Speaker 1: Now, a letter to myself with Joel Chua.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for joining us. Our guest today is
Speaker 2: on a mission to rekindle the kampong spirit.
Speaker 2: He lit that first spark when we were feeling the
Speaker 2: full weight of social isolation during the COVID pandemic. Well,
Speaker 2: he drew upon his expertise as a tech entrepreneur and
Speaker 2: started a passion project, an app to connect neighbors matching
Speaker 2: those who needed something with those who had something. Well,
Speaker 2: today it's a bit more than just a passion project.
Speaker 2: 100,000 neighbors on the platform.
Speaker 2: And he's facilitated some rather inspiring and heartfelt encounters along
Speaker 2: the way, sharing with us his journey and what he's
Speaker 2: learned from it.
Speaker 2: As well as his letter to himself, the founder of
Speaker 2: Good Hog, Nigel Teo, a very warm welcome to the program.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks, Joel, for
Speaker 2: having me. It's our pleasure indeed. So Nigel, before we
Speaker 2: talk about, uh, share with us how you began your
Speaker 2: career in the technology space. You're a tech entrepreneur, right?
Speaker 2: How did you begin in this space? So um I
Speaker 2: actually did an undergrad degree in electronic and computer engineering.
Speaker 2: And I started my career in the public sector actually, uh,
Speaker 2: doing IT, um, and for the, yeah, for the 1st
Speaker 2: 6 years of my life, um, and then after that,
Speaker 2: when the bond ended, I was a bit backside itchy. So,
Speaker 2: so I like playing computer games, so an opportunity to
Speaker 2: trade came up, um, and then I, I just took,
Speaker 2: I took the opportunity and then went into trading, so that.
Speaker 2: Trading, yes, yeah, because like playing computer games, but you
Speaker 2: can make money. OK, so, so you took a, well,
Speaker 2: can we describe it as a career transition in a
Speaker 2: sense you were from tech and then you went, you
Speaker 2: became a full-time trader, right. What happened after that?
Speaker 2: So, um, so then after trading, I realized that I
Speaker 2: was losing my soul. Um, that sounds. What do you
Speaker 2: mean losing your soul. So when, when I first started,
Speaker 2: I wasn't swearing at all. Then when I, by the
Speaker 2: end of my time, I was swearing every other minute,
Speaker 2: not because I lost money because, but because I didn't
Speaker 2: make as much as the next person. So I realized
Speaker 2: that this is not who I want to become and, um, yeah, so, so,
Speaker 2: so then that got me on the path of, OK, what,
Speaker 2: what should I do with my life next, got some savings, uh.
Speaker 2: Got some skills um in in the tech space, um
Speaker 2: and some experience in the financial markets. Yeah. OK, so
Speaker 2: the question that you posed yourself, what do, what do
Speaker 2: I want to do with my life now? You, you
Speaker 2: had the resources.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So what, what was the answer that came to
Speaker 2: that question? So, so the first, um, the first project
Speaker 2: that I did was this thing called Trade where um
Speaker 2: I wanted to bring a lot more transparency and accountability
Speaker 2: to the investment space, because there are a lot of
Speaker 2: gurus out there that try to get people to buy
Speaker 2: products or attend their courses and stuff, but actually they are,
Speaker 2: they are.
Speaker 2: Um, there's a lot of misrepresentation. So a lot, so,
Speaker 2: so my whole life has been more about how can
Speaker 2: we improve things for community? How can we, um, uh, yeah,
Speaker 2: serve the community better, and I think that kind of
Speaker 2: stemmed from, uh, my younger days, uh, um, helping out
Speaker 2: in uh uh uh Sunday school and then also um in,
Speaker 2: in uni, I was giving people free haircuts, giving them
Speaker 2: rides to the airport.
Speaker 2: Um, like more than an hour back and forth, uh,
Speaker 2: one hour there, um, not my car. So not my car. I, I, I,
Speaker 2: I bring up not my car because that also ties
Speaker 2: in with the whole kampong spirit because in uni days
Speaker 2: people are sharing everything, but now like we each have
Speaker 2: our own staff and we don't really share. So there's
Speaker 2: a lot more opportunity for um for for the kampong
Speaker 2: spirit to flourish and hence good.SG. So where were those
Speaker 2: seeds planted? Good. How did it sprout? Um.
Speaker 2: Yes, so again connecting the dots, um, in, in my,
Speaker 2: the commencement, so Steve Jobs gave my commencement speech. So
Speaker 2: he was the one part of the graduating badge when
Speaker 2: he gave that? You were there when he gave that famous. Yeah, exactly, right,
Speaker 2: connecting the dots that and staying foolish.
Speaker 2: So yeah, so, so that kind of um uh uh
Speaker 2: planted the seeds there on the entrepreneurial and the pushing
Speaker 2: the boundaries and and making a difference, making an impact, uh,
Speaker 2: and then the community side, I think it has been
Speaker 2: all along. So coming back, I was also serving in
Speaker 2: the alumni club. Uh, one of the things that really
Speaker 2: gave me fulfillment was helping juniors and younger alums, um.
Speaker 2: Uh, get a leg up. um, so yeah, so, so
Speaker 2: the whole tech making a difference and then the whole, um,
Speaker 2: community and I see the value of communities, then go
Speaker 2: who is a natural, um, evolution from that just that I, I,
Speaker 2: I thought it would be a passion project because there's
Speaker 2: no way uh how is that going to be a
Speaker 2: feasible business model around it.
Speaker 2: Well, it's been several years since you started. So, so
Speaker 2: when did the idea for specifically good.sg, how did it
Speaker 2: come about? So it was a random gathering where a
Speaker 2: few of us tech tech people say, you know, if
Speaker 2: only tech can be used for good, because a lot
Speaker 2: of tech is used for um primarily capitalistic reasons, uh, and, um,
Speaker 2: social media has some.
Speaker 2: Bad rap about actually causing mental wellness and depression issues. So,
Speaker 2: so can we use tech really to connect people for good, um,
Speaker 2: and the, the hypothesis was that if we can allow
Speaker 2: neighbors to interact with each other more easily, then interaction
Speaker 2: builds trust and then trust unlocks a lot of um kambok.
Speaker 2: Where did the idea or the observation to focus on
Speaker 2: this specific aspect of life come from to connects specifically.
Speaker 2: So, I, I live uh in HDB so and our
Speaker 2: neighbor's doors are always closed, but not because they're not friendly,
Speaker 2: but I think it's more out of habit. Uh, so
Speaker 2: if only, so tech allows us to connect with neighbors
Speaker 2: even though our doors are closed, uh, because we all
Speaker 2: have different priorities at different, um, like I maybe cooking
Speaker 2: or or someone else may be busy.
Speaker 2: Uh, but digitally and asynchronously, I, I can then connect
Speaker 2: with neighbors if I'm sitting on a toilet bowl or
Speaker 2: if you are on or or if I'm on commute
Speaker 2: or lying in a bed. So, so again, interactions build trust,
Speaker 2: and trust, yeah, so, so the whole idea of actually
Speaker 2: neighborhoods are very
Speaker 2: Um, uh, valuable place, uh, if only we can encourage
Speaker 2: people to, to, to be a bit more neighborly. So
Speaker 2: it was from your own personal experience, you felt that
Speaker 2: your own neighborhood, there was a lot more potential, there
Speaker 2: was a lot more, there was a latent kampong spirit
Speaker 2: in your neighborhood. All right. So and you and you
Speaker 2: launched the app during the pandemic.
Speaker 2: Looking back, looking, I mean, the, the, the best possible time, right? Yeah, so, so, so, exactly, right?
Speaker 2: And that's the interesting thing, um, I guess about uh
Speaker 2: uh launching projects because actually luck plays a huge part, um,
Speaker 2: I mean from a secular perspective, luck plays a huge
Speaker 2: part in whether something takes off or not. I couldn't
Speaker 2: have planned. In fact, the idea was seeded in December 2019.
Speaker 2: So even before I knew anything about COVID and and whatever.
Speaker 2: Um, and then, uh, uh, yeah, then, then in Jan
Speaker 2: we went full scale, uh, and then around, I think, uh,
Speaker 2: Jan Jan I started the idea a little bit more
Speaker 2: and then, uh, February went into full scale and then
Speaker 2: March Straits Times randomly reached out to me on a
Speaker 2: Wednesday and say, can we come and take a photo?
Speaker 2: And Sunday there was a half-page preview. So yeah, then
Speaker 2: just things just snowballed from there. What was the initial
Speaker 2: I mean, you, you had the the pandemic to grapple with, right?
Speaker 2: What was the initial response to this app? So, um,
Speaker 2: it was, it was quite crazy. Uh, so, so apparently
Speaker 2: why's time came down was because I think the next
Speaker 2: day after Sunday was circuit breaker. So it was fantastic
Speaker 2: because um
Speaker 2: I mean, for it was a fantastic time to launch
Speaker 2: the app, but not a great time for Singapore, right?
