Mr Lee Jin Rui had always wanted to be an entrepreneur running his own business since he was 10 By the time he graduated from primary school, he said he had earned almost S$4,000 by buying and selling the Japanese trading card game Cardfight!! VanguardIn 2021, Mr Lee, 22, founded digital marketing agency Wiz Consultancy and then went on to start Adolet, an education firm which offers free training programsHe said he conducts the classes free of charge as a way to “give back” after his business successes
SINGAPORE — Since he was just 10 years old, Lee Jin Rui wanted to be an entrepreneur running his own business. His classroom wheeling and dealing earned him hundreds of dollars but also got him into a spot of trouble.
By the time he graduated from primary school, he said he had earned close to S$4,000 by buying and selling the Japanese trading card game Cardfight!! Vanguard.
He was warned by the school for buying and selling the card games. “I think I was probably the biggest dealer in school,” Mr Lee, now 22, told TODAY in a video interview.
This did not deter Mr Lee and he eventually started his own business in 2021 — Wiz Consultancy, a digital marketing agency helping clients to increase their brand visibility and optimise their content to reach a wider customer base.
In July 2023, the data science student at the University of London (LSE) branched out to set up Adolet, an education firm which runs digital marketing training programmes for students free of charge. Next year, he plans to run paid courses under Adolet for corporates.
From an initial four-man team, Mr Lee said that his agency has now grown to six, with plans to expand the business abroad.
Three of his team members at Wiz Consultancy are from the free program — they started off as interns and then became salaried employees.
Using the earnings from his digital marketing business, Mr Lee pays to use the facilities at the Nanyang Technological University to conduct his lessons monthly.
The program curriculum includes teaching students how to use search engine optimisation (SEO) as well as WordPress content marketing, with close to 30 students attending the four classes so far and the next class being held on Nov 10.
Ms Quinny Tran, 21, a final-year marketing student at Curtin University who started interning at Wiz Consultancy after attending the program, said that she chanced upon the programme while searching online for courses to help supplement her knowledge.
Students also get to partner up with external companies to help with their digital marketing and branding which in turn helps with their skills and resumes, he said.
These include fitness education centre FIT Asia and music school The Music Circle.
While many would be impressed with Mr Lee’s achievements at such a young age, he credits the support that he got from his parents and teachers as the main factor.
After he completed primary school in Singapore, Mr Lee’s family relocated to Cape Town, South Africa due to his mother’s interest in the city where she ran a massage therapist business remotely.
During his time there, Mr Lee started an AirBnB-like start-up with some of his friends there.
His teacher there allowed him to take time off school to work on his business, which encouraged him to go forth in growing his company and dabble in different fields.
Mr Lee said that his parents were also very supportive of pursuing his dreams and did not give him any pressure when it came to his studies.
They asked only that he pass his subjects in school.
“My parents were always supportive of all my business ventures.