Category Archives: Clubs

Campus Living, Clubs, Happenings, Life at Nanyang

Final Student EXCO & Club Co-Chairs Lunch at Botanical Garden

May 19, 2016 Laura Melina Loeven

After a successful series of events, celebrations, competitions, trips and presentations, Student ExCo members & Club Co-Chairs of the Nanyang MBA Cohort 2015-16 came together to celebrate a great performance round the year!

On the bright noon of 18^th May’16, in the last week of MBA for the Class of 2016, a bunch of student leaders met for lunch at the “Food for thought” restaurant in Singapore´s Botanical Garden.

The past year was certainly a roller coaster ride for all MBA students and the efforts put in by elected members of the student council deserved a grand celebration. Having successfully organised and hosted multiple school-internal and interscholastic events, the idea was to come together and appreciate each other as a team for one last time. The class mates celebrated their success and recalled beautiful memories that all individuals weaved during 2015-2016 MBA life.

Veronica (VP Finance, and full-time MBA student) brought all student leaders together and invited the group to Food For Thought, one of the best guarded secrets when it comes to restaurants in Singapore. After a splendid lunch, Veronica surprised all graduates with her artistic skills and presented beautifully designed “Thank You Note Cards”, on which the ExCo members could leave a message for their fellow students. When writing farewell notes, circulating the individual´s cards across the table, and conveying our appreciation and well wishes for future, the formerly excited crowd realized that the MBA journey was coming to an end – and a wave of nostalgia hit the group.

Post hogging on desserts, we all conveyed our regards and thank you to Veronica for making this team lunch such a memorable experience! Thereafter, Mr. President, Deep (Full-time MBA student in the Strategy & Innovation Track) and Vice President Aditya (Full-time MBA student in the Banking and Finance Track) gave touching speeches, thanking all the ExCo members of team for performing well and working beyond boundaries to deliver a great show throughout the year.

The lunch ended with a crazy picture of an amazing student council that has transformed into a group of close friends over the year. Now we are not just the Nanyang MBA cohort, of 2015-16 we are Nanyang MBA Family for ever!

The Student Executive Council and Club Co-Chairs of the Nanyang MBA 2015-16

Campus Living, Clubs, Cultural Events, Life at Nanyang

Happy Belated Easter – An Egg Hunt on NTU campus

April 13, 2016 Laura Melina Loeven

On April 11, the Cultural and Social Club together with the Beer, Wine and Liquor Appreciation Club celebrated Easter, the resurrection of Christ, which is the most important and oldest festival of the Christian Church.

On this occasion, the MBA batch of 2016 was invited to join an amazing race: a very competitive, but colourful egg hunt as per the tradition of celebrating Easter.

All participants did not wait long to run for the eggs, looking everywhere on campus to find the precious trophies. While some were extremely fast filling up their egg baskets, others could only find a few. But once the winner of the egg hunt was determined, all eggs were of course shared equally among all participating teams in order to start the egg coloring.

Back inside the event venue, everyone got very creative and came up with various egg designs from rainbow colour or striped egg, to drawing smileys and spider webs on simple unicolour eggs.

During this fun activity, traditional Easter snacks and drinks were provided, leaving the group with a stomach full of chocolate Easter bunnies, chocolate eggs and Haribo fruit gums.

It was a truly enjoyable event with lots of fun and a great opportunity to share some traditional Easter customs!

Campus Living, Clubs, Life at Nanyang, Sports

Getting ready for the MBA soccer tournament in Hong Kong

April 12, 2016 Laura Melina Loeven

After the success of the MBA Olympics, here comes another event for our NBS soccer team: A prestigious soccer tournament organized by HKUST, where schools from all over Asia are competing for one common goal: the trophy!

The entire NBS team is very motivated to participate in this great tournament and every player is excited to represent Nanyang Business School once again in a interscholastic sporting event.

To get ready for Hong Kong, the sports club organises regular practice sessions, during which the team focuses on improving endurance, moves and skills. As part of the tournament preparation, the NBS MBA team played a friendly match against the RSIS batch.

The game was a great learning experience and enabled the players to apply some of the skills developed during practice. It was a fantastic match with a lot of fun on both sides, which will likely be repeated in near future.

The NBS MBA team vs RSIS team – a friendly match!

Campus Living, Clubs, International Exposure, Life at Nanyang, Sports

Cricket World Cup – Go India!

March 24, 2016 Laura Melina Loeven

Though cricket is the sport most followed by Indian sports-lovers, the encounter between India and Pakistan is a special occasion for each and every Indian and Pakistani. Once the match schedule is released, Indians and Pakistani alike will try to avoid agreeing to any important appointment on the day when India and Pakistan meet on the field. This is the time when a sense of unity is felt among all Indians and everyone has only one thing on their mind: their country team must win the match!

To allow all MBA students from other countries to share the joy and excitement, the Sports club organized a Live telecast of the India -Pakistan world cup match at a big screen on campus on March 19 . The event did not only allow the multinational bunch to spend fun times togethers, but was also platform used by many Indians to teach other students the basics of cricket.

While spectators from all around the world enjoyed learning about a sport previously unknown to them and joined the excitement of watching their first cricket match, the Indian students especially enjoyed the win of the Indian team.

Both, teams and supporters, certainly gave 100% and watching the cricketers, and their fans, helped the cohort to not only understand each others national pride but also made everyone relate to the competitive strategies discussed in the MBA classes.

Students watching cricket on campus – a breath-taking match!

Campus Living, Clubs, Cultural Events

Happy St Patrick´s Day – keep calm and go green!

March 24, 2016 Laura Melina Loeven

On Sunday, March 20^th, the beer, wine and liquor appreciation club and the cultural club co-hosted an event to celebrate all things Irish!

The day started off with a get-together at the Nanyang MBA campus, where beer was dyed green, in keeping with the festive spirit. All those who attended either wore green, or as close to green as they could find.

Soon after the green beverages were finished, and all hands were covered in color too, a bus delivered the even participants to a spot just outside of the Fullerton Hotel in downtown Singapore. Taking a left from the hotel, and crossing the Cavenagh Bridge, the dressed-up crowd saw, and heard from far, bag pipe players wearing what appeared to be Scottish kilts. But lacking an Irish participant, the MBAs were not familiar with Irish culture, and were happy to explore a new culture while decorating themselves with the free give aways: balloons, shamrocks, hats, rattles, – all in green.

Equipped with all kinds of Irish paraphernalia, the student group was on time to watch Singapore´s very own St Patrick´s Day parade – but the parade was not! Waiting for thirty long minutes in SG´s hot and humid weather, the exhausted MBAs ended up finding shade under a tree, determined to not leave before the fun started. Of course, as soon as one of the group members decided to go and get water for the thirsty bunch, the parade started! Having missed the start of the parade, the newly found St. Patrick fans hurried to follow the musicians in the parade back across the Cavenagh Bridge, dancing to the many playing bag pipes, and an assortment of drums.

After a short fun march through downtown Singapore, it was decided to move on to the open air festival at the Battery Rd, stopping at a burger place. There, the hungry folks were not only gifted some festive green hats from the wait staff, but also treated to “Seven Nation Army,” among many songs, including a few Cranberries hits, by the band playing on one of the many stages. Only after the band stopped playing, it was time to return to NTU campus. What a fun St. Patrick’s Day event!

Campus Living, Clubs, Happenings, Life at Nanyang, Sports

Spare me a Strike!: The MBA Olympics After Party

February 24, 2016 Laura Melina Loeven

On February 12^th, the Nanyang MBA team gathered to celebrate their victory for the huge success of the 6^th Nanyang MBA Olympics – both as hosts and players.

In the spirit of sports, the MBA Olympics Organising Committee decided to have a bowling party. The event was organised by the Sports and CSR Clubs – the same two clubs that collaborated for the MBA Olympics – and sponsored by the EXCO and MBA Office. Everyone stormed Orchid Bowl @ the Chevrons on the Friday night for an evening of bowling, food, and fun.

The entire cohort – Fulltime, Parttime, and some of the Trimester 2 exchange students – not only celebrated the MBA Olympics’ success, but also the end of the second Trimester. As it was the last Friday night before the exams and probably the last night when the entire cohort is complete before the exchange students and Nanyang-Waseda Double MBAs leave for the last trimester of the program, everyone took the opportunity to have fun, celebrate, and take photos with everyone.

At 10pm, the lights at Orchid Bowl were turned off and the black lights were turned on. Also, party music was played, for a night of cosmic bowling and laughter.

There were exactly 36 bowlers who registered for the event – which was perfect for 6 teams of 6 each. After 2 games, the student Exco president, Deep Dabholkar, member of the powerful bowling team Johnnie M won the “Highest Individual Bowler” award for scoring the highest total score with 288 pins. He was followed closely by Kevin Tay from team Rocky J who scored the highest score for the first game but finished with a total of 286 pins.

The most successful Team KRISP, composed of Koichi, Rinky, Isaac, Steven, Prashant, and Marcel, won the “Top Team” award after scoring the highest total score with 1,113 pins.

We congratulate all winners – well done – and thank all participants for a truly enjoyable event which sparked great memories of the recent MBA Olympics, and provided a great opportunity to celebrate two wonderful trimesters at the NTU campus.

Campus Living, Clubs, Cultural Events, Life at Nanyang

Chinese New Year – Gong Xi Fa Cai

February 23, 2016 Laura Melina Loeven

Ready to ring in the Year of the Monkey?

First, some important information about Chinese New Year in 2016:

According to Chinese Five Elements Horoscopes, this is the year of the red monkey, which contains 2 elements: Metal and Water.

Metal is associated with gold.

Water is associated with wisdom and danger.

This forecasts more financial events in the year of the Monkey, according to the wise predictions of Economics Professor Lee. And, if one wants to have good returns on financial investments, one will need to outsmart the Monkey.

Metal is also connected to the Wind. That implies the status of events will be changing very quickly. So think twice before making changes for your finances and career!

On the 31^st of January, the MBA cohort of 2016 celebrated the year of the red monkey with a unique cultural experience for all foreign Nanyang MBA classmates.

The event was initiated by one of the Singaporean MBA students, Kevin Tay, who volunteered to share the festive mood and atmosphere of the lunar New Year. Along with the fellow Chinese and Singaporean students Isaac, Wenduo, Veronica, Steven, Darren and Sheng Jie, he put together an entertaining and educational event program – in just 10 short days!

In order to have an authentic experience of how Chinese New Year is celebrated in its own unique way in Singapore and China, the team planned were 3 highlights to the event:

The evening started with a wonderful presentation which explained the mythical origins of “Nian”, the Chinese word for “Year”, and how Chinese New year got its traditions.

A long time ago, a mythical monster has terrorized the peace of villages every year; however one day, a wise old man prepared fireworks and red decorations. When the mythical monster Nian came, the loud noises and bright decoration managed to scare the monster away. This was how the Chinese New Year came about and ever since, the people love to gather with loud noises and red, the colour that symbolizes luck.

Next, the event´s MC, Shen Jie, started the celebration with Yusheng (Chinese Salmon Salad). This is a tradition unique to Singapore and Malaysia. Everyone gathered around platters containing the mixture of grated carrots, radish, pomelo salmon slices, and garnishes it with sweet plum sauce, spices and crunchy ‘pok chui’ crackers. Each ingredient represented blessing, fortune and good luck.

an introduction to CNY traditions in Singapore

The MBA students then equipped themselves with chopsticks, and started tossing the salad as high as possible while shouting, “Prosper”, “MBA”, and all the wishes for the New Year. It was definitely a vibrant & joyous atmosphere, just like how Singaporean families & friends do it. Huat ah!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOPW-wjBhcY

To kick off the last activity, the most exciting highlight of the night, Kevin instructed all participant on THE game to play for Chinese New Year – Mahjong 101.

From the basics to the complex, advanced rules, Kevin explained the art of tile building to bring all students up to speed for a series of gambling. It was quickly evident that the gambling module involved a high level of strategic planning, patience, keen observation skills and critical decision making – and certainly invigorated the competitive spirit of the MBAs.

students at the gambling tables

The topics covered in the quick Mahjong lecture included superstitions and quirky practices, such as wearing red undergarments to maximize luck. At the end of the evening, the top scorer in class was Ms. Aki Narita, sweeping a staggering 7 out of 8 games. Then, Anshul, Gauri and Aditiya also topped their respective tables.

All in all, the event organisers hope that everyone who attended not only learnt more about Chinese traditions, but really got to experience the full atmosphere, activities, food and liveliness of this festival.

Special thanks to everyone who attended, and the organizing committee for a job well done. Indeed, we strongly believe that in many years from now, the highly diverse MBA cohort of 2016 will still gather and practice the skills learnt from this cultural module, Mahjong 101.

Campus Living, Clubs, Happenings, Life at Nanyang, Sports

The 6th MBA Olympics – let the games begin!

January 25, 2016 Laura Melina Loeven

On 17 January 2016, business students from all over Singapore gathered in the Sport and Recreation Center of the NTU campus to compete in the 6^th MBA Olympics, hosted by The Nanyang MBA team.

The volunteer interscholastic sporting event brought together the MBA students from NBS, NUS, SMU, ESSEC and SP Jain to meet for a friendly competition of badminton, basketball, football, table-tennis, running relays and volleyball.

After Prof. Nilanjan Sen, the Associate Dean of the host school, Nanyang Business School, addressed the students with encouraging opening remarks, a horn was blown to officially kick-off the competition and send contestants off to the field. Despite intense heat and humidity, all contestants exhibited great competitive spirit and overwhelming stamina throughout the tournament.

