Always appreciate your mistakes, he says

Yafiq Yusman caught the attention of Instagram and attracted a following of more than 60,000 fans on his social media account over the years. The former Singapore Instagrammer of the Year takes amazing photos, often with his twin brother Yais, and is now the Chief Marketing Officer of a start-up, Plexxie. The social networking platform enables creatives from around the world to connect, create and explore opportunities for their careers.

We caught up with Yafiq to learn how he uses innovation to help the creative community, and to get some of his tips for millennials and young start-ups.

DAX Conversation with Yafiq Yusman 2:49

How did your amazing Instagram success come about?

I use the word lucky because Instagram noticed me maybe four years or five years ago when they had about 200 million followers. They featured me on their page and that’s how everything went big.

Your fans have high expectations of you to come up with different ideas. What’s your take on innovation?

Innovation in my opinion is about how you want to create something that isn’t there yet. I always tell a lot of people that creativity is something that makes you different from others. It keeps you in check, like whether you’re still in trend or whether you’re still current.

 

You created a start-up to aggregate creative talents. What motivated you to do that?

One thing that motivates me is to be able to create jobs for the creative talent here.

I know right now it’s very hard to achieve that standard but it’s the goal that we are working towards. I really want to help my community, the creative community, especially in Singapore. It helps them to have a constant job flow and they may even get noticed by reputable brands.

That’s a bold move for a millennial. Do you think your age works to your advantage in a start-up environment?

It doesn’t matter how old you are. Those who are older and have a lot more experience can do more things for sure. But I guess everyone has to start somewhere.

No matter how young you are, you just have to keep learning and growing.

Read more: 4 lessons we learnt as a fintech startup in Singapore

How do you think programmes like DBS Hotspot Start-up Exchange can help entrepreneurs like you?

For you to start certain things, it really requires a lot of encouragement especially when you are young and you don’t have a backup plan. What DBS is doing is to help people to start somewhere. Sometimes you just need an accelerator to achieve certain things.

What advice would you give to other millennials like yourself?

I would say continue to read because you need to know a lot more about what’s going on out there. Always appreciate your mistakes because everyone makes mistake. If you make a mistake, learn from it fast and move on. My advice is don’t give up. Always keep yourself grounded and make sure that you always have your end goal in mind.

Plexxie is currently experimenting with DBS’ StartupXchange team to develop solutions for the bank. DBS Hotspot Start-up Exchange is an accelerator programme that aims to cultivate entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship in Singapore through experimentation, mentorship and funding. The programme supports fintechs, social enterprises and digital startups. Turn your ideas into reality! For enquiries, please email [email protected].