EASYUNI Ultimate University Guide 2013 Issue 6 | Page 58

FE ATU R E D M ENTO R easyuni.com: Making University Search a Breeze for Future Generations From a start-up in 2010, easyuni.com has grown to become the No.1 platform in Malaysia and Indonesia for students and parents searching for universities and colleges around the world, find information, read student reviews, and connect with counselors. Currently, easyuni.com has helped more than 3,000,000 students, and the mastermind behind all this is the CEO of easyuni.com, Edwin Tay Heng Aun. We caught up with him recently for a short interview. Tell us briefly about yourself and about what you’re doing now? I’m the CEO and co-founder of easyuni.com. After selling off my first company – a digital agency that I started in 2010, my co-founders and I decided to start easyuni.com with the vision that we can make a difference in the lives of future generations by providing them a platform to help them make accurate decisions in choosing a course and university. 70 percent of working adults surveyed mentioned that, given a chance, they would choose a different course to do in university. This error in judgement leads to a lot of heartache and lost opportunities. With easyuni, we hope to give them all the necessary information, advice and tools to empower them to make the right decision. 56 easyuni Guide 2015 Issue 6 What would you describe as the five key traits every aspiring entrepreneur should have? There are many traits, such as passion, intelligence, discipline, hard work, and so on. But the one most important trait in my opinion is GRIT. Grit, in my definition, is the ability to keep going at it – no matter what people say, no matter the failures and rejections – until success is found. Looking back over the last ten years, what would you say are achievements you’re most proud of? I’m proud of successfully exiting my first company via a trade sale to a public listed company. My shareholders got good returns, my staff were absorbed and did not lose their jobs and our clients were taken care of. In the end, the company brand lived on and it went to a better place where it can grow to the next level.