Entrepreneurship

SINGAPORE: Devi Sahny has taken the road less travelled, but it is certainly paying off. The Belgium-born, US-educated entrepreneur was once part of the financial giant, Goldman Sachs, where she looked forward to a high-profile career in banking and its accompanying luxurious lifestyle.

However, Ms Sahny said goodbye to all that at the age of 23, deciding to pursue her passion—education—instead, in Singapore, where she knew practically no one.

She first made a big move when she was 18, leaving Belgium for Georgetown University in the US, where, like many, she was saddled with sizable student loans, according to her bio. As a student, she took every available job on campus. The self-described “borderline coffee snob” moonlighted as a barista, stood for hours on end as an exam proctor, and, perhaps most importantly for her career trajectory, worked as a teaching assistant (TA).

“I fell in love with education as a TA. While I was teaching others, I was learning so much more in return,” she writes.

This led to the start of a small business during her senior year, when she was 20: peer-to-peer coaching for college students. In three months, she earned $90,000, which left her in awe.

Watch Ms Sahny talk about her vision and journey here.

After graduating from Georgetown University with a double degree in philosophy and economics, she was hired by Goldman Sachs, where she worked for three years.

“As soon as I had paid off my student debt, I itched for something else. My purpose. What was it? Education? YES education – my 23 year-old brain said,” writes Ms Sahny.

An “impulsive” move to Singapore, which she describes as “a country famously known for its education system”, came next, and she started her company, Ascend Now, without a business idea, a network, or a business plan.

Ascend Now, of which Ms Sahny is the CEO, appears to have a two-fold purpose: to provide personalised academic assistance and mentoring to students from the ages of 7 to 17, as well as to encourage children towards entrepreneurship.

Aside from tutoring, it offers sessions on test preparation for entering university, creative writing, coding and app development, film and content creation, personal finance and investing, and how to start and run a business. The company works with more than 9,000 students, 148 teachers and learning designers, and over 200 institutions.

Not that Ascend Now’s teachers and students can only be found in Singapore. Since its sessions are held online, it can be accessed from anywhere around the globe.

“I deeply care about the next generation.  By equipping students with new skills and fostering self-discovery, we can prepare them for a rapidly changing world full of new opportunities,” she writes.

This care seems to have seeped into the core of Ascend Now, which has very positive reviews online, not only from satisfied students and their families but also from the teachers who work there.

Ms Sahny, who was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in 2021, launched another company last year called The Edge. Meant for students aged 12-17, it is a soft-skills platform that combines videos, gamification, and data tracking to help them monitor their progress.

She says her mum has been instrumental in her success. “My dedication to fostering resilience and growth in students is mirrored in my personal life, deeply influenced by my mother’s forward-thinking and generous spirit. From a young age, she taught me the importance of contributing to others, shaping my belief that paying it forward should be a natural part of life, not just a goal to achieve ‘once you are successful,” she told The Peak in 2024. /TISG