The Most Promising CEOs of 2019

Pitching Excellence
n an Interview with Insights
ISuccess, Edwin Tay, CEO and
Co-founder of EasyUni Sdn
Bhd, shares contribution of him
through EasyUni which is Asia’s
leading education site. Edwin along
with his team helps students and
parents search, compare, shortlist,
prioritize, and apply to universities or
colleges of their choice. He started
EasyUni with the aim of making the
process of choosing a university easier
for potential students. He is
experienced Start-up founder with a
demonstrated history of working in the
digital marketing, internet and
education industry. He is Skilled in
Marketing Management, Digital
Strategy, Start-ups, and Advertising.
He provides mentorship and advice to
other young startups.
Below are the highlights of the
interview between Edwin Tay and
Insights Success.
Give a brief overview of your
background as a CEO.
I’m 45 this year. Graduated as a
Materials Engineer and was working as
an R&D Engineer before I left and
started my first company called
Netinfinium. This was back in 2000.
Netinfinium is a digital agency and
email technology company. Led and
grew the company for 10 years before
finally exiting via trade sale, after
nd
which I started EasyUni, my 2
startup. On the side, I also mentor
other startup founders that came my
way, sharing my experience and
knowledge of the market, funding and
operational strategies. I am also an
Endeavor Entrepreneur
(www.endeavor.org), working to give
back to the community, as I have
benefited tremendously from many
hours of help rendered to me by many
mentors through the years.
How do you diversify your
organization’s offerings to appeal to
the target audience?
For us, it’s not just the quantity of
information (institution database) but
also localization of content – is key to
providing good user experience. Hence
for those non-Anglophone countries,
we localize our content and
information – not only by translating
the content into local language but by
having a local indigenous content
writer to write original contents to suit
the local psyche and style of writing.
We find that this not only helps our
user experience but also helps improve
our ranking on search engines.
Describe some of the vital attributes
that every CEO should possess.
Ability to see the bigger picture and
communicate ideas/strategies to rally
followers to be aligned with the overall
objective. Able to see intrinsic
strengths in your people and utilizing
it. Work smart and inspire your team
and organization to constantly be better
tomorrow. Work harder than yesterday
if you want a better tomorrow.
How do you strategize your game
plans to tackle competition in the
market?
Our niche and strength is our location.
We are in a hurry to entrench ourselves
deeper into the region and win the
market, by having on-ground local
presence with local staffs. We have
done so in Malaysia and Middle East
and are now replicating our success in
Vietnam and Indonesia. In addition, we
tend to look forward and chart our path
for the future; more than looking over
our shoulders at our competitors. Our
biggest competitor is ourselves. How
do we ensure we constantly improve
ourselves and provide better
value/service to our clients the
students? If we get that right, we are
confident things will sort out by itself
and EasyUni will grow.
What were the primal challenges
and roadblocks you faced during the
initial phase of your career as a
CEO?
There was a lot of trial and error
st
initially. I started my 1 company when
I was 26 years old. Being young, I did
not have extensive network to rely on.
In addition, there wasn’t any structure
in place to help young entrepreneurs.
Not many investors are ready to invest
in un-proven startups. You would have
to quickly be profitable or you would
have to close down. The co-founders
and I had to hustle and grow the
company in any way we could. As our
business grew, so does our network
and experience
Where do you see yourself in the
near future and what are your future
goals?
EasyUni is growing well but there is
still so much more to be done. I am
currently busy growing our managers
and identifying future leaders to help
propel EasyUni to the next level.
Ultimately our goal is to be the No.1
platform that students in South East
Asia and Middle East goes to, when
searching for tertiary institutions.
What is your advice for budding and
emerging CEO’s?
Truly understand why you want to start
your own company. It can be any
reason and it can even change as time
pass by. Just remember to constantly
remind yourself of this reason and
persist in chasing it. Be humble always
and don’t be shy to ask for help and to
give help. Treat your staffs as your
business partners that should profit
from the growth and not as steppingstones
to your goals. Take good care of
them, and they will in turn take good
care of you and your company.
www.insightssuccess.com June 2019| 17