Adam Khoo
Encyclopedia
Adam Khoo Yean Ann is a Singapore
an entrepreneur
, best-selling author
and peak performance trainer
. A self-made millionaire
by the age of 26, he is one of the youngest millionaires in Singapore
, and owns and runs several businesses in education
, training
, event management
and advertising
, all with a combined annual turnover
of S$30 million.
Khoo is the Executive Chairman and Chief Master Trainer of Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group Pte Ltd and Director of seven other private companies. Khoo was also a director
of the Singapore Health Promotion Board (HPB)
2009-2010. He is currently a member of the Singapore Chapter of the Young President's Organization (YPO), whose membership is only available to business owners
below 50 years of age, who run businesses with minimum annual turnover of US$9 million. Khoo was also conferred the NUS Business School
Eminent Business Alumni Award 2008 for being one of Singapore's most successful and prominent business leaders.
, ISBN 978-9812324276). His second and third books are How to Multiply Your Child's Intelligence (Pearson Education
, ISBN 978-0131013551) and Clueless in Starting a Business (Pearson Education, ISBN 978-9812445070).
Khoo's fourth book was Master Your Mind, Design Your Destiny (Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group, ISBN 978-9810508562). His fifth and sixth books were Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires (Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group, ISBN 978-9810552848) and Secrets of Millionaire Investors (Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group, ISBN 978-9810581954). His seventh book was Nurturing the Winner & Genius in Your Child (Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group, ISBN 978-9810596835) and his eight book, Secrets of Building Multi-Million Dollar Businesses (Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group, ISBN 978-9810814786) was launched in October 2008. His ninth book was titled Profit from the Panic (Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group, ISBN 978-9810820879).
at the age of eight for misbehavior, partly due to poor academic results. His parents hunted for a primary school willing to accept him and finally found Ngee Ann Primary School
. Due to his poor results at the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE)
, he did not qualify to enter any of the six secondary schools his parents had chosen. Eventually he went to a government school Ping Yi Secondary, where he passed only five out of eight subjects and finished 156th out of 160 Secondary 1 Express Stream students.
Khoo's parents and teachers described him back then as capable but lazy
, indifferent
and addicted
to television
. He described himself as being totally uninterested in learning
(he was frustrated as he felt he could not learn), extremely unmotivated, physically weak and mentally lethargic. His stepsister
was an A-student in the Gifted Education Programme
at Raffles Girls' Secondary
while cousin
s from his close-knit extended family
were from the best schools in Singapore. He had very poor social skills, did not enjoy reading
anything but comics
and was addicted to arcade game
s and moronic TV programs
. He tried to join the Scout Movement, but was thrown out six months later for not passing the basic qualifying test, the 'Scout Standard', as he did not bother to try.
son for a five-day residential program at Ladyhill Hotel called Super-Teen Camp. The man responsible for spotting Khoo's "gifted talent" in Super-Teen was Dr. Ernest Wong, Founder
, Principal Consultant and Master Teacher of Ernesco, the Centre for Motivational Language Learning based in Kuala Lumpur
, Malaysia (the Super-Teen Camp is now under Learning Mastery Pte. Ltd.) Dr. Wong's teaching tools incorporated and adapted an American-developed learning technology called Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
, as well as Whole-Brain Learning. This was the beginning of Adam Khoo's interest and journey in mastering motivational techniques, which formed the foundation of many of his best-selling books and seminars.
Within three months of the program, Khoo climbed to among the top 18 in his secondary school. He went on to rank among the top 10 in Ping Yi Secondary within a year, topped his school in the GCE 'O' Level examinations with the lowest scoring aggregate, and was the first in Ping Yi Secondary to qualify for the then-top junior college
in Singapore, Victoria Junior College
. At Victoria Junior College, he was President
of the Economics Society and scored three 'As' for his GCE 'A' Level examinations
. He entered the Business Administration faculty
at the National University of Singapore (NUS)
and continued his notable academic achievements by making it to the Dean's List
every year since his first year, ranked among the top 1 percent of academic achievers and became a pioneer in the university's Talent Development Programme (TDP), the tertiary
equivalent of the Gifted Education Programme for secondary schools. He holds an honors degree in Business Administration from NUS.
