The Accelerator Effect: How Singapore Develops Digital Leaders

Accredify cofounders Quah Zheng Wei and Derrick Lee show that leadership is not just about steering a company but engaging with the networks and opportunities that cultivate the next generation of digital leaders.

Accredify, a verifiable credentials platform provider operating across APAC and EMEA, secured a strategic investment in its Series A extension in March 2024, following a US$7 million funding round the previous year. However, expanding a tech company into new markets is never solely about funding or domain expertise. The greater challenge is fostering leaders who can navigate shifting regulations, cross-border teams and constant innovation—a task that reveals itself only in practice, testing even the most knowledgeable leaders and revealing just how complex and unpredictable real-world challenges can be.

This is the underlying principle behind the SG Digital Leadership Accelerator (SGDLA), launched by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) in 2022 to cultivate the next generation of digital leaders.

At Accredify, leadership development is a deliberate focus shaped in large part by the cofounders’ experiences in the community. Quah and Lee are part of SGDLA, a growing network of more than 1,500 corporate leaders, product innovators and startup founders from across the economy.

The Mentorship Multiplier: Where Experience Becomes Insight

Mentorship is central to the SGDLA community. In the SG Digital Leaders program, Quah was paired with seasoned industry veterans whose insights, honed over years of experience, proved transformative for the Accredify CEO.

“It opened a network I did not have access to, such as fellow founders, government officials and MNC leaders,” says Quah. “Those interactions helped me think through problems in entirely different ways.”

Beyond business strategy, those conversations shaped how he approached leadership. “I used to think that, as a leader, I had to solve everything myself,” he explains. “But I quickly found out that many challenges aren’t unique. Others have faced and navigated similar situations.”

For young entrepreneurs operating amid uncertainty, the shift from solitary problem-solving to collective learning can be invaluable. What might once have been a personal burden becomes a shared process of reflection, experience and guided learning.

Unconventional Path, Lasting Philosophy

Accredify’s Chief Technology Officer, Derrick Lee, took a non-traditional path into technology. Beginning at the Institute of Technical Education and progressing through polytechnic, he completed his undergraduate studies at the Singapore Management University with support from the SG Digital Scholarship, part of the broader SGDLA initiative.

His journey reflects the overarching intent behind the scholarship. Designed by IMDA to open doors for individuals regardless of their academic starting point, the program aims to help them grow into future leaders of Singapore’s digital economy. While the SG Digital Scholar program lays a strong foundation in leadership, advancing to a SG Digital Leader role is a separate opportunity that scholars may choose to pursue. Lee’s journey demonstrates how IMDA's comprehensive leadership continuum supports nurturing talent from the earliest sparks of potential through to senior industry leadership roles. For Lee, mentorship proved particularly valuable, offering insights and perspective that no academic pathway alone could provide while challenging his thinking and shaping his development.

“The best mentors I had didn’t give me answers,” he says. “They’d ask questions and challenge me to articulate my reasoning.”

Emulating his mentors, Lee focuses on setting clear outcomes while offering guidance that prompts reflection, thereby creating the conditions for colleagues to exercise initiative and develop as leaders.

Leadership By Design, Never By Default

As Accredify expands across Asia-Pacific, Lee has learnt that in fast-moving technology companies, leadership development cannot be left to chance. Without a clear framework, teams tend to focus on delivering immediate results, leaving little room to reflect on and plan for long-term capability building. Over time, companies risk producing technical specialists at the expense of leaders with the broader skills needed to drive organizational expansion.

Recognizing these challenges, Accredify has built a framework that gives engineers structured opportunities to lead from the start: managing projects, working directly with clients and making decisions that shape outcomes. “I’ve learnt that creating the right conditions matters most,” Lee says. “Define clear goals, let teams experiment and offer guidance when necessary.”

Learning Beyond Borders

The SGDLA often provides opportunities for executive education overseas and international collaboration. Lee has benefited from short academic stints abroad through the invitation-only SG Digital Leaders program, while Quah describes his three months in the United States as more game-changing than years of local experience. “It forces you out of your usual circles. Everything is new and the pace is supercharged,” he says.

Building on the lessons gained, both cofounders embed the practice of sending people abroad into Accredify’s culture, giving employees extended stints overseas. “Every engineer I know who studied overseas brought back knowledge they’d never have gained otherwise,” explains Lee.

That philosophy has tangible results: engineers return from extended international assignments with sharper problem-solving skills and the confidence to tackle bigger challenges—competencies that can make the difference between struggling and thriving as the company scales into new markets.

Leadership Comes Full Circle

Through their immersion in the SGDLA community, Quah and Lee, who were on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2022 list, have witnessed how mentorship, exposure and collaboration play a defining influence in the development of leaders. As part of the community, they recognize the role they can play in giving back—sustaining mentorship and cultivating a new generation of leaders as capable, connected and inspired as those who guided them.