A COMPUTER whizz who was 'crazy about programming' was named Singapore Indian Young Entrepreneur last night, beating three candidates with firms larger than his.

Mr Rakesh Kumar Gupta, 30, who was presented the award by President S R Nathan at a ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia, was shell-shocked.

'It's unbelievable. I never thought I would beat such stiff competition,' said the software engineer, who was keen to share his joy with his mother and grandmother.

His soft-spoken demeanour is a contrast to the spirit that he displayed over the five years since he started his software company Heulab, which now has 30 staff.

When he graduated in 2002, Mr Gupta was offered jobs with computer giants like Sun Microsystems, but he turned them down as he was 'crazy about programming' and wanted a job better suited to his tastes.

With classmate Lim Soon Jinn and three employees, he set out to offer alternative modes of education to schools and institutions.

It was an uphill battle as the dot.com bubble had just burst and the economy was suffering.

'In the first two years, we wanted to dissolve it,' he said. 'Sometimes we couldn't pay our employees and begged them to stay on an extra month.'

Mr Gupta and his partner twice gave up their salary to help keep Heulab afloat.

But in 2004, they had a lucky break when Crescent Girls School bought Heulab's software, which allows students to do mathematics on tablet personal computers with digital tools like protractors and compasses.

The firm also sells a platform for classroom management that is used by the Ministry of Defence and the Safti Military Institute.

Heulab now boasts an annual turnover of $2 million and has offices in the United States and Australia.

'Five years of slaving has really paid off,' Mr Gupta beamed, 'but we still want to make Heulab a household name'.

Mr Navin Jatia of Evergreen Global and Ms Radhika Sundaram of Interakt Communications Company, also won awards for entrepreneurship in the large and medium enterprise categories respectively.

The awards, now in their fourth year, are organised by the 83-year-old Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and DBS Bank.