Empathy

And then here comes the second core value that we have. We hold three core values in Stellar. Integrity comes first—it’s non-negotiable. I’ve shared before that my first venture didn’t end because I failed; it ended because I couldn’t find peace with the way we scaled. I realized there are things far more important than monetary returns. And so, given a second chance, I committed to doing the right thing—even when nobody is watching—so I could finally be at peace with myself.

Then comes empathy.

This one’s deeply personal. It started with people—my mentor, my first hires—and slowly grew into the soul of this second venture. After I left my first company, I met my mentor. He wasn’t just successful; he was whole. His lifestyle gave me a preview of what life could be like at 60. I had met billionaires before, but most of them lived lives I didn’t want to copy. They had everything, but still lacked something deep. I started to wonder:

“What’s the point of becoming a billionaire if I end up despising who I become?”

So I asked myself:

• Why do I want financial freedom?
• Why do I want to retire?
• Why do I want to start again?

When I met my mentor, he didn’t just give business advice. He empathized. He saw what I had been through, and instead of offering a transactional opportunity, he offered something better: belief. I proposed becoming his franchisee for UCSI Child Development Centre in JB. It would’ve saved me years of rebuilding.

He said no.

Instead, he encouraged me to build my own brand—from scratch.

That’s empathy. He wasn’t focused on what he could gain from me. He cared more about who I was becoming.

He asked about my marriage, my inner world, my family. He listened like a teacher who cared beyond the syllabus. And when someone does that—pours into your life unconditionally—you never forget. You become a mirror of that.

So I did the same.

I started hiring young people—not for their skills, but to give them a chance. Some were my former students. I didn’t even know what they could do. I just said, “Come. I’ll pay you. You’ll learn something.”

That was empathy in action.

In my first venture, everything was about profit. But in Stellar—this born-again story—people mattered more than metrics. If I had to fail again just to build someone up, I’d still do it.

One of those people was Samuel.

He started in preschool. A brilliant teacher. But I knew he couldn’t stay there forever. It would be against the company’s interest to pull him out. But his life mattered more than the role.

So I took a risk.

Taught him business. Photography. Strategy. Exposed him to tycoons and high-level conversations. Why? Because I understood his background. No silver spoon. No inheritance. No shortcuts. Just grit.

When you’ve had to climb from zero, you learn how to value growth.

That’s empathy.

And as we grew from 10 to nearly 200 team members, it became harder to preserve. The more we corporatized, the more we risked losing it. But I keep coming back to this:

One day, AI might replace roles.
But it will never replace real empathy.

It can imitate tone. It can simulate emotion. But it cannot understand pain.

It cannot hold space for someone.

So as tech advances, we must teach humans to be better humans.

That’s why empathy is our second core value. Not because it looks good on posters.
But because it’s the one thing that keeps this whole story human.