INVEST IN YOURSELF DURING NS: SEEDLY FOUNDERS

Young and successful: Lieutenant (LTA) (NS) Kenneth Lou, 28, and 3rd Sergeant (3SG) (NS) Chew Tee Ming, 30, are the co-founders of Seedly, a leading personal finance portal in Singapore.

The first of its kind in Singapore, the online portal allows users to crowdsource unbiased tips on investing, insurance, saving, and more.

Started in 2016, it attracts about 2.2 million monthly sessions (when online visitors visit other pages on the same website), and about 4,000 tips and reviews from its users each month. According to Seedly, this makes it the largest personal finance community in Singapore.

Its success caught the attention of e-commerce aggregator Shopback, which acquired Seedly in 2018 for an undisclosed sum.

LTA (NS) Lou, the Chief Executive Officer, and 3SG (NS) Chew, the Chief Technology Officer, currently lead a team of about 15 people – mostly in their 20s and early 30s – to create these tools and content.

The duo did not work for another company before starting Seedly. Their only work experience came from National Service (NS), which thankfully provided them with the opportunity to hone their leadership skills.

During their two years of NS, they learnt to lead and motivate fellow soldiers to achieve a common goal, just like what they are doing now in Seedly.

To them, investing is not just about growing money but also their knowledge and skills – and the best time to start is during NS.

Check out their insider tips for NS and personal finance here: