Sheng Wong’s vision of creating an e-learning platform for all has led to the recent creation of Diri, Malaysia’s first premium edutainment streaming service that redefines traditional education and corporate training, emphasising resonance learning. If that sounds like a mouthful, it’s because Diri has been finetuned to the very last detail, thanks to Wong’s strategic planning acuity honed from his background in finance, marketing and advertising.
As an immersive platform, Diri allows viewers rare access to no less than the likes of Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Abdul Wahid Omar, chairman of Bursa Malaysia; Datuk Nicol David, eight-time squash world champion; Tan Sri Nazir Razak, former CEO and chairman at CIMB Group; Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Tony Fernandes, CEO of Air Asia, and more. It’s an ambitious venture, to say the least—one where mentors guide viewers with valuable insights on leadership, communication, mindset, innovation, and more through immersive, high-definition cinematic videos.
The 34-year-old sat down with Robb Report Malaysia just a day before the launch of the platform to talk about his new venture, the transformative power of mentorship and the importance of having heroes.
What did your career look like before Diri?
I started my career in corporate and investment banking. From there, I struck it out on my own to explore a more entrepreneurial route. At turns, I had done the sweat equity part of the projects I ventured in and engaged in wealth management and sales, before starting my own digital agency and co-founding an e-sports company. Then the pandemic hit. Call it a crisis of conscience but I felt I needed to do something I personally found meaningful. Hence, the setting up of Diri.
What is Diri in a nutshell?
We are an e-learning platform that skews more towards Netflix than your regular slide presentation. Our content is shot, edited and shown like a movie or documentary—it’s entertaining. It’s also about knowledge, creating courses with local personalities and featuring stories that resonate and inform. We work together with our personalities to develop each course. Everything they teach comes from their life experiences, and we put it in a format that is optimised for attention, engagement and storytelling. We are B2B to start but we are looking at B2C very soon.
How did Diri come to life?
I always knew I wanted to do something that was education-related. My background in strategy and content creation meant I had built a network of people who could create great content as well as with those who have good corporate and industry relations. When we sat down together, we realised that though there are platforms like Diri elsewhere, there is currently none that Malaysians can relate to on a local level. Together, we felt that there was a gap in the market that we could fill to provide educational, entertaining content.
What is mentorship?
Getting a cheat code from someone more experienced and knowledgeable. As a mentee, it is my responsibility to convince my mentors that I am worth their time. My own mentorship came when I left the corporate world and joined my then-partner, who really opened up a new world for me. He taught me how to have a different mindset, to think and learn differently. I try to do the same with everyone working with me but it’s obviously harder on a larger scale. With Diri, one gets to have the rare opportunity to be ‘mentored’ by key players on various topics via the streaming platform. I’ve sat down with them individually to plan out their courses and to understand what their stories are. Every single one of them had a lesson I could pick up and apply. I believe it will be the same for our viewers.
What’s your advice to anyone who wants to start a new venture?
Be very clear that it’s something you want. Striking out on your own means having to deal with a lot of rejection. My time in sales had me being rejected regularly and from there, I learnt that my job only starts when the first no is said.
What would make the biggest difference in your life right now?
Having the power of hindsight.
What was the most valuable lesson you learned when starting Diri?
Whatever time you think it takes to do something, multiply that by three.
If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
I’d love to be able to teleport anywhere in an instant. Imagine the freedom of being able to travel anywhere without any limitations.
Who are your real-life heroes?
Dan Harmon is the genius behind some of my favourite shows. I really admire his unique storytelling and humour. His work has been a big inspiration to me.
Is there anything or anyone you find indispensable?
If I could fit my wife in my pocket, I would! She advises me on everything, including styling.
What are you looking forward to in 2024?
We are launching our courses to the public at the end of this year. We already have a wide range of courses and we are going to be engaging with even more mentors. Helping them craft their narratives to their respective target audiences is something I’m really excited about in the new year.