Prof. Nilanjan Sen addressing the students to kick-start the competition

The event schedule was tightly organised and players who participated in more than one of the Olympic disciplines hurried from one court to the other to support their teams. To refill the contestant´s energy reserves and boost the competitive spirit, the event sponsor Kashmi, provided 100PLUS energy drinks, Red Bull had donated their famous energy drinks to give students “wings”, Bayer offered Berocca multi-vitamin tablets to boost energy and mental sharpness, and the Soup Spoon gave out coupons for a hot meal at their food outlets.

After a hectic morning with group competitions in all disciplines, players gathered at the running track to enjoy a lunch break. Students had the opportunity to network, make new friends, and regain energy for the next round of competitions. Often, the race between schools was tight and supporters had to give their every bit of energy to cheer on their teams at the top of their voices. Being the event´s organiser, NBS had the advantage of having their school mascot around. Rondel Apelo, a Nanyang-Waseda Double MBA student, could not care less about the extreme outside temperatures and put on the heavy plush costume of NTU´s official mascot, Lyon, to cheer on his classmates, and of course, be the accessory in many memorable photo shoots.

Mascot “Lyon” with NBS students

The final winners in the respective disciplines were awarded with bronze, silver and gold medals to honour the tremendous efforts and great sportsmanship of all players. Professor Pete Giulioni, Head of the NBS Career Development Office, proudly handed over the many medals to the exhausted contestants and congratulated every student on their outstanding performance as well as good sportsmanship. “This was a terrific day”, Pete stated with a beaming smile. “I am truly impressed by hospitality exhibited by all our students.”

Prof Pete was assisted by a crowd of agile volunteer helpers who had formed the event organization committee from the NBS cohort. The MBA Olympics event committee had done a great job in preparing for the tournament, setting up the venue and taking great care of all players throughout the game day. Everyone had given their best efforts to make the event a success and the Nanyang Sports Club Co-Chairs, Sancho Cuasay III and Anoop Bolisetty, were truly delighted. “We are proud that all guests had a lot of fun and enjoyed the day”, said Sancho after a long day of coordinating the various matches of the day. “Thankfully, nobody got hurt and we only heard good feedback from all participating schools”, Anoop added.

Action on the football field

The purpose of the full day sports event was not only to measure up to each other in various sports disciplines, but also to raise awareness for a noble cause among future business leaders. The event sponsors, Lee Foundation, Mitsubishi Electric and Renesas, offered generous donations to support the sporty students in their fundraising endeavours. All surplus funds raised from the event were donated to Special Olympics Singapore, the beneficiary of this year´s MBA Olympics. The NBS Corporate Social Responsibility Club Co-Chairs, Aki Narita and Gauri Agarwal, proudly presented a cheque in the amount of SGD 5,000 at the end of the awarding ceremony.

Singapore Special Olympics receiving a SGD 5,000 cheque

Upon honouring all players and teams for their efforts to support the 6^th MBA Olympics, and presenting the trophy for the title “Overall Champion” to the winning school SP Jain, the event was closed with a friendly football match between the Singapore Special Olympics and a mixed team of all school´s football players, just before sunset. A truly successful event!

The trophy for the “Overall Champion”

….and medals for all teams !

Career, Clubs, Life After MBA, Networking

What it takes to be a good consultant

January 8, 2016 Laura Melina Loeven

Many of MBA candidates aspire to become a management consultant via post-MBA career path. In lectures and workshops, professors share lots of consulting specific frameworks, tools and problem solving methodologies with carefully chosen business case study materials but Nanyang MBA students are always eager to go the extra mile.

In October 2015, form consultant of Singapore Deloitte and member of the Nanyang MBA AY16 cohort, Kevin Sehoon Son, conducted a 2 hours sharing session to showcase a typical day of a consultant. All participants were extremely keen to learn from a real-life story of a former consultant and appreciated the chance to get a glimpse into the types of problems that consultants solve for business leaders, such as market entry strategy, turn-around strategy, post merger integration, business transformation and etc.

As the session was a success, Kevin´s mentor from Deloitte Singapore, Dr. Yong Chet, was invited to address the cohort so that students get a feel for what it takes to be a good consultant from a senior executive level’s point of view.

On December 15, Dr. Yong conducted another 2 hours-long sharing session at the NBS Bistro. The speaker brought an inspiring carrer-changing story to the event: the senior executive once left his job as a surgeon to become a business consultant. He just recently rechieved his MBA title and with over 5 years of management consulting experience as a Director he was able to provide valuable insights into the management consulting industry.

