Fall Issue, 2014

Yu’s company Appedu initially charged students HK$500 per class, which equated to HK$2,000 per subject per month. “We realised this was a large sum to pay for parents whose salaries are less A t the tender age of 21, Timothy Yu was earning more than HK$50,000 a month. “In 2011, I was a student studying risk management and finance at HKU. After some time, a few friends and I decided to start a tutorial centre in Fortress Hill,” said Yu. Like many university students in Hong Kong, Yu gave private tutorials to secondary school students in his spare time. But what stood out was that he kept pushing boundaries. “Originally, it was more about business,” commented Yu. “But then I switched my mindset.” than HK$20,000 per month. In fact, one of my students told me he only had HK$500 left for the month and this was just before his public examinations.” Tutors – in a Snap Promoting paid app services in Hong Kong is not at all easy, as app education is a relatively new concept for local Chinese students. Timothy Yu 余佑謙 (BSc 2012) Philip Hong 康庭榕 (BSc 2011; MStat 2012) Named after the French word “Apprendre” which means “to learn” www.appedu.co 8 Cover Story