce logistics and warehousing in Indonesia. Her team also managed to break the barrier of communication to craft a pitch deck and video regarding the project. 

She was also impressed by how fast the Indonesian students thought on their feet, which allowed them to find effective solutions for whatever problems that came their way.

“I learned how to be much more innovative, as well as how to identify my problems and goals clearly,” she said.

Overall, it proved to be a very fruitful experience for her.

Building on that, Chloe was able to apply what she had learned to her start-ups. This helped her strategise and settle on a goal that she could direct her set-up towards. 

The programmes had also changed Chloe’s mindset and attitude towards entrepreneurship.

“When I first ventured into entrepreneurship, my main goal was to make money because of where I came from and my family background.

“As I journeyed on, I figured out that entrepreneurship and inventing products allows you to help other people as well, which was something I liked.”

Chloe pointed to one of her favourite quotes by Henry Ford as a source of motivation. It read, “Whether you think you can do it or can’t, you’re always right.”

“What this means to me is that, whether you think you can do it, that means you can do it. Likewise, if you think you can’t do it, that means you can’t do it.”

This article was published alongside a series of videos produced as part of National Youth Council’s #StrongerThanEver campaign. It features remarkable stories of youths that displayed resilience and tenacity even despite the challenges thrown at them by the pandemic.