Adam Khoo - Entrepreneurs, Timeline and Family

He was born as Adam Khoo Yean Ann on April 8, 1974, in Singapore, to Vince Khoo, owner of an advertising agency, and his wife, Betty L. Khoo-Kingsley.

After being expelled from St Stephen's Primary School for misbehavior and poor academic results at the age of eight, he attended a government school, Ping Yi Secondary School, where he was able to pass only five out of eight academic subjects.

As a child, Adam Khoo was a lazy fellow with poor social skills. He was totally uninterested in learning, did not enjoy reading anything but comics, and was addicted to arcade games and TV programs.

At the age of 13 came the turning point in his life, when his parents enrolled him for a five-day residential program at Ladyhill Hotel called Super-Teen Camp. At the camp, his talent was spotted by Dr. Ernest Wong, founder, principal consultant and master teacher of Ernesco, the Centre for Motivational Language Learning.

With the help of Dr. Wong's innovative learning technology known as neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) as well as whole-brain learning, within three months of the program, he made his way among the top 18 students in his secondary school.

Within a year, he went on to rank among the top 10 in Ping Yi Secondary and later became the first student from his school to qualify for Victoria Junior College.

At the age of 16, he began investing most of his time to know about the training sessions in NLP in the United States. Gradually, he became a freelance motivational trainer and started conducting sessions in schools to encourage dull students.

At the age of 21, Adam Khoo completed National Service in the Republic of Singapore Air Force. After that, he collaborated with his three National University of Singapore (NUS) friends and co-founded an event management company, Creatsoul Entertainment. The company organized various fun activities for its clients and was later re-registered as Event Gurus Pte Ltd.

Later, he got enrolled in the business administration faculty at the National University of Singapore (NUS) where he was placed among the top 1 percent of academic achievers. In 1998, he completed his graduation with an honors degree in business administration.

At the age of 24, after obtaining his licence in NLP in Washington, he became a trainer at SuperTeen, conducting courses for organizations including the Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC), Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP), and the Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH) in Jakarta.

Alongside, he also started coaching top insurance agents and marketing managers on methods to boost sales. Subsequently, his father gave him the responsibility to run their own advertising agency, Adcom.

He currently serves as the CEO & Managing Director of Adcom (S) Pte Ltd, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Event Gurus Pte Ltd, and the Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group Pte Ltd.

Adam Khoo has also authored 11 books including the best-seller ‘I Am Gifted, So Are You!’ and ‘Master your Mind, Design your Destiny’. He served as the co-author of ‘How to Multiply your Child's Intelligence’ and ‘Clueless in Starting a Business’.

His other literary works include ‘Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires’, ‘Secrets of Millionaire Investors’ and ‘Nurturing the Winner and Genius In Your Child’.

Adam Khoo is the Executive Chairman and Chief Master Trainer of ‘Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group’, one of Asia's largest private educational institutions. The organization conducts educational seminars for thousands of people annually, across seven countries.

In 2008, The Executive magazine ranked him among the top 25 richest Singaporeans under the age of 40. Same year, he was honored with the NUS Business School Eminent Business Alumni Award.

In 2000, he married Sally Khoo-Ong and the couple have two children: Kelly Khoo, born in 2004, and Samantha Khoo, born in 2005.