Speaker 2: So it was a fantastic time because a lot of
Speaker 2: the traditional channels will help the hotlines are down. Your
Speaker 2: family service centers, your social service agencies and people who
Speaker 2: need and people are losing their jobs and um and
Speaker 2: then people needed masks and hand sanitizers.
Speaker 2: Uh, so there was a lot of needs and then
Speaker 2: there was a lot of people who had resources, now
Speaker 2: stuck at home, got money, got time, uh, so every
Speaker 2: request will get like 20-30 responses for help and people
Speaker 2: would drive, buy food, drive, buy more than what was requested,
Speaker 2: and then, uh, bless the people that are asking for help.
Speaker 2: To the extent that people started abusing. So we started
Speaker 2: noticing people, uh.
Speaker 2: Make a request, delete the request so that people don't know,
Speaker 2: and then make another request again every other day, and
Speaker 2: then the request every time keep changing, and then we, uh,
Speaker 2: or rather a community member actually told me, Nigel, this
Speaker 2: one abused because
Speaker 2: I went down to the address. It's the same address,
Speaker 2: but different people are requesting, and you can hear people
Speaker 2: inside but nobody opened the door. People are very enterprising.
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, exactly, right. OK, so give us an
Speaker 2: overview of the app. What is this app designed to do? Yeah,
Speaker 2: so the vision of the app is to encourage interactions. Uh,
Speaker 2: we have 3 key features. I think the most used
Speaker 2: feature for now on the app is actually.
Speaker 2: Uh, this thing that people can give away, uh, pre-love items,
Speaker 2: and the distinction is that you can actually give it
Speaker 2: to verified beneficiaries, so people with blue or orange charge cards.
Speaker 2: So rather than um uh giving it to on Carousel
Speaker 2: and you don't know who's who's taking the items, uh,
Speaker 2: we actually allow you to see who are the requesters
Speaker 2: uh or versus, you know, bringing the Salvation Army and
Speaker 2: you're not really sure what happens to the power, um,
Speaker 2: so you can choose and uh we are releasing an
Speaker 2: enhancement to a.
Speaker 2: Allow people to see how many items the person has
Speaker 2: requested for, so you can spread out who you give
Speaker 2: the items. It's matchmaking in a sense, who need something
Speaker 2: with those who have something to share. Does this matchmaking
Speaker 2: take place within a specific geographical vicinity since it's about neighborliness, right? Yeah. So,
Speaker 2: so we allow people to see the location, but the
Speaker 2: challenge with this kind of matchmaking is usually because it's
Speaker 2: a limited quantity. I have only one item.
Speaker 2: Ah, and then it also depends on whether the people
Speaker 2: within the community need the item. So we, we allow
Speaker 2: it to open to all, but the donor, the giver
Speaker 2: can decide who they want to give to. Ah, then
Speaker 2: we also have another thing called community requests or request
Speaker 2: section where people can ask for help. Uh, we allow
Speaker 2: beneficiaries to just ask for help, uh, but then we
Speaker 2: also see.
Speaker 2: Uh, sometimes that beneficiaries take advantage of this, uh, privilege.
Speaker 2: So we are making some enhancements to that so that the,
Speaker 2: the abuse is significantly reduced. It's been about 3 or
Speaker 2: 4 years since 2020, 2020, since you started the app
Speaker 2: like I mentioned, 100,000 users on the app already. You
Speaker 2: must have heard or personally witnessed some rather
Speaker 2: Encouraging, heartwarming encounters as a result of this share with
Speaker 2: us some of them. So, um, I think one of
Speaker 2: the most memorable um things was, uh, this guy came in,
Speaker 2: he think past verified, and then he asked for $100.
Speaker 2: So he just created an account and said I need $100. Um,
Speaker 2: I just got off prison and you know, I really
Speaker 2: just need some money. Uh, we got a lot of
Speaker 2: reports from the community to say that, hey, this one
Speaker 2: looks like a scammer.
Speaker 2: Uh, why, why did it look like a scam? Because
Speaker 2: he just created an account and then asked for $100
Speaker 2: like immediately, um, and, and, but he was also quite
Speaker 2: forthcoming in the sense that he said, I can show
Speaker 2: you my IC, uh, take a photo of my IC,
Speaker 2: and then I really need help. Uh, and he posted
Speaker 2: a few times, so it looked like spamming, um, but
Speaker 2: what was heartwarming was a a a few months later,
Speaker 2: actually someone I had met through Good Ho, um she's
Speaker 2: actually a single mom living in a rental flat.
Speaker 2: Uh, she actually said, Hey, I gave the person $100.
Speaker 2: So to me, I was like, wow, um, her income
Speaker 2: is less than 1,0005, and she, out of the goodness
Speaker 2: of her heart, decided to give the $100 to uh
Speaker 2: to the person who just asked for it. So then
Speaker 2: that made me realize that in a community we are
Speaker 2: made of different kinds of everybody, people from different backgrounds
Speaker 2: and different experiences.
Speaker 2: Uh, and in different seasons of their life or so.
Speaker 2: So I may be in a season that I have
Speaker 2: more now that I'm willing to give. I may be
Speaker 2: in a season that I don't have as much, then
Speaker 2: I'll feel a bit like, hey, this guy trying to
Speaker 2: Uh, pay pong. So these are things that um
Speaker 2: The community can solve that the government cannot solve. So,
Speaker 2: so because there's different profiles of people who are willing
Speaker 2: to come forward to help, yeah, and you know your
Speaker 2: community more intimately than anyone else. Yeah, exactly, yeah, and, and,
Speaker 2: and also people have different tolerances for what they're willing
Speaker 2: to give, so they don't mind that, uh, so like
Speaker 2: this lady actually didn't mind if there's a slight chance
Speaker 2: that this guy is a scammer, but she knows that, um.
Speaker 2: If she was in that position before, it's not a
Speaker 2: nice position to be in. So she'd rather give the
Speaker 2: benefit of the doubt. And what's remarkable about this is
Speaker 2: that she herself was a single mother living in a
Speaker 2: rental flat. Exactly. So that that that just blew my
Speaker 2: mind and and put me to shame. But then that
Speaker 2: also made me more convicted that that's why we need
Speaker 2: community because we a large community that there are different
Speaker 2: people with different propensities at different time who who want to, uh,
Speaker 2: who will feel compelled and led to give.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for staying with us on CNA 938.
Speaker 2: You're listening to a letter to myself. I'm Joel Cho.
Speaker 2: With me in the studio is the founder of Good Hood.sg,
Speaker 2: Nigel Teo, who's been sharing with us his journey from
Speaker 2: tech entrepreneur to founding this app in the thick of
Speaker 2: the pandemic. It was a passion project to make our
Speaker 2: neighborhoods more neighborly again. Well, it's evolved from a passion
Speaker 2: project to a full-time job now, right, Nigel? OK, thanks, Joe.
Speaker 2: That that that was um.
Speaker 2: It wasn't really intended. I thought uh because this is
Speaker 2: not something that's going to be very big in profit
Speaker 2: uh profit making. So I started it because I wanted, uh,
Speaker 2: I saw a gap in the community and I wanted
Speaker 2: the community to be served and unlike a lot of
Speaker 2: other tech initiatives which are more uh financially driven, this
Speaker 2: was really more community and passion driven.
Speaker 2: Uh, and now it's a full-time job. It's it's a
Speaker 2: bit more than a full-time job, more than a full-time job, yeah,
Speaker 2: so I spent about 100 hours a week on this, um,
Speaker 2: and yeah, and I'm not, and I'm not drawing a
Speaker 2: salary from it because the funders, um, the fund, basically
Speaker 2: some funders said, uh, here's, uh, here's a sum of money, uh,
Speaker 2: that you can use to grow good hood, but, um,
Speaker 2: MCCY actually, but, uh, you can't pay yourself. So, so
Speaker 2: I mean that that that helps to keep, um.
Speaker 2: Make sure that I'm on the straight and narrow in
Speaker 2: a sense. Well, thank you very much for this wonderful
Speaker 2: work that you're doing. At this point, Nigel, you've been
Speaker 2: sharing this journey. If you could write a letter to
Speaker 2: your younger self, you know, based on the most valuable
Speaker 2: lessons you've learned from this journey, what would you say
Speaker 2: in that letter to your younger self?
Speaker 2: Um, yeah, I, I think the, the first one, not
Speaker 2: in any sequence of importance, but the first one is
Speaker 2: definitely especially in the context of, uh, AI and disruption.
Speaker 2: So definitely keep an open mind, uh, in light of
Speaker 2: how quickly disruptions are happening now. Uh, so the context
Speaker 2: is just, uh,
Speaker 2: We are like the team is really very small, um,
Speaker 2: but the team is very, very effective and productive. Uh,
Speaker 2: so we are using tools that increase the effectiveness and
Speaker 2: productivity like tech the coder said, OK, um, using new tools,
Speaker 2: they are time to code has reduced by 60-70%.
Speaker 2: Um, and, and small teams are great also because um you, you, you, you,
Speaker 2: you can move very, very fast. So definitely keep an
Speaker 2: open mind because jobs and the landscape of um the
Speaker 2: workplace in the future is, is just changing so rapidly.
Speaker 2: Um, why, why was it important for you to keep
Speaker 2: an open mind? It's interesting for me to hear this
Speaker 2: because you came from a tech background yourself, right, where
Speaker 2: things evolved so quickly. But in, in the context of
Speaker 2: your experience with this particular app, did it evolve even
Speaker 2: more rapidly than you had anticipated? Did it pose challenges
Speaker 2: for you? Um, yeah, so, so I
Speaker 2: OK. I, I, I think a lot more of the opportunities,
Speaker 2: a lot more of the disruptions came in the form
Speaker 2: of opportunities that, but I realized that if we don't
Speaker 2: uh keep an open mind to embrace some of these
Speaker 2: new um uh new things and processes, uh, then we
Speaker 2: run the risk of being um
Speaker 2: Uh, a lot less efficient and, and especially in the
Speaker 2: social space, but the challenge for the social space is
Speaker 2: also funding is always an issue, not just for us
Speaker 2: but for a lot of social agencies. So you got
Speaker 2: to make the dollar stretch as much as possible. Yes,
Speaker 2: you got to make the dollar stretch, but also very
Speaker 2: limited capacity to think about how do we embrace these new,
Speaker 2: these new things and which ones are worth exploring, which
Speaker 2: ones are noise. Uh, so this one in the social
Speaker 2: space actually innovation and um.
Speaker 2: Um, tech adoption is, is quite far behind, um, which, yeah, so, so,
Speaker 2: so I think this is where we see a lot
Speaker 2: more opportunities. So some of the upcoming projects that we're doing, uh,
Speaker 2: really tap on some of these, um, innovation a little
Speaker 2: bit more in just a little while about the upcoming
Speaker 2: projects and plans for goods. So that first message to yourself,
Speaker 2: keep an open mind, especially when it comes to potential.
Speaker 2: Disruptions in the space of technology and AI, right? What's
Speaker 2: the second message in that letter to your younger self?
Speaker 2: The second one is a bit contentious. Um, it's about
Speaker 2: following your passion. Why it's contentious is because, uh, the,
Speaker 2: the reality is that is that cost of living, not
Speaker 2: just in Singapore, but in the whole world, uh, is increasing.
Speaker 2: So following your passion sometimes doesn't, um.
Speaker 2: Uh, sometimes means that you, you do things that don't pay, um, uh, yeah, uh,
Speaker 2: but it fills your heart, but you don't feel your wallet. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: You don't feel your stomach even sometimes, yeah, so, so, uh,
Speaker 2: but why I say for your passion is because um.
Speaker 2: If you're serious in following your passion, part of that
Speaker 2: will lead you to um a lot of intellectual curiosity
Speaker 2: and and meeting mentors and seniors who will guide you
Speaker 2: and tell you that, OK, actually this thing um is
Speaker 2: going to be tricky, uh, the road ahead looks tough
Speaker 2: and challenging, or you can navigate it and go about this,
Speaker 2: uh this way or that way.
Speaker 2: So, so following your passion is important, but also do it,
Speaker 2: I think pairing with the first thing with an open mind, uh,
Speaker 2: that there may be more than one way to to
Speaker 2: to pursue your passion, uh, but also realize that uh
Speaker 2: there are certain um laws of physics that you can't
Speaker 2: follow your passion with an asterisk with an asterisk. Yeah.
Speaker 2: What's your asterisk?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, so, so, so, yeah, so I, I think the,
Speaker 2: the asterisk is really knowing what, uh, what your your
Speaker 2: constraints and considerations are. So we don't have kids, but
Speaker 2: if we have kids, I don't think I would have
Speaker 2: been able to do good or at least I'm not
Speaker 2: shy enough to do it. I'm, would you say you're
Speaker 2: not shy enough to do it? Uh, so I, I think,
Speaker 2: I mean raising kids now.
Speaker 2: friends who have kids and it's a tough from a
Speaker 2: financial perspective or from an energy perspective, I think all perspective,
Speaker 2: you shared with me earlier that you know when when
Speaker 2: you first started this journey as a social entrepreneur, right,
Speaker 2: you had peers who who knew you from your, from
Speaker 2: your tech entrepreneur days, right? They asked you, what are
Speaker 2: you doing?
