Ernest Chan, Founder of AESIR — Perseverance Pays
Ernest Chan is the founder of AESIR, a Hong Kong based social enterprise that produces virtual reality games for persons with special needs. Ernest values real-world experience of trial-and-error in making one’s entrepreneurial journey and life path work.
27-year-old Ernest Chan is from Hong Kong, and a co-founder of social enterprise AESIR. His journey began with a simple incident as a volunteer at a centre for special needs youth. “There was a kid who really, really touched my heart,” he shares, “We had these drawing lessons; I had to take care of ten different things. And [this kid] was painting on his face.”
“And I was thinking, ‘are you crazy or something, why are you doing that?’”
“And then, he smiled at me. It was a real smile. He smiled like sunshine.”
“He wanted to catch my attention, and that’s what he did at home.” Many children in Hong Kong are taken care of by domestic helpers, Ernest explained, and kids have to be “really different” to catch their parents’ attention.
“And then I realised: this is something that I really want to change.”
Changing the Landscape
Ernest was 24 when he started his first company organising overseas exposure trips for Hong Kong students to “be aware of how much they have”. It was at this age that he made a serious commitment to being an entrepreneur.
The turning point came after a brief corporate stint in Sweden. “It was a very good job,” he reflects, “very stable, with long holidays, and nice people”. However, some soul-searching allowed him to see that it was not his preferred path: “I asked myself: when I look at my colleagues, is there a role model? Someone I want to be in five, ten years’ time?”
There wasn’t.
“I don’t want to be part of a big corporate, a little part just to maintain something,” said the entrepreneur. He then began seeking answers to a different question:
“What was the most important or touching moment in my life?”
The youth centre. The child with the paint-splashed face, and the sunshine smile.
With Ernest’s vision to change the landscape for persons with special needs, AESIR was born.
About AESIR
An augmented reality and virtual reality game company, AESIR was developed to serve persons with special needs and the therapists, clinics, hospitals, or social workers who work alongside them.
AESIR does three things:
· Educate — AESIR facilitates the learning process for persons with special needs through games
· Train — AESIR trains therapists to serve persons with special needs
· Intervene — AESIR provides clinically-adopted therapeutic psychological intervention with an Augmented Reality playbook
Advice to aspiring entrepreneurs
1. Ask yourselves: What is my impact? What is my risk appetite?
“It’s about how impactful the solution or product is,” Ernest says, cautioning entrepreneurs to think through how they are going to achieve their goals. “So let’s say my product is going to impact 1000 persons with special needs. What are the steps to reaching that number?”
Another element to think through is how much you are willing to risk to make your business work. Do you have money to spend? Can you afford the time investment? These are the things that require deep thought before anyone starts — especially because being an entrepreneur may not result in the outcome you had in mind.
“Being an entrepreneur doesn’t mean that you are going to be rich, or a super good person. It’s a lot of trial and error.”
2. Find good partners.
Lack of experience can be made up for with the right partners.
The startup uses all the brains it has — and all the brains it can borrow. “We take instruction and design from the U.S.”, on how the company draws from existing resources developed by academic institutions.
It partners experienced players to make up for the young founders’ relative inexperience. Partners are identified by their reputation — “we see how many years they [have served] persons with special needs,” as well as proven experience, and methodology.
How do you get people to trust you? Have a plan for people, and communicate regularly and honestly, Ernest says. People can feel how honest you are, even if they may not tell you straightaway.
Conversely, you cannot afford to find the wrong partner. “It could be really, really disastrous. It’s more than just losing money. You lose your time. You lose a lot of opportunities.”
“To sustain the relationship with good partners: be ambitious, but realistic.”
“A lot of entrepreneurs come into the team, saying, ‘We want to achieve something great. We want to be the next Google, or the next Facebook, and we’re going to raise $10, 000.’ But we all know that there is a very, very few chance that that is going to happen.”
3. Try.
“There are a lot of things you just need to experience; I don’t think there is a fast pass.” But he advises taking calculated risks: “whenever you take an opportunity, think through what are the costs behind it”.
“A lot of people tell me not to do some things, but I still do it,” he muses.
“There is not a fixed path — this is right, and this is wrong. You just need to experience, then you know.”
In a capitalist society like Hong Kong — as in the case in Singapore — the opportunity cost is very high. Choosing the entrepreneurial route is “about thinking for yourself, not listening to everyone, having a little faith in yourself,” he says.
4. Keep learning.
To keep himself alert, Ernest writes a blog. This helps him to collect his thoughts, keep the important things in view, and to learn from his experiences. Including failure.
Even in the face of failure, he chooses to learn. “The most important thing is that it’s not about failure. It’s what you’ve learnt,” he says. Failure is the mother of success, he says. It is necessary. His response to failure is to gather his team and think aloud.
“The most important thing is that you have to admit it — speak it aloud, and say that it was a mistake. Some people don’t do that, and repeat their mistakes.”
5. Persevere.
Ultimately, he urges young entrepreneurs not to give up too soon. “Just because you are not successful at a period of time does not mean you are not going to be successful in the long run.”
People give up easily. But the most important thing is to keep practising, he encourages.
“It’s not about how smart you are, or about how quick you can do things, but how long you are willing to spend on a thing… If you keep practising something repeatedly, you will turn something around.”
Evidently, the team’s perseverance paid off, surpassing over a thousand teams to emerge one of the top 12 semifinalists at the DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia 2016.
6. Enjoy the moment.
By seizing the opportunities presented before them, moment by moment, social innovators like Ernest can make the difference they seek — even when the odds are against them.
How can you help?
Ernest says…
“We are always hungry for good people, like-minded professionals who share the passion to make the world a better place, in particular, for special needs. We need professional instructors and help to promote care for special needs in different communities.
Start by dropping us an email or Facebook message.”
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Ready to develop your social enterprise idea?
If you are seeking support for your social enterprise idea, NUS Enterprise has a host of events and funding opportunities to equip you on your journey.
One such programme is the DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia, where AESIR emerged as a semi-finalist in 2016. Take part and stand a chance to grow your innovative, scalable solution with sustainable impact.
Another programme is the NUS Enterprise Start-Up Runway, which supports start-ups at any point of your entrepreneurial journey.
More information on the Social Venture Lab @ NUS is available at our website.
