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Tf&,TES SATURDAY, AUGUST 28 2O1O FAGE W
Mr Law
founded
Star Zest
Iuition
Agency in
1999 and
it
makes
about 500
matches
every
month. He
says he
makes
it
compulsory
for tutots to
bring along
their
cedificates
fu the first
lesson so
that parents
can choose
to verify
them.
ST PHOTO:
MARYANNE
TAN
I run 'an honest business'
MR LAW Han Wei candidly admits that his tuition agency is just
"the middleman".
But he rejects the idea that tui-
tion matchmaking services add
no value to the relationship between tutor and student.
"We have many full-time tutors who don't want to deal with
the hassle of finding assignments.
They want to focus on teaching.
"So they come to us. We find
them the assignments and handle
all the phone calls."
The 3o-year-old founded Star
Zest Tuition Agency in 1999 and
has been running it ever sincb.
Fresh out of national service at
the age of 20, he sold insurance
for about three years before deciding to become his own boss.
The idea to open a tuition agency came from his days as a poly-
primary school kids. "I
had some interactions
with the tuition agencies,
so it was an industry I
was familiar with," Mr
Law says.
Star Zest's
database
contains 30,000 regis-
tered tutors, of whom
about 10,000 have never
taken a single assignment.
Of the remaining
20,000, only about 5,000
are actively searching for
it compulsory for tutors
an assignment at any given mo-
he makes
ment.
It is not as sinister or misleading as it sounds, though, Mr Law
to bring along their
for the first lesson.
"We let the parents know that
another five.
tutors, Mr Law says, there
"But during the middle of the
year, they're not looking for new
assignments. So just because
they're not active on our site
doesn't mean they're not currently teaching."
His agency makes about 500
sure to be a few bad eggs. So any
tutor rejected on the first lesson
Qy two different students, or who
receives consistent negative feedback from parents, is placed on
the agency's blacklist.
Mr Law says about 1,000 tutors' names currently grace this
says. "Say a tutor has 10 students. At the end of the year, five
graduate, so he or she looks for
matches every month. About 200
of these are from repeat custom-
ers, while lO0 come from referrais by current customers. The remaining 200 come from new customers who either respond to one
of Mr Law's classifieds or come
across his agency's website.
The average length of each assignment, he says, is six
months.
When asked how he
his tutors have
the qualifications they
claim to possess, Mr Law
is adamant: "I've always
believed in running an
ensures
honest business."
Tutors applying for assignments on Star Zest's
website can
upload
scanned copies of their
educational qualifications. And Mr Law says
certificates
they can ask to see the qualifications if they want."
With such a large database of
are
wall of shame. "The first time,
it's all right. We give them a
chance, maybe the tutor and the
student are just not a good fit.
"But if it happens more than
once, then it's probably the tutor's attitude that is bad."
Mr Law says his turnover
is
"not bad, about $200,000 to
$300,000 a year". But he adds
that it took him 11 years to get to
this'stage. "I've had my ups and
downs,t' he confesses.
"At one point, we rented an
office in Katong Mall and tried a
new business strategy of interviewing every tutor who signed
up. But it didn't work out."
whv?
"Tutors didn't want to come,
and the parents didn't care that
we interviewed our tutors."
DARYI-
tIM