above: Soh Wan Wei

Soh Wan Wei is somewhat of a superstar in Singapore. A well-known thought leader who has been in the decentralized space since 2017, she is regularly called upon as a speaker, commentator and consultant. Now she wants to clone herself and share this information across Asia with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). 

After a year of giving dozens of talks to corporations and universities on web3 and the metaverse, Soh realized that because her introversion and extroversion were mostly equal, “I found it took a lot out of me,” she told me recently. “I thought how nice it would be if I could turn myself into an AI and make it scalable. So that was the idea - to build an online school that will be 100% run by virtual humans.”

The global e-learning market was one of the big winners of the pandemic. In 2021, the total value of this sector was around $200 billion, and is expected to double in just five years to $400 billion in 2026. Learning applications in the metaverse could be a natural evolution for this sector.

When Soh shared this idea with her mother Joyce Aw she was immediately onboard. A retired school principal, Aw spent the pandemic completing IBM courses in AI, design thinking and agile methodology, accumulating 13 IBM certificates along the way. Ikiguide Metaverse, the company run by the mother-and-daughter team, is building its metaverse academy as part of an incubator program run by the Singapore Management University. 

“My mother is 66 years old and a lifelong learner,” Soh said. “She believes that education in new technologies is a huge market. When she noticed that my nephews are very talented in drawing, she encouraged my sister to send them to NFT lessons. My mom will be joining all the incubator classes but will leave the social and networking part of the course to me. She said she would rather stay home and watch Korean dramas.”

Soh Wan Wei and her mother Joyce Aw

Ikiguide has had a few iterations. The company was initially founded in 2014 by Soh while she was studying in Finland. It was here that she was first exposed to Bitcoin, open-source code and the exploration of why building meaningful startups is important. 

“I was majoring in public relations and actually created Ikiguide to qualify for a media pass to Slush, the huge startup event from Finland,” she said. “Ikiguide started as a startup media portal. We published lot of articles about startup founders. In 2017, we pivoted to solely focus on Bitcoin and blockchain startups. And in 2021, we decided to go all-in on the metaverse by transitioning from a media business model to an ed-tech business model.”

Ikiguide was named intentionally after the Japanese concept of Ikigai, which defines fulfilment in terms of the ability to find and live your purpose. Building her business with a strong sense of mission and vision has helped Soh stay grounded in a space that rewards founders for chasing the money. 

“One of the first events we covered in Singapore was a Stella Lumens meetup in 2018,” she said. “We were inspired by applications of open source and how such companies were trying to solve real world problems. So I guess my team started off with a very ideological perspective, instead of the more speculative side. We fundamentally believe that blockchain can change the world.”

Soh Wan Wei wants her ed-tech platform to embrace her vision and strong belief in the need for an inclusive metaverse. Courses will be offered in the multiple languages spoken across the Asian region. 

“We are standing in a very unique time period right now, where we get to decide as trailblazers what direction we want the world to take for ourselves and our kids over the next 10-20 years,” she said. “Hopefully, we can all help each other grow together in this space, because it's so new, and hence exciting. I believe we can all leave a legacy in this web3 space.”