Submitted by Ho Xiaoyuan, Co-Chair of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Club
On 7 Oct 2014, the CSR Club held a lunch talk for its club members.
Firstly, an outline of the club’s planned activities for the year was given, including participating in the Christmas Make a Wish Project by Nanyang CC and collaborating with CSR Compact on other CSR-related activities.
In addition, Mark from the EMBA Program was invited to provide an introduction to his social project in Malawi. The project aims to provide people in the country access to resources, specifically through selling cheaper solar panels to help develop microenterprises and build savings, in a bid to alleviate the poverty situation thereby improving the standard of living of the people there.
Details on how micro-financing works and the poverty situation in Malawi was also touched upon. CSR club members who are interested were also provided the opportunity to join Mark in his project.
All in all, the lunch talk provided an opportunity for CSR Club members to be involved and be in touch with the up-coming events.
For more information about Nanyang Business School click here.
Submitