One Sneak Peek Into Benjamin’s Transformation: From Troubled Youth to Inspiring Leader

Finding the purpose of life - that is something most of us aspire to do.

If you were to look at Benjamin’s resume, you might think that he has always been as accomplished and motivated as he is now.

However, it might come as a surprise that he was once a troubled student who was relegated to the Normal Academic stream after scoring the last of his entire cohort of over two hundred students.

He spent his youth surrounded by other delinquents and secret societies.

Some of his friends even ended up in prison!

Lucky for him, he managed to graduate secondary school and top his class for the O Levels.

This experience made him realise the importance of working with youths, leading him to found BACP Singapore, a social enterprise that aspires to unlock the potential for youths and youth at risk.

Three years later, he joined Outwards Bound Singapore, where he was an instructor that conducted outdoor leadership and character building courses for young adults

Yet, this was not enough for Benjamin. As he did not commission as an officer during his mandatory National Service, having taken himself out of course, he chose to reenlist in the Singapore Armed Forces to pay his dues.

And eventually rose to the position of Officer Commanding.

During his second service in the military, he was shortlisted for the prestigious Sword of Honour and was even featured in local media.

His wife is another inspiring figure, being the first woman in Singapore to don the red beret.

Read on to find out what we chatted about!

1. Difficulties that youths today face

“As a young adult, you tend to want to try to prove yourself and figure out who you are going to become and what you are going to do. Some of us are lucky to know our direction from a young age and experience success early on in life, while others might go through pressure growing up. The people that are judging you might not just be your family, your partner’s family might judge you as well.

When I was a youth, my trajectory wasn’t very good. I studied in a neighbourhood school where there were lots of volatile people who joined secret societies and started fights. I myself was quite naughty back then.

In fact, some of my friends even ended up in prison. Although I managed to get out of secondary school and do quite okay in life. This experience illustrated the importance of working with youths to me.”

2. How he pushed through tough times

“When I first started my entrepreneurship journey, it was very difficult for me. Many of my friends already found jobs for themselves, and they would ask me out of concern if I could sustain my business. I think you should really have the conviction and belief in what you are doing.

Ask yourself, if you fail, what the worst outcome will be for you. And ask yourself, if you really believe in what you are doing. For instance, when I was becoming an instructor at Outward Bound Singapore, we have to go through 8 full months of training. There were many moments where I questioned myself.

But I would look at the colleagues around me, and that gave me a bit of assurance to continue. Is there any reason why I cannot make it through the training when many people around me can? It simply made no sense. Many of us are not inferior to others in any way. But we lack the courage and conviction that we are as good as anyone else.

While I was running my social enterprise, it got a little emotionally tiring as I had to work with certain firms that were not as ethical as I would have liked them to be. This led me to ponder about what would be the best thing for me to do, without having to think about profit and loss all the time while doing what I love. So, I gave the public sector a shot.

Personally, re-enlisting into the military is about paying my dues. During National Service, I was posted to be an officer, but at that point of time, I could not understand what I was doing so I did not want to complete the training just for the officer rank.

For me, it is very important to believe in what you are doing. So I chose to drop out of the course when I was younger. Over time, I started to understand why things happened in a certain way, and eventually I thought it necessary to go back to the military to serve my dues.”

3. Advice to youths

“At the end of the day, our time here is temporary. We must find out how to contribute to things that are bigger than us. For example, through my volunteer work in the community justice centre, I learned a lot more about societal problems. In fact there are so many ways to contribute, even something as challenging as a child protection officer volunteer!

I also recently started a support group for living kidney donors to provide some kind of emotional support for (and share information with) each other. No one else has done this. Sometimes, when there is no avenue for you to contribute, don’t wait for someone to start an initiative. Start it yourself. ”

Connect with Benjamin here: http://linkedin.com/in/bacsg

Check out his personal website: www.benjaminalexanderchua.com

Follow our telegram channel: https://t.me/onesneakpeekinto

And that is all for today’s One Sneak Peek Into.

Stay tuned for more insights from our interview series as we continue to explore the stories of trailblazers breaking barriers and redefining success.