Dr. Yong´s speech was highly relevant for all session attendants to prepare for a career in consulting. Besides offering tips how to fine-tune resume and coverletter for successful applications, the 3 most important take-aways from his speech are the following:

Likeability: Consultants communicate with clients on a daily basis. Even if a candidate has fluent communication skills and brilliant problem solving skills, clients would not want to continue business a consultant who is not likeable and warm hearted. As we all are human beings, we are inevitably biased to prefer likeable people.
Quick learning skills: Consultants are not genius in evey aspect of a problem as there must be more than zillion types of different problem scenarios in the worlds. There is no cookie-cutter solution to solve problem dynamics. Hence, consultant must be able to quickly acquire required knowledged. As Dr. Yong was a surgeon, he know that it is a difficult challenges to gain knowledge about unfamiliar industries when handling a diverse range of clients.
Time management: Consutant are given flexibility in terms of work hours but there are heavy responsibilites to take care of to meet clients’ expectations. Time management is crucial and sometimes consultants need to make tbe commitment to wake up at 3 am to join conference calls from other continents. Thus, candidates must have the right mindset to best serve clients and become a competent consultant.

At the end of Dr Yong´s speech, students proactively approached the speaker and started outlining their career goals to seek advice over beer and soft drinks.

Looking back on a successful club event, the Consulting clubs would like to say thank you to the graduate studies career development office for sponsoring the initaitve and promises that The Nanyang MBA will carry on the initiatives to invite industry experts to share knowledge and actively expand networks.

Rachel Ng Mui Cher from the Post-Graduate Office with Dr Yong from Deloitte

Campus Living, Clubs, Cultural Events, Happenings, Life at Nanyang, Living in Singapore

Student Life At NBS

December 18, 2015 hmteam

The MBA programme at the Nanyang Business School is rigorous. Academics are just one of your many priorities here. Classes, case studies, team projects and homework are just one part of the whole experience because the B-school aims to create future leaders who’ll maintain a work-life balance successfully. During your time here, you’ll have ample options for housing, social activities and business competitions.

Here’s how you can step into the vibrant student life at NBS.

Residential Life:

On-campus housing is available only to full-time graduate students. Graduate Hall 1, Graduate Hall 2, Crescent Hall & Pioneer Hall offer rooms with a single bed, a wardrobe, a desk, an attached bathroom, fan, air-conditioning and an internet connection. Keep your eyes on the notice boards in case something opens up later. If you’re looking for accommodation off-campus, take a look at the Off-Campus Accommodation System (OCAS), which is open to students registered with NTU. The best route to take would be to book an on campus option, settle down and then look for a place off campus with less stress.

Student Executive Council and Club Co-chairs:

The Nanyang MBA Student Executive Council or Student ExCo takes on the responsibility of making every student’s time at NBS a lively one. The MBA students hold annual elections to elect its council members. Candidates are usually given a minute to make a speech that can let the others decide if they’re worth their votes. So that’s a position you may want to vie for as well. Student clubs on campus include those focused on particular industries, sports and cultures. Meet the current council members here.

Healthy Well-being & Philanthropic Activities:

A healthy mind and body are vital to performing well in your MBA programme. If you don’t feel good inside, your work will be affected. But, with so much going on campus, you will find yourself exercising, meeting people and getting lots of fresh air too! In the past, events have included a prison run, kayaking on a nearby island and other outdoor sports that bring you closer to your classmates as well. And since life can’t be complete without doing your bit for the less privileged, the student council organises charitable activities like trips to children’s homes and hospitals.

MBA Olympics:

The MBA Olympics is a volunteer interscholastic sporting event that NBS participates in every year along with Singapore’s other B-schools. It is a friendly competition that aims to raise awareness for a specific cause and collects donations for charity by promotion corporate social responsibility in business. You’ll get to play badminton, basketball and other sports and make a difference in some people’s lives. Sounds interesting? Take a look here.

Business Case Competitions:

What you learn in the classroom needs to be applied outside of it. NBS’ MBA students are regular participants in international business case competitions where they compete against students from B-schools based in the United States, Canada, Germany and so on. These events are a great place to see how academic concepts work in the industry while you interact with fellow MBA candidates who can add to your global perspective of the way things are done in business. In 2015, Nanyang MBA also hosted several case competitions such as Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) and Amalgamation 2015.

So you can stay comfortable, safe and active. The Nanyang MBA office works in collaboration with the Student ExCo to ensure that every MBA student walks home with a degree and lots of valuable experiences that add up to make a journey full of learning.

The NANYANG MBA Blog