" like Donald Trump's
business books and Warren Buffett's
books on investment
techniques. While still in secondary school, he formed a mobile disco company
with his friends
, using his grandmother's house to re-create a disco
and charged teenagers who attended a fee
. He even took over the job
of the deejay
that he hired
, after studying him. At 16, he began investing most of his time
and money to read and undergo training sessions in NLP in the United States
. At 17, he became a freelance motivational trainer
by visiting schools in Singapore, making the bold proposition of turning the worst students around for no charge in the beginning. Eventually, he started charging S$25 per student for half a day's training.
After completing National Service
in the Republic of Singapore Air Force
at age 21, Khoo went into partnership
with three NUS friends and registered an event management company, Creatsoul Entertainment. The company organized hops, jams and other entertainment
activities for clients like individuals, companies and organizations at NUS and Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
. This was later re-registered as Event Gurus Pte Ltd, an event management company. Today Event Gurus runs major events like The New Paper Big Walk
and the President's Charity Challenge's Project Y.
At 23, Khoo obtained his license
in NLP in Seattle, Washington. At 24, he became a trainer at SuperTeen, conducting courses for organizations like the Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC)
, Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP), Nanyang Girls' High School
and the Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH) in Jakarta
. At 25, Khoo was coaching
top insurance
agents and marketing managers twice his age on how to boost sales. At this time, his father
, Vince Khoo, who owned advertising agency
Adcom, bought out all partners
and offered the younger Khoo the opportunity to run it. Within three months, he turned it around from making losses in 1998–1999 to clinching a pitching rate of 80 percent with the first monthly profit
, and went on to increase margins by 30%. Their clients have included AIA, Dumex
, Mobil
(lost during the Exxon
merger), Phillip Wain slimming centers, Sobe Fresh Soya Milk, Tabasco
, Heinz
, Sinsin, Night Safari, Singapore and MobileOne (M1)
.
At 26, Khoo earned his first million, from giving motivational training at schools and companies (the most lucrative, earning him up to S$1000 an hour), his entertainment company and shrewd investments in equities, unit trusts and property
.
, who would give him Lunar New Year
red packets with Malaysian share lots like Genting
, Kuantan Flour Mill and HICOM. Inspired by Mary Buffett's book Buffettology, he started dabbling in shares in the army
.
A conservative and long-term investor
, Khoo goes for investments with very low risk
and high returns, favoring cash-rich companies with low debts and the potential to consistently increase their earnings
. He prefers investing in stock
s and options
, using a variety of investing strategies including momentum
and value investing
.
consists of property
that he rents
out, private businesses, Singapore stocks, US stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
, generating an average return
of over 20 percent per annum. In 1998, he bought a 1300 sq ft (120.8 m²) condominium
in East Coast for S$480,000 and rented it out for about S$3,000. He sold it for S$650,000 in 2004. In early 2008, he bought a 900 sq ft (83.6 m²) condo
at Robertson Quay for S$1.3 million, renting it out at S$4,000.
and prefers starting businesses with zero capital
, paying freelance fees or stocks in the beginning until profit
is generated.
in regional media
like The Straits Times, The Business Times (Singapore)
, The New Paper
, Lianhe Wanbao, Channel NewsAsia (CNA)
, MediaCorp Channel U and Channel 8, MediaCorp 938LIVE (formerly NewsRadio 938) and Capital 95.8FM
, The Hindu
, The Star
and The Sun
Malaysian newspapers, The Executive Magazine
, Asian Business the Magazine for Entrepreneurs, Prestige
, Her World Magazine, Calibre Magazine and many more. In 2007, he was ranked among the top 25 richest Singaporeans under the age of 40 by The Executive Magazine.
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
an entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, best-selling author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and peak performance trainer
Trainer (business)
Trainers work in many different areas, mainly educating employees of companies on specific topics of workplace importance.Some trainers are in-house, and others work for training companies....
. A self-made millionaire
Millionaire
A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank account or savings account...
by the age of 26, he is one of the youngest millionaires in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, and owns and runs several businesses in education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, training
Training
The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...
, event management
Event management
Event management is the application of project management to the creation and development of festivals, events and conferences.Event management involves studying the intricacies of the brand, identifying the target audience, devising the event concept, planning the logistics and coordinating the...
and advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
, all with a combined annual turnover
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
of S$30 million.
Khoo is the Executive Chairman and Chief Master Trainer of Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group Pte Ltd and Director of seven other private companies. Khoo was also a director
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of the Singapore Health Promotion Board (HPB)
Health Promotion Board
The Health Promotion Board is a statutory board under the Ministry of Health of Singapore. It was established in 2001 to act as the main driver for national health promotion and disease prevention programmes, "with a vision to build a nation of healthy and happy people".HPB undertakes the...
2009-2010. He is currently a member of the Singapore Chapter of the Young President's Organization (YPO), whose membership is only available to business owners
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
below 50 years of age, who run businesses with minimum annual turnover of US$9 million. Khoo was also conferred the NUS Business School
NUS Business School
Established in 1965, National University of Singapore Business School is known for providing management thought leadership from an Asian perspective, enabling its students and corporate partners to leverage global knowledge and Asian insights. This combination of global expertise and Asian acumen...
Eminent Business Alumni Award 2008 for being one of Singapore's most successful and prominent business leaders.
Books authored
Adam Khoo is the best-selling author of ten books including I Am Gifted, So Are You! (first published by Oxford University PressOxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, ISBN 978-9812324276). His second and third books are How to Multiply Your Child's Intelligence (Pearson Education
Pearson Education
Pearson Education is an international educational publishing and technology company providing textbooks and other educational material, such as multimedia learning tools...
, ISBN 978-0131013551) and Clueless in Starting a Business (Pearson Education, ISBN 978-9812445070).
Khoo's fourth book was Master Your Mind, Design Your Destiny (Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group, ISBN 978-9810508562). His fifth and sixth books were Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires (Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group, ISBN 978-9810552848) and Secrets of Millionaire Investors (Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group, ISBN 978-9810581954). His seventh book was Nurturing the Winner & Genius in Your Child (Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group, ISBN 978-9810596835) and his eight book, Secrets of Building Multi-Million Dollar Businesses (Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group, ISBN 978-9810814786) was launched in October 2008. His ninth book was titled Profit from the Panic (Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group, ISBN 978-9810820879).
Childhood
Khoo was expelled from St Stephen's Primary SchoolSaint Stephen's School, Singapore
Saint Stephen's School is a Catholic primary school for boys in Siglap, Singapore.The school was part of the Saint Patrick's School, which was founded in 1933 by the La Salle Brothers...
at the age of eight for misbehavior, partly due to poor academic results. His parents hunted for a primary school willing to accept him and finally found Ngee Ann Primary School
Ngee Ann Primary School
Ngee Ann Primary School is a government-aided co-educational primary school in Marine Parade, Singapore.It was founded by the Ngee Ann Kongsi's Board of Directors - including Mr Lee Wee Nam, Mr Yeo Chan Boon and Mr Lim Kim Seng...
. Due to his poor results at the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE)
Primary School Leaving Examination
The Primary School Leaving Examination is a national examination taken by all students in Singapore near the end of primary six in primary school, which is also their last year in Primary school before they leave for secondary school. It is administered by the Ministry of Education...
, he did not qualify to enter any of the six secondary schools his parents had chosen. Eventually he went to a government school Ping Yi Secondary, where he passed only five out of eight subjects and finished 156th out of 160 Secondary 1 Express Stream students.
Khoo's parents and teachers described him back then as capable but lazy
Laziness
Laziness is a disinclination to activity or exertion despite having the ability to do so. It is often used as a pejorative; related terms for a person seen to be lazy include couch potato, slacker, and bludger....
, indifferent
Apathy
Apathy is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation and passion. An apathetic individual has an absence of interest in or concern about emotional, social, spiritual, philosophical or physical life.They may lack a sense of purpose or meaning in...
and addicted
Behavioral addiction
Behavioral addiction is a form of addiction which does not rely on drugs or alcohol. Increasingly referred to as process addiction or non-substance-related addiction ) behavioral addiction includes a compulsion to repeatedly engage in an action until said action causes serious negative consequences...
to television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. He described himself as being totally uninterested in learning
Learning
Learning is acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow learning curves.Human learning...
(he was frustrated as he felt he could not learn), extremely unmotivated, physically weak and mentally lethargic. His stepsister
Stepfamily
A stepfamily, also known as a blended family or reconstituted family, is a family in which one or both members of the couple have children from a previous relationship...
was an A-student in the Gifted Education Programme
Gifted Education Programme (Singapore)
The Gifted Education Programme is a Singaporean academic programme designed for the top 1% of pupils, identified in two rounds of tests at the end of Primary 3.-History:...
at Raffles Girls' Secondary
Raffles Girls' School (Secondary)
Raffles Girls' School is an independent girls' secondary school in Singapore. RGS was recognised by the Ministry of Education in 2006 by being awarded the School Excellence Award , among other awards...
while cousin
Cousin
In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term . The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of...
s from his close-knit extended family
Extended family
The term extended family has several distinct meanings. In modern Western cultures dominated by nuclear family constructs, it has come to be used generically to refer to grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins, whether they live together within the same household or not. However, it may also refer...
were from the best schools in Singapore. He had very poor social skills, did not enjoy reading
Reading education
Reading education is the process by which individuals are taught to derive meaning from text.Government-funded scientific research on reading and reading instruction began in the U.S. in the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, researchers began publishing findings based on converging evidence from...
anything but comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
and was addicted to arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
s and moronic TV programs
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
. He tried to join the Scout Movement, but was thrown out six months later for not passing the basic qualifying test, the 'Scout Standard', as he did not bother to try.
Turning point in education
In 1987, when Khoo was 13, his parents enrolled their "under-achiever"Underachiever
An underachiever is a person and especially a student who fails to achieve his or her potential or does not do as well as expected.Of particular interest is academic underachievement...
son for a five-day residential program at Ladyhill Hotel called Super-Teen Camp. The man responsible for spotting Khoo's "gifted talent" in Super-Teen was Dr. Ernest Wong, Founder
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, Principal Consultant and Master Teacher of Ernesco, the Centre for Motivational Language Learning based in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
, Malaysia (the Super-Teen Camp is now under Learning Mastery Pte. Ltd.) Dr. Wong's teaching tools incorporated and adapted an American-developed learning technology called Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
Neuro-linguistic programming
Neuro-linguistic programming is an approach to psychotherapy, self-help and organizational change. Founders Richard Bandler and John Grinder say that NLP is a model of interpersonal communication and a system of alternative therapy which seeks to educate people in self-awareness and effective...
, as well as Whole-Brain Learning. This was the beginning of Adam Khoo's interest and journey in mastering motivational techniques, which formed the foundation of many of his best-selling books and seminars.
Within three months of the program, Khoo climbed to among the top 18 in his secondary school. He went on to rank among the top 10 in Ping Yi Secondary within a year, topped his school in the GCE 'O' Level examinations with the lowest scoring aggregate, and was the first in Ping Yi Secondary to qualify for the then-top junior college
Junior college
The term junior college refers to different educational institutions in different countries.-India:In India, most states provide schooling through 12th grade...
in Singapore, Victoria Junior College
Victoria Junior College
Victoria Junior College is a Pre-University co-educational institution in Singapore. It was established to replace the Pre-University classes of Victoria School in 1984. It stands on Marine Vista, about 5-minute walk to the East Coast Park. It in the East Region of Singapore...
. At Victoria Junior College, he was President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
of the Economics Society and scored three 'As' for his GCE 'A' Level examinations
GCE Advanced Level
The Advanced Level General Certificate of Education, commonly referred to as an A-level, is a qualification offered by education institutions in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Cameroon, and the Cayman Islands...
. He entered the Business Administration faculty
Faculty (university)
A faculty is a division within a university comprising one subject area, or a number of related subject areas...
at the National University of Singapore (NUS)
National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore is Singapore's oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered....
and continued his notable academic achievements by making it to the Dean's List
Dean's List
A Dean's List is a category of students in a college or university who achieve high grades during their stay in an academic term or academic year. In secondary schools, or high schools, the term Consistent Honor List or Honor Roll is more common, but Dean's List and Consistent Honor List are...
every year since his first year, ranked among the top 1 percent of academic achievers and became a pioneer in the university's Talent Development Programme (TDP), the tertiary
Tertiary education
Tertiary education, also referred to as third stage, third level, and post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school, university-preparatory school...
equivalent of the Gifted Education Programme for secondary schools. He holds an honors degree in Business Administration from NUS.
Millionaire in the making
At age 15, Khoo was devouring books on "how to make moneyMoney
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...
" like Donald Trump's
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
business books and Warren Buffett's
Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as one of the most successful investors in the world. Often introduced as "legendary investor, Warren Buffett", he is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is...
books on investment
Investment
Investment has different meanings in finance and economics. Finance investment is putting money into something with the expectation of gain, that upon thorough analysis, has a high degree of security for the principal amount, as well as security of return, within an expected period of time...
techniques. While still in secondary school, he formed a mobile disco company
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
with his friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, using his grandmother's house to re-create a disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
and charged teenagers who attended a fee
Fee
A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup.Traditionally, professionals in Great Britain received a fee in contradistinction to a payment, salary, or wage, and would often use guineas rather than pounds as units of account...
. He even took over the job
Job (role)
A job is a regular activity performed in exchange for payment. A person usually begins a job by becoming an employee, volunteering, or starting a business. The duration of a job may range from an hour to a lifetime . If a person is trained for a certain type of job, they may have a profession...
of the deejay
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
that he hired
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
, after studying him. At 16, he began investing most of his time
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
and money to read and undergo training sessions in NLP in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. At 17, he became a freelance motivational trainer
Motivational speaker
A motivational speaker or inspirational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. In a business context, they are employed to communicate company strategy with clarity and help employees to see the future in a positive light and inspire workers to pull...
by visiting schools in Singapore, making the bold proposition of turning the worst students around for no charge in the beginning. Eventually, he started charging S$25 per student for half a day's training.
After completing National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
in the Republic of Singapore Air Force
Republic of Singapore Air Force
The Republic of Singapore Air Force is the air arm of the Singapore Armed Forces. It was first established in 1968 as the Singapore Air Defence Command...
at age 21, Khoo went into partnership
Partnership
A partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain commonplace...
with three NUS friends and registered an event management company, Creatsoul Entertainment. The company organized hops, jams and other entertainment
Entertainment
Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...
activities for clients like individuals, companies and organizations at NUS and Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
Nanyang Technological University
Nanyang Technological University is one of the two largest public universities in Singapore with the biggest campus in Singapore and the world's largest engineering college. Its lush 200-hectare Yunnan Garden campus was the Youth Olympic Village of the world's first 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in...
. This was later re-registered as Event Gurus Pte Ltd, an event management company. Today Event Gurus runs major events like The New Paper Big Walk
New Paper Big Walk
The New Paper Big Walk is a mass-participation walking event held annually in Singapore and holds the official Guinness World Record as the world's largest walk when a record-breaking 77,500 participants joined in to mark the 10th anniversary of The New Paper Big Walk 2000 which was held on May 21,...
and the President's Charity Challenge's Project Y.
At 23, Khoo obtained his license
License
The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...
in NLP in Seattle, Washington. At 24, he became a trainer at SuperTeen, conducting courses for organizations like the Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC)
Chinese Development Assistance Council
The Chinese Development Assistance Council is a joint development of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations . This council was established in 1992...
, Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP), Nanyang Girls' High School
Nanyang Girls' High School
Nanyang Girls' High School is an all-girls secondary school in Singapore. It participates in the Integrated Programme with Hwa Chong Institution under the Hwa Chong Affiliate Programme...
and the Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH) in Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
. At 25, Khoo was coaching
Coaching
Coaching, with a professional coach, is the practice of supporting an individual, referred to as the client or mentee or coachee, through the process of achieving a specific personal or professional result....
top insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
agents and marketing managers twice his age on how to boost sales. At this time, his father
Father
A father, Pop, Dad, or Papa, is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The adjective "paternal" refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother...
, Vince Khoo, who owned advertising agency
Advertising agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
Adcom, bought out all partners
Partnership
A partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain commonplace...
and offered the younger Khoo the opportunity to run it. Within three months, he turned it around from making losses in 1998–1999 to clinching a pitching rate of 80 percent with the first monthly profit
Profit (accounting)
In accounting, profit can be considered to be the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market whatever it is that is accounted as an enterprise in terms of the component costs of delivered goods and/or services and any operating or other expenses.-Definition:There are...
, and went on to increase margins by 30%. Their clients have included AIA, Dumex
Dumex
Dumex is an infants' and children's nutrition company. Its products span the growing-up milk and follow-on milk categories, and are sold mainly in South-East Asia and China....
, Mobil
Mobil
Mobil, previously known as the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, was a major American oil company which merged with Exxon in 1999 to form ExxonMobil. Today Mobil continues as a major brand name within the combined company, as well as still being a gas station sometimes paired with their own store or On...
