‘We want every child to bring their ideas to life,’ say Stick ‘Em co-founders
This article was first published in The Sunday Times on Nov 23, 2025 as part of The Straits Times Signature Series
IN A cavernous hall at Raffles Girls School (RGS) bustling with students, the thrill and joy of creation shines through on the faces of three girls as they marvel over their new gizmo – a dancing robot that they built themselves with wooden chopsticks and connectors – that moves at the press of a button.
It’s the venue for RGS’ Community and Makers Fair 2025, where students are encouraged to explore how they can make a difference.
Robotics kit-maker Stick ‘Em saw at the fair an opportunity to spread a wider understanding of the magic of their product – affordable STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) kits that use wooden chopsticks and biodegradable connectors to help students build robots, vehicles and other gadgets.
The kit also has an online platform with tutorials and challenges that help users learn and apply STEAM concepts, such as coding, engineering and maths.
Their pitch was to encourage girls to sign up to build “dancing robots”.
“Among those who signed up was Jillian Cheong, 16, a literature and arts student at the school who picked up Stick ‘Em chopsticks for the first time.
“We were goofing around with the decorations, but the mechanics of putting it together were easy. When our robot started to move, it was so satisfying,” she told The Sunday Times.
“There were many parts to it and we had to sort things out to make it work. It teaches you that, as in life, not everything comes with instructions. You have to adapt and go through trial and error, so you have a result that brings happiness,” she said.
Mrs Leung Hui Leng, 54, who teaches design and technology at the school, said the fair itself was an effort to get students interested in technology to be able to play their part in helping the community.
“We interpret technology for good very broadly to include well-being and we want the girls thinking with their hands,” she said.
“The Stick ‘Em kits are useful. The kits are colourful, attractive and a more sturdy prototype compared to cardboard and paper. And we also use chopsticks all the time so it is easy to use.
“If you make mistakes, you can make changes fairly quickly and the cost of failure is not so high.”
Mrs Leung noted that what’s important is iteration, and Stick ‘Em kits allow users to do that.
“It is common to fear failure. But when you fail fast and can try again, you learn more. Also, the kits allow you to explore different variations. So it helps us tell our students: Explore, try, fail, repeat and have fun,” she added.
Creativity in the age of AI
That’s exactly Stick ‘Em’s mission. The start-up sees STEAM education as a tool for imparting 21st-century skills like problem-solving, adaptability and creativity and wants to make it accessible to all students.
STEAM teaching evolved from the conventional STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education system, with weightage given to creativity, design and arts together with science and technical skills to encourage inquiry and creative-thinking skills.
This educational approach emphasises interdisciplinary learning and focuses on hands-on, project-based activities, moving beyond traditional learning.
“Who knows what new jobs will exist in the future?,” Stick ‘Em’s founders ask on their website and add: “We’re not just trying to create the next generation of robotics experts and coders. We’re developing the next generation of problem solvers, who will grow up to solve the world’s biggest issues.”
The company’s journey dates back to 2020 when they were still studying at different tertiary institutions in Singapore. Mr Chong and Mr Adam teamed up with another friend, Mr Tew Jing An, to set up Stick ‘Em, first as a project and, two years later, as a company specialising in low-cost robotics kits.
Sharing their reasons, Mr Chong, 22, who is also chief executive of the company, said: “Some people get every opportunity handed to them. Others never even get a chance.
“I love building. I love robotics. But access to STEAM education wasn’t a given. Talent and curiosity are everywhere. But opportunity? That’s uneven.”
Co-founder Adam, who is also executive director, added: “I saw the same thing; only a handful of kids got the chance. Others had no way in. That’s what stayed with us. We wanted to change that.”
“Not just for us. Not just for Singapore but STEAM education for every child, everywhere,” Mr Chong said.
The two sat together for the interview and took turns responding to questions posed to them. Both see STEAM education as the future in the age of artificial intelligence.
“What kids need more in the age of AI are problem-solving, critical-thinking skills, being adaptable, showing empathy, a lot of 21st-century skills that don’t really get covered in the typical curriculum,” said Mr Chong.
Giving an example, Mr Adam said a STEM-educated person might be able to make a super-powerful laptop, but it may not be one that people can use. “A STEAM-educated person, on the other hand, will think of what is really user-friendly, like big screens and a big keyboard that people can use conveniently,” he said.
“As technology advances and AI usage becomes widespread, what separates kids isn’t about who can code the fastest. Instead, it’s going to be our uniquely human skills, and STEAM education is how we build it,” he added.
The untrodden path
The initial years were not easy, but the start-up is now a 14-member strong venture, including employees, with offices at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and the National University of Singapore. They meet at these offices to brainstorm, share insights from their interactions with teachers and students in schools, refine lesson plans and develop business strategies.
Together, they both work on the company’s vision, but Mr Chong focuses more on teacher engagement while Mr Adam takes care of product and business development. The other co-founder, Mr Tew, 22, oversees software engineering.
“In the beginning,” said Mr Adam, “it was fairly challenging because Kai was a year one student in poly while I was just starting out on my bachelor’s degree. We were spending a lot of time on Stick ‘Em while juggling our respective full-time academic commitments.”
“It puts a lot of pressure on you because schooling is a big part of your life,” said Mr Chong, adding that running the company at the same time makes it difficult to balance their time and energy.
“But it’s also incredibly fun because we get to work with kids. And it’s fulfilling because you literally see the kids developing in front of you. And over a few sessions, you see them getting better at problem-solving.”
“Figuring things out makes this experience very interesting,” said Mr Adam. “We’re operating in many different countries now and we’re just kids trying to figure out how to work with governments, win over big school chains and overcoming international scaling hurdles like moving our production overseas and all that.
“And there’s just so much stuff to do. But we’re realising that this is what it means to run a company. We have much to learn, and are eager to learn it“ he said.
What is gaining them traction is the use of the ubiquitous chopstick, found in most kitchen cabinets. Not only is it giving them an edge on costs, but its very presence in robotic experiments adds to the product’s appeal.
Dunman Secondary School student Hrithik Ramya Kanthaprakash, 15, who has been using Stick ‘Em kits for a few months, vouches for that.
“The use of chopsticks gives the robots a unique aesthetic appearance compared to other products such as Lego bricks,” he told ST. “Nobody thinks chopsticks could be used to build robots, but Stick ‘Em is allowing us to do just that, and using chopsticks just makes it much more fun,” he said.
Much to do
Mr Chong and Mr Adam have their sights on children everywhere. The World Economic Forum, they say on their website, estimates there are nearly one billion children with no access to quality STEAM education.
To date, Stick ‘Em has reached over 13,000 kids and 1,300 educators worldwide.
Stick ‘Em’s kits – aimed at nine to 16 year-olds – have been sold in Singapore to over 10,000 children across 150-plus primary and secondary schools. Each costs $100 and comes with wooden chopsticks, geometric connectors, wheels and plug-and-play electronics.
“We also have an app and an online academy, but the starter kit is for kids to build hundreds of ideas from anything they find around them,” said Mr Chong.
Beyond Singapore, their kits have reached teachers and children in 13 countries, including Indonesia and Vietnam, and floating villages in Malaysia and Uganda.
“Everywhere we go, the story is the same,” said Mr Chong. “Potential is universal.”
The duo are also focused on the qualitative impact they are making, and said teachers have told them that impatient students have become more patient after using Stick ‘Em kits. Instead of dashing off to the playground, they now patiently try to solve a problem.
“A rural school in Uganda was ranked number one in the country in coding after using Stick ‘Em,” said Mr Chong. “And we’ve seen teachers becoming converts to STEAM education and realising its importance,” added Mr Adam.
Their zeal and ambition led them to win the US$1 million (S$1.3 million) Hult Prize in 2025. The competition challenges young entrepreneurs to create for-profit businesses that address global social and environmental issues. More than 200,000 participants from 130 countries and 2,000 universities joined in, generating 15,000 start-up ideas.
Hult Prize Foundation CEO Lori van Dam said: “The world is facing increasingly complex challenges. Nonprofits alone cannot fill the gaps left by the public sector, particularly while managing scarce resources and shifting donor priorities.
“The private sector has a critical opportunity to be part of the solution,” she said, arguing that purpose-led start-ups need to be backed.
“Stick ‘Em is an ambitious business that stood out among 15,000 start-up ideas with a clear vision for global growth. I’m thrilled to congratulate them on their win.”
The two co-founders are deeply passionate, humble and purpose-driven, said Stick ‘Em’s angel investor and mentor Natasha Foong, 61.
“They are constantly learning, growing and listening to feedback. And they genuinely care about the impact they’re making. With that attitude, I think they’ll go far. They’re building something meaningful that has already started to grow beyond Singapore,” she said in written remarks.
“Their work represents a generation of young entrepreneurs who are using creativity for good – empowering students to think critically and solve problems.
“Their clarity of purpose already gives them a strong foundation and, like many start-ups, the next step is about scaling – building stronger business systems, expanding partnerships and finding sustainable ways to grow while staying true to their purpose.”
That is uppermost on the minds of Mr Chong and Mr Adam.
Next up is a plan to build on their online learning platform to allow students from around the world to see what others are building and learn from them.
There will be more
“It just comes back to where we began,” said Mr Adam.
“Two kids who loved building but who also saw how access to quality STEAM education wasn’t a given. That unfairness still fuels us.
“We don’t want a child to feel as if they don’t belong in the future.”
Mr Chong added: “When I was younger and was busy building wild, impractical things from scrap, my mum always asked me, ‘How is this going to help the world?’”
“Now, with what we’re doing, we can say that we are contributing towards a world where every child feels seen, where their ideas matter, and where their hands can bring those ideas to life.”
Elevated insights from seasoned perspectives. Crafted by journalists. Powered by Purpose: The Straits Times Signature Series is a new editorial project helmed by experienced journalists to shine a light on people, themes and ideas that rarely get the attention they deserve in everyday news cycles.
Shefali Rekhi is a senior editor & writer working on special projects. She joined The Straits Times in 2000 and has helmed two Asia-focused projects, efforts to grow the paper’s international reach and fight fake news. She writes on a range of issues.
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