Meet the Fundigo team:
(in clockwise direction) Chung Wei Tat, Andrew Soh, Mok Lin Jiang, Jocelyn Seah and Clarabelle Chui
When like-minded individuals come together to pursue their passion, they are unstoppable as a team. This echoed the beginning of Fundigo, a Singapore-based crowdfunding startup that empowers organisations to raise money for their causes, started by a team of founders with a wide array of skills. What was their story?
Chung Wei Tat, SUSS Finance student, was looking for opportunities beyond the 9am to 5pm job, while at 18 years old, his friend, Andrew Soh, had a flair for problem solving. The pair then decided to form a startup together. Later on, they met Mok Lin Jiang, SUSS Computing student, who decided to join them in their venture. From then on, the trio worked together to build new products and present solutions to clients.
The founders discovered that many companies faced funding challenges when it comes to doing good or performing charitable work that has no impact on bottom line. They saw their opportunity to build a crowdfunding avenue that would be validated by the public. Fundigo’s mission is to connect the world and empower people to work together for a better tomorrow.
When the founders went into business, stakeholders such as users, campaigners and backers struggled to understand Fundigo’s mission and purpose. The team had to constantly modify their marketing strategies and presentation deck to enable stakeholders to better understand their business. Along the way, the founders received many insights from their users, which allowed them to utilise the newfound knowledge to improve their business.
As a start-up under the Alibaba Cloud - SUSS Entrepreneurship Programme, the team has benefitted from SUSS’ dedicated mentorship and networks with established venture capitals, bringing them business opportunities.
In the next five years, the founders plan to expand Fundigo’s services into the Southeast Asian market. The team looks forward to being the funding pillar for startups and a platform where for-profit companies can engage to do good.
The founders’ advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is: “Go ahead and try! The best way to learn is through hands-on experience. Some failure is inevitable but as the saying goes – Failure is the mother of success. Nobody wants to fail but through failure, you can learn much more! First step is always the toughest, but it'll get easier after that!”