Having built a variety of small businesses in different industries over the past six years, 30-year-old Diego Foo spends most of his time today managing his personal investments and ensuring that his businesses operate smoothly to continue growing.
The young entrepreneur turned investor describes having a strong work ethic as a fundamental ingredient to success in any realm of human endeavour.
"Since remote working became the norm due to the COVID-19 situation globally, some younger millennials and Gen Zs think they just have to work smart, as if working hard is now passe. However, the truth is working smart isn't enough. There are plenty of very intelligent folks out there who are smarter than you and they are working harder than you at the same time. Fulfilling only half the equation, unfortunately, isn't sufficient to compete with the tremendous amount of smart and hardworking people out there," he explains from the city-state of Singapore where he is currently based.
Amidst the pandemic and economic uncertainty, Diego has remained grounded in order to grow his sports picks and investing picks consulting businesses (where he oversees marketing and strategy). While the business owner has high expectations for his team who help run his businesses, he reveals a different side of himself when he talks about giving back.
A strong believer in paying it forward, he says donating at least 5% of your income every year is a good habit to develop.
"Basically, a great way to train your abundance mentality is to give away to charity. You have to believe that whatever you give, you are capable of earning back multiple times. Aim to donate at least 5-10% of your annual income to good causes every year. This is what I've been doing and you will find that in a strange way, you also become motivated to work harder so that you can set aside more money for charitable causes that you believe in."
Although Diego spends much of his time handling his investments and building businesses, he has clearly demonstrated that it is essential for those who have benefited from the system to pay it forward and give back.
When asked if he would ever consider slowing down or even taking early retirement, the indefatigable Singaporean has this to say: "Numbers are just a way of keeping score, the real excitement is playing the game."
He opines that there are still lots of new areas that he would like to explore, including angel investing in start-ups and expanding the impact of his philanthropy.