Speaker 2: Exactly. So, so yeah, that was challenging. Um, how did
Speaker 2: you respond? What was, what was your reaction when, when they,
Speaker 2: when they asked you incredulously, are you sure you want
Speaker 2: to do this? So, um, I think that was really
Speaker 2: not so bad. Uh, at least they asked. There are
Speaker 2: some that when I talk to them, they don't even respond. Uh,
Speaker 2: because they're like, why are you like, why are you
Speaker 2: wasting your life doing this? Um, uh, I, I think
Speaker 2: a large part is also uh knowing.
Speaker 2: Um,
Speaker 2: Uh, what's the bigger, I mean, at least for me, like,
Speaker 2: the bigger purpose, uh, and as a, as a family,
Speaker 2: we've been given enough.
Speaker 2: Um, uh, we, yeah, we, we, we, we live within
Speaker 2: our means below our means, uh, and then the next
Speaker 2: thing is really like what then do I do with
Speaker 2: my time la. Uh, so, so that, and then also
Speaker 2: what was also very helpful was that right from the
Speaker 2: start we really saw a lot of stories and, and
Speaker 2: the impact that we were making. So that helped to
Speaker 2: um buffer some of these like.
Speaker 2: Questions and yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, when we first
Speaker 2: started our conversation a little while ago, you said that,
Speaker 2: you know, when you were, you're dabbling with, with um trading, right?
Speaker 2: You spent a few years as a professional trainer, sorry,
Speaker 2: not trainer trader.
Speaker 2: Um, you, you decided to get out of it because
Speaker 2: one day you, you realized that you were to use
Speaker 2: your words, you were losing your soul, right, in following
Speaker 2: your passion, have you found your soul? I, I would
Speaker 2: think so. Yeah, very much so. So, OK, I have
Speaker 2: found it, um, yeah, and that is really what is
Speaker 2: driving me forward, because the path is the path is
Speaker 2: not easy. What's the most satisfying thing about what you're
Speaker 2: doing now?
Speaker 2: I think really when seeing people step up to serve
Speaker 2: and to help others, uh, that wow, you know, there's
Speaker 2: there's hope for humanity. I think the, the, the, the,
Speaker 2: the quote, um, Obama and Martin Luther, they said that
Speaker 2: the arc of the moral universe uh is long but
Speaker 2: it bends towards justice. So, so that, that, that gives
Speaker 2: me hope la yeah.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much for sharing that. Second message to
Speaker 2: your younger self, follow your passion with an asterisk, but
Speaker 2: still follow your passion. Yes. Thank you. What's the message
Speaker 2: to your younger self? The one actually is, um, I
Speaker 2: would say actually the most important, uh, and that's finding mentors. So, um,
Speaker 2: and having and finding mentors requires the first two actually,
Speaker 2: because if you find mentors and don't have an open mind,
Speaker 2: they will not, you will not get anything out of it.
Speaker 2: Um, and if you don't have a passion and you
Speaker 2: find mentors and
Speaker 2: And your North Star is how do I get rich?
Speaker 2: I think mentors don't really, uh, yeah, yeah, so mentors
Speaker 2: want to help people and nurture people who who who
Speaker 2: who have a passion for life. But it depends on
Speaker 2: who the mentor is also finding the right mentor. Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2: So yeah, so and finding the right mentor will come
Speaker 2: when you follow your passion because you will necessarily seek
Speaker 2: out the leaders in your in your field of um
Speaker 2: in your area of passion.
Speaker 2: Uh, and, and it will be a natural fit because
Speaker 2: the mentors can can sense that you are serious and
Speaker 2: genuine about that. Uh, and, and mentors, uh.
Speaker 2: Like one minute from a mentor can actually save you
Speaker 2: years of your life. So I wish I had, uh,
Speaker 2: been able to talk to myself when I started Good Ho,
Speaker 2: I wish I could talk to myself now. Uh, probably
Speaker 2: I saved 33 years of my life in terms of
Speaker 2: how to navigate things and how to approach things. So
Speaker 2: finding mentors is probably the most, most important of the
Speaker 2: 3 messages to sell. Who is a mentor? How do
Speaker 2: you go about finding someone who is, who would be
Speaker 2: who would qualify to be a mentor?
Speaker 2: I think there are a lot of uh resources. So,
Speaker 2: so I, I, I, um, so for example, in your
Speaker 2: own experience, who were, who were your mentors? Yeah, so, uh,
Speaker 2: so for.
Speaker 2: For myself, I, I had, um, good fortune of, um, yeah, having, having, uh,
Speaker 2: met some people, um, in, in the life of I respect, uh, uh, greatly.
Speaker 2: So one of them is, uh, Mr. Xia Fu Hua,
Speaker 2: so he's the chairman of NUS and he's GIC board
Speaker 2: and all, yeah, so, so that he, he really is
Speaker 2: very sharp and he, he, he, no, no nonsense, la, right?
Speaker 2: What's the most valuable advice that he shared with you
Speaker 2: that you feel comfortable sharing with us?
Speaker 2: Um, you can share.
Speaker 2: I, I think always, at least for my space, always
Speaker 2: is is reminding me to understand who is, who am
Speaker 2: I serving. Yeah, who am I serving and and always
Speaker 2: to remember that la. Uh, um, of course, mentors give advice,
Speaker 2: mentors also open doors and connections, uh, uh, yeah, but
Speaker 2: to my younger self, so I, I manage, I have
Speaker 2: managed a lot of interns, and I'm a nurturing person
Speaker 2: by nature.
Speaker 2: So I spent a lot of time with them, um,
Speaker 2: and mentors can be, and I, I, I, I tell
Speaker 2: them your mentor can be your school senior who's 2
Speaker 2: years ahead of you, uh, and you ask him or
Speaker 2: her certain questions which help you to unblock a certain, uh, uh,
Speaker 2: demystify some things, right? And then after that you go
Speaker 2: to the next mentor and go to the next. It
Speaker 2: doesn't have to be a life. I'm gonna I'm going
Speaker 2: to look for a mentor who's going to be with
Speaker 2: me for 3 or 5 years.
Speaker 2: Uh, but really part of it is also just having
Speaker 2: an open mind to, to see who can I learn from, um,
Speaker 2: and yeah, and, and being receptive to the feedback who's
Speaker 2: willing to share authentically and not everybody is willing to share, right? Yeah, yeah. So, so, yeah,
Speaker 2: so that's, that's the most I would say that's the
Speaker 2: most important advice and, and even among interns I've seen
Speaker 2: um some who are very um.
Speaker 2: Eager to learn and then some who feel like I
Speaker 2: want this thing and I only want this thing and
Speaker 2: I don't really want to listen to anything else. That
Speaker 2: first message to your younger self, keep an open mind.
Speaker 2: they needed to hear that. So they're all kind of
Speaker 2: related to each other.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for staying with us on the letter
Speaker 2: to myself on CNA 938. We continue now with Nigel Teo,
Speaker 2: the founder of Good Hood Dog. Nigel, working very hard
Speaker 2: to rekindle the kampong spirit in our neighborhoods, uh, over
Speaker 2: 100 hours a week. It's more than a full-time job
Speaker 2: that you're not being paid for, as you generously shared
Speaker 2: with us earlier. what's keeping you so busy these days?
Speaker 2: How are you packing, what are you packing into those
Speaker 2: 100 hours?
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks, uh, yeah, thanks, Joe. I think one of the,
Speaker 2: there are always a few challenges, uh, one of the
Speaker 2: challenges is always um
Speaker 2: Um, how do we scale impact in a very cost
Speaker 2: efficient manner, um, because funding is always limited, uh, and therefore,
Speaker 2: a recent project that we are going to launch a
Speaker 2: project that we're going to launch soon.
Speaker 2: Uh, it's this thing called uh Project Planunger where we
Speaker 2: digitize the whole paying it for of hawker meals. Uh,
Speaker 2: so the, why we are exploring this is because, uh,
Speaker 2: hawkers have actually told us they really like the initiative,
Speaker 2: but they don't know who's coming to claim. uh, and
Speaker 2: then they see the same guy claiming and they don't
Speaker 2: really feel that.
Speaker 2: That's, you know, the spirit of the program, yeah, and,
Speaker 2: and also there's a lot of operational overheads like people
Speaker 2: pay for 5 meals, but they put 6 stickers, draw
Speaker 2: 6 circles. So, so, so they want to do it,
Speaker 2: but there's uh challenges, uh, but we actually see on
Speaker 2: the earlier point of this on disruption, we actually see
Speaker 2: a very elegant way to solve all of this, and
Speaker 2: that's uh basically allowing donors to buy meals.
Speaker 2: Um, and then beneficiaries will sync pass verify and verify
Speaker 2: the CAS Community Health assistance SIM card. So Blue CAS,
Speaker 2: which roughly corresponds to the bottom 10% of household income,
Speaker 2: orange bottom 20%.
Speaker 2: A blue chance will entitle you to one meal a
Speaker 2: week per household member. Orange will entitle you to one
Speaker 2: meal every 2 weeks. So from the hawker's point of view,
Speaker 2: they don't need to care. As long as you come
Speaker 2: and show that screen, they know that you are within quota.
Speaker 2: You're doing the regulating for them on the back end
Speaker 2: and they feel the donors feel shocked also because it's
Speaker 2: not being abused and, and, and to top it off, um.
Speaker 2: We actually notify the donors whenever one of the donated
Speaker 2: meals has been claimed, and they can see who's the
Speaker 2: profile of the beneficiary who claimed, I mean anonymized la,
Speaker 2: but they can see, OK, this is a uh family
Speaker 2: with yeah, bio or yeah and the kicker is that
Speaker 2: we actually allow social workers to boost meals, boost meals.
Speaker 2: So what this means is for people in need, especially
Speaker 2: the acute needs, uh, they might not need.
Speaker 2: Institutional aid, or they might not be able to wait
Speaker 2: for institutional aid, which takes 1 month or so. So,
Speaker 2: but if you're a social worker, you have a quota
Speaker 2: to say this family is in need, I will boost
Speaker 2: them for 1 week, 5 meals a week, every member.
Speaker 2: So this really really disrupts the whole way of uh
Speaker 2: mutual aid and donors are very excited about it because
Speaker 2: it's super transparent.
Speaker 2: And it's super efficient, tech enabled, and, and the efficiency
Speaker 2: rate is other than the strike fees is 98%, about 98%
Speaker 2: and it enhances the impact that you're able to make
Speaker 2: as well. So unlike traditional charities that you donate money,
Speaker 2: there's a fundraiser and there's all that we we actually just,
Speaker 2: it's it's straight through.
Speaker 2: technology, yes, absolutely. Um, OK, so Nigel, at this point
Speaker 2: in time, how can we be involved in this from
Speaker 2: the donor's point of view, simply signing up on the app.
Speaker 2: So donors, uh, so we haven't, we haven't launched it yet, uh, in, in, but, uh,
Speaker 2: we're actually working with a few corporates first. So if
Speaker 2: you are corporate and want to support, what you can
Speaker 2: actually do is you pledge an amount of money and
Speaker 2: we can, we can do a matching. So your logo
Speaker 2: will be seen when donors donate.
Speaker 2: That's a nice be seen when the beneficiaries redeem. OK.
Speaker 2: All right, nice incentive. All right. OK. And it will
Speaker 2: be launched out for the general public. It launched probably
Speaker 2: end of March. OK, that's not. Yeah. Well, we're already
Speaker 2: in March. Yes. All right, excellent to know that. OK,
Speaker 2: so at this point in time, Nigel, you shared with
Speaker 2: us those three very valuable messages to your younger self earlier.
Speaker 2: If you could write another letter to your future self
Speaker 2: this time, what would you say in this one? I
Speaker 2: would say um.
Speaker 2: Uh, be deliberate about who I spend time with, uh,
Speaker 2: and also keep giving back. So the reason is because
Speaker 2: when we give back, we make sure that we are
Speaker 2: plugged into what reality is, uh, and we also focus
Speaker 2: on other people, uh, whereas it's very easy, especially when
Speaker 2: you grow old and maybe a bit more, uh, uh.
Speaker 2: Used to being comfortable with ourselves, uh, we tend to
Speaker 2: become more insular. So keep giving back and be, be,
Speaker 2: be mindful of who we spend time with. And are
Speaker 2: you are you mindful about spending time with? Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 2: so who am I? I would say people who are
Speaker 2: generally more positive and who who care for the people
Speaker 2: around them. It's infectious, isn't it? Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, attitude is infectious. Nigel, thank you so much for
Speaker 2: sharing with us your journey and the wisdom you've gained
Speaker 2: through this journey. If you'd like to find out more,
Speaker 2: of course, just go to the website Good.sg. That's where
Speaker 2: you can download the app as well from, uh, the,
Speaker 2: the various app stores. Nigel, thank you so much. Thank you.
Speaker 2: We've been chatting with the founder of Good.SG who's been
Speaker 2: sharing with us his letter to himself, Nigel Teo. You're
Speaker 2: listening to CNA 938.