(lost during the Exxon
Exxon
Exxon is a chain of gas stations as well as a brand of motor fuel and related products by ExxonMobil. From 1972 to 1999, Exxon was the corporate name of the company previously known as Standard Oil Company of New Jersey or Jersey Standard....
merger), Phillip Wain slimming centers, Sobe Fresh Soya Milk, Tabasco
Tabasco sauce
Tabasco sauce is the brand name for a hot sauce produced by US-based McIlhenny Company of Avery Island, Louisiana. Tabasco sauce is made from tabasco peppers , vinegar, and salt, and aged in white oak barrels for three years. It has a hot, spicy flavor...
, Heinz
H. J. Heinz Company
The H. J. Heinz Company , commonly known as Heinz and famous for its "57 Varieties" slogan and its ketchup, is an American food company with world headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Perhaps best known for its ketchup, the H.J...
, Sinsin, Night Safari, Singapore and MobileOne (M1)
MobileOne
M1 Limited is a telecommunications company in Singapore. Launched in April 1997, it was Singapore's second mobile operator after SingTel and supervene by StarHub, Singapore's third mobile operator....
.
At 26, Khoo earned his first million, from giving motivational training at schools and companies (the most lucrative, earning him up to S$1000 an hour), his entertainment company and shrewd investments in equities, unit trusts and property
Real property
In English Common Law, real property, real estate, realty, or immovable property is any subset of land that has been legally defined and the improvements to it made by human efforts: any buildings, machinery, wells, dams, ponds, mines, canals, roads, various property rights, and so forth...
.
Investments
Khoo's first taste of investing came from his grandfatherGrandparent
Grandparents are the parents of a person's own parent, whether that be a father or a mother. Every sexually-reproducing creature who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic grandparents, eight genetic great-grandparents, sixteen genetic great-great-grandparents, etc...
, who would give him Lunar New Year
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year – often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar – is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an all East and South-East-Asia celebration...
red packets with Malaysian share lots like Genting
Genting Group
Genting Group is an Asian conglomerate. It comprises four listed entities Genting Group is an Asian conglomerate. It comprises four listed entities Genting Group is an Asian conglomerate. It comprises four listed entities (namely holding company Genting Berhad (MYX:3182) and its member companies...
, Kuantan Flour Mill and HICOM. Inspired by Mary Buffett's book Buffettology, he started dabbling in shares in the army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
.
A conservative and long-term investor
Investor
An investor is a party that makes an investment into one or more categories of assets --- equity, debt securities, real estate, currency, commodity, derivatives such as put and call options, etc...
, Khoo goes for investments with very low risk
Risk
Risk is the potential that a chosen action or activity will lead to a loss . The notion implies that a choice having an influence on the outcome exists . Potential losses themselves may also be called "risks"...
and high returns, favoring cash-rich companies with low debts and the potential to consistently increase their earnings
Earnings
Earnings are the net benefits of a Corporation's operation. Earnings is also the amount on which corporate tax is due. For an analysis of specific aspects of corporate operations several more specific terms are used as EBIT -- earnings before interest and taxes, EBITDA - earnings before...
. He prefers investing in stock
Stock
The capital stock of a business entity represents the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders. It serves as a security for the creditors of a business since it cannot be withdrawn to the detriment of the creditors...
s and options
Option (finance)
In finance, an option is a derivative financial instrument that specifies a contract between two parties for a future transaction on an asset at a reference price. The buyer of the option gains the right, but not the obligation, to engage in that transaction, while the seller incurs the...
, using a variety of investing strategies including momentum
Momentum investing
Momentum investing, also sometimes known as "Fair Weather Investing", is a system of buying stocks or other securities that have had high returns over the past three to twelve months, and selling those that have had poor returns over the same period...
and value investing
Value investing
Value investing is an investment paradigm that derives from the ideas on investment and speculation that Ben Graham and David Dodd began teaching at Columbia Business School in 1928 and subsequently developed in their 1934 text Security Analysis...
.
Property
Khoo's portfolioPortfolio (finance)
Portfolio is a financial term denoting a collection of investments held by an investment company, hedge fund, financial institution or individual.-Definition:The term portfolio refers to any collection of financial assets such as stocks, bonds and cash...
consists of property
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
that he rents
Renting
Renting is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for all property charges regularly incurred by the ownership from landowners...
out, private businesses, Singapore stocks, US stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
Exchange-traded fund
An exchange-traded fund is an investment fund traded on stock exchanges, much like stocks. An ETF holds assets such as stocks, commodities, or bonds, and trades close to its net asset value over the course of the trading day. Most ETFs track an index, such as the S&P 500 or MSCI EAFE...
, generating an average return
Rate of return
In finance, rate of return , also known as return on investment , rate of profit or sometimes just return, is the ratio of money gained or lost on an investment relative to the amount of money invested. The amount of money gained or lost may be referred to as interest, profit/loss, gain/loss, or...
of over 20 percent per annum. In 1998, he bought a 1300 sq ft (120.8 m²) condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
in East Coast for S$480,000 and rented it out for about S$3,000. He sold it for S$650,000 in 2004. In early 2008, he bought a 900 sq ft (83.6 m²) condo
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
at Robertson Quay for S$1.3 million, renting it out at S$4,000.
Businesses
Khoo does not believe in taking on consumer debtConsumer debt
In economics, consumer debt is outstanding debt of consumers, as opposed to businesses or governments. In macroeconomic terms, it is debt which is used to fund consumption rather than investment...
and prefers starting businesses with zero capital
Financial capital
Financial capital can refer to money used by entrepreneurs and businesses to buy what they need to make their products or provide their services or to that sector of the economy based on its operation, i.e. retail, corporate, investment banking, etc....
, paying freelance fees or stocks in the beginning until profit
Profit (accounting)
In accounting, profit can be considered to be the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market whatever it is that is accounted as an enterprise in terms of the component costs of delivered goods and/or services and any operating or other expenses.-Definition:There are...
is generated.
In the media
Khoo's success and achievements have been featuredFeature story
- Published Features & news :While the distinction between published features and news is often clear, when approached conceptually there are few hard boundaries between the two. It is quite possible to write a feature in the style of a news story, for instance...
in regional media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
like The Straits Times, The Business Times (Singapore)
Business Times (Singapore)
The Business Times of Singapore is an English-language newspaper published since 1 October 1976 . In 1 January 1994, it became the first English-language newspaper in Asia to launch an online news service called Business Times Online. It is part of the Singapore Press Holdings group.-External links:*...
, The New Paper
The New Paper
The New Paper is Singapore's second-highest circulating paid English-language newspaper, first launched on July 26, 1988, by Singapore Press Holdings . According to SPH, its average daily circulation for August 2010 was 101600....
, Lianhe Wanbao, Channel NewsAsia (CNA)
Channel NewsAsia
Channel NewsAsia is an English language pan-Asian news network based in Singapore and owned by MediaCorp. Started on 1 March 1999 based in Singapore by Television Corporation of Singapore, it was launched internationally on 12 February 2001 as the international broadcasting arm of Channel...
, MediaCorp Channel U and Channel 8, MediaCorp 938LIVE (formerly NewsRadio 938) and Capital 95.8FM
Capital 95.8FM
Capital 95.8FM is a Mandarin radio station of MediaCorp in Singapore. It keeps the Chinese community informed about the latest news, and entertains with magazine-style programmes and popular music from the 60s to the 90s. It's programme often includes gossip, speculation and over-exaggeration of...
, The Hindu
The Hindu
The Hindu is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Chennai since 1878. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1.46 million copies as of December 2009. The enterprise employed over 1,600 workers and gross income reached $40...
, The Star
The Star (Malaysia)
The Star is an English-language, tabloid-format newspaper in Malaysia. It is the largest in terms of circulation in Malaysia, according to the . It has a daily circulation of between 290,000 to 300,000...
and The Sun
The Sun (Malaysia)
The Sun is Malaysia's first national free daily newspaper in tabloid form. Available from Mondays to Fridays except on public holiday, with a target audience of white-collar workers and urban youth....
Malaysian newspapers, The Executive Magazine
The Executive (magazine)
The Executive was a monthly entrepreneurship publication. It covered business management, finance and leadership. Articles were primarily written in a self-help.It began publication under Singapore Media Press in December 2006....
, Asian Business the Magazine for Entrepreneurs, Prestige
Prestige Hong Kong
Prestige Hong Kong is a luxury and high society magazine published monthly in Hong Kong by CR Media Limited. It features celebrities, fashion, high society, luxury goods, food, wine, travel, art, design, and photography. It was established in 2005....
, Her World Magazine, Calibre Magazine and many more. In 2007, he was ranked among the top 25 richest Singaporeans under the age of 40 by The Executive Magazine.