Leaders
The whole world largely focuses on IQ, but Subha Nandhini realised that EQ (Emotional Quotient) with IQ (Intelligent Quotient) can do wonders for students. This one happened after her personal internalisation after running the Wordsmith for about nine years. Students who might have lower IQs but with high EQ are more confident & self-disciplined, are good at handling time & stress Management, can perform better than those with good IQ. Based on her close observation among the students, she realised that children with high EQ are not only successful in academics but can emerge as allrounders with holistic growth in all fields. They know how to manage and win the emotions and develop never give up attitude and self-motivate themselves to achieve their goals. Subha strongly believes that role of the parents / teachers is to develop EQ skills to higher level to make the children of this generation become independent, ready to face the real world full of challenges. She believes that lots of technology advancement is not used properly by students.
They get bogged down and develop addiction in games / online stuffs hinders them to run around and explore things with creativity, where now new discoveries / inventions are becoming less every year. Thus, tapping onto this topmost concern and facilitating learning in a fun manner is Subha Nandhini, Founder & Director of Wordsmith Learning Hub- a renowned book publisher for assessment books related to MOE Syllabus, Singapore and Tamil Learning Centre. She achieves this by simplifying the education source language through personalized textbooks & coaching solutions, matching the individual learners grasping capability, solution provider for education related problems.
Ensconced in 2013 Under The Aegis Of Subha Nandhini
(Founder & Director), Wordsmith is a neoteric initiative of hers conclusive to her own experience of scuffling through the troubles of educating her own children amidst the tumult of changing education trends & tutoring respective of language difficulty. Across the Singapore region, where Tamilians have amassed the populace, Subha introduced Wordsmith Learning Hub to enhance and at the same time simplify the Tamil background students’ learning technique by presenting to them the academics assessment textbooks and language classes in their very own mother tongue - Tamil Language. All English meaning are given nearby to the Tamil vocab words for easy understanding to the students, who uses English as the communication language at home and school. Holding 15 years of experience handling Finance & HR amidst the shipping industry and 9 years in the academics publishing industry, Subha is a progressive and advancing business leader who has been working towards the progression of next-gen students by providing them with proper education materials / workshops / courses as per the current need of the hour. In an exclusive interaction with Women Entrepreneur Magazine, Subha speaks about her entrepreneurial journey and the creation of Wordsmith Learning Hub. Here are excerpts from the conversation.
Introduce Us To Wordsmith Learning Hub. Also, Highlights Its Cutting-Edge Aspects Amidst The Education And Publishing Sector.
Initially incepted as a book publishing company, today Wordsmith is a renowned book publisher for assessment books related to MOE Syllabus in Singapore. Tamil language as one of our mandatory mother tongue subject to study at school considering the huge Tamil populace here. Beginning with publishing Tamil assessment books, we have also moved into coaching, workshops and recently to preschool coaching business. Currently we run four Premier language Centres (at Bencoolen (Main Centre), Hougang, Bukit Batok and Bedok) and Workshops for Students/Parents with kids pursuing their Primary & Secondary Level Education. Our coaching programs are based on our Sigaram book published under Wordsmith and exclusively training to teachers handling PSLE and O Level Students, who are taking National exam at the age of 12 and 16 years.
Today parents / teachers around the world focus largely on IQ, not realizing that instilling EQ within children is equally important. A high EQ is an easy approach to maintain learning interest within them, and helps students score well and evolve as a successful person; we understand that 80 percent of success comes from EQ, rather just the IQ. Hence, we are now rebranding ourselves to serve the parents/ students better by becoming the one and only language centre to provide IQ with EQ as a learning solution. Ours “Exam Success Program” is part of our curriculum at our centres, to imbue holistic development in every child’s growth in order to help reap their full potential. Here, our unique initiative is being driven by the experienced Primary / Secondary Specialist teachers who are wellversed with the MOE Syllabus, Singapore. This puts them in an advantageous position to extensively train the students with proven techniques and strategies to face any challenging questions in all semester exams, and in national exams like PSLE and O-Level.
Take Us Through Your Early Educational Journey And Prior Industry Experience. What Motivated You To Venture Into The Field Of Academics Publishing?
I am a BBM graduate and have also pursued MBA with specialization in Finance & HR from GRG School of Management Studies, Coimbatore, India. We relocated to Singapore in 1997 where I worked in the shipping industry in Finance and HR dept for over 15 years. Though the regulations, working structures and government online systems & policies are quite different in Singapore as compared to India, it was my prior professional experience that provided me exposure and confidence to venture into and sail through the nittygritties of the publishing industry.
To talk about my motivation, it was entirely an amalgamation of personal and panoramic reasons that includes every student’s extensive growth. I have had a great career growth transcending from a junior executive role to senior executive, then finance manager and lastly finance controller which required a lot of traveling and hence caused me to struggle between my professional and family responsibilities. Therefore I wanted to seek a job role that that would have flexible timing.
“A high EQ is an easy approach to maintain learning interest within them, and helps students score well and evolve as a successful person; we understand that 60 percent of success comes from EQ, rather just the IQ”
Well, I was always contemplating which field to venture into to achieve time-freedom to start on my own, which is close to my heart and have lot of passion to do it. Seed for the book publishing idea came to me, when hunted for books for tamil language for my 2nd daughter, could not find proper materials and requisite coaching for this Niche business. But, then finally I realized my interest and indulged into this crucial concern of students’ education as per MOE Syllabus and ventured under the brand name Wordsmith Learning Hub, introducing my own publishing company offering assessments books for Tamil students as per MOE Syllabus, Singapore. However, I too did a lot of groundwork too in order to upgrade myself followed by pursuing digital marketing courses and became a member of SICCI (Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce) to understand the current trend in business.
Tell Us About The Various Roles & Responsibilities With Roles & Duties That You Currently Shoulder At Wordsmith Learning Hub? What Are Some Of The Most Challenging Aspects Of Your Current Role As The Director? How Do You Overcome Them?
I'm a single management personnel at my company which has been a challenging task for me all along. Though, I have a team herein working under me now, every decision with respect to the business and related things is made by me. However, landing from the shipping industry to a completely different field of publishing has provided me with confidence to take up leadership role adroitly. Be it about my staff or myself, I take immense care to not miss out on any changes or trends emerging around in the industry. I wear many hats within the company to fulfil my significant responsibilities and the experience I have gained in my initial three years of entrepreneurship are the cornerstones of what I am today.
“My entrepreneurial endeavour is not just to do business to earn revenue, but a cause for the holistic development of children. Children should love to study, have fun in learning, which brings out amazing result since they work from heart with great desire”
Also, since I love my entrepreneurship role and the job I’m doing, challenges in the journey seems like a passing cloud to me. I enjoy dealing with the challenges.
How Do You Keep Yourself Well Aligned With The Periodic Evolutions Occurring In The Industry And The Technology Domain?
I agree, it is very important for each one to stay abreast with the evolutions and technology advancements happening around and hence we have been scrupulously taking care of it. Our IT team is located in India and they guide and help me to stay updated with industry trends and everything that concerns our business. Also, in this digital world when technology trends become obsolete in the blink of an eye, I particularly ensure to keep my staffs and websites in sync with the technology evolutions. In the near future, we are in the process of implementing AI technology into our learning systems and solutions.
Given The All-Encompassing Nature Of Your Role At Wordsmith Learning Hub, How Do You Strike A Balance Between Your Professional And Personal Life? Are There Any Activities Or Hobbies That You Devote Time To?
It’s very easy, I am a very system-oriented person by nature. Be it my personal or professional life, there is a routine for everything. Even though I have a helper at home, I like to oversee things very attentively there too. While if it’s about my professionalism I do a proper analysis and market research before doing anything for the business and employees’ growth.
My entrepreneurial endeavour is not just an income source for me, but a cause for the holistic development of children and parents at the same time by cumulatively bringing understanding betwixt the two and strengthening the parent-child bond.
I am also passionate about women empowerment. There are many single mothers around here who face difficulty in bringing-up their children hence, we want to help all those single mothers to give pre coaching and all our books all for free for both parent and child. Our future projects inlay pulling in all the publishers in Singapore or Southeast Asia onto our website and expanding our horizon to kindergarten, beyond the existing primary and secondary class structures.
What Would You Advice To The Young Women Aspiring To Become Business Leaders And Entrepreneurs?
Well, I believe failing is a part of success. Parents should also allow their children to fall because only then they will come out stronger, fight back against the challenges and achieve greater success. Many pursue business management with a thought to excel, however what basically implies is their zeal to excel. Hence, my suggestion would to all would be to never give up, realize your true passion and turn the stones to achieve it.
Subha Nandhini, Founder & Director, Wordsmith Learning Hub, Singapore
With over 15 years of experience in SFRS audit standards, SOP implementation, Financial & HR management well-versed with Singapore Govt. online system, Subha is a dynamic and progressive business leader & entrepreneur who has been dedicated to augmenting the education standard in Singapore since the last nine years through her academic publications, coaching, workshops, SPA - Singapore Parents Academy - giving solutions for education related problems remain their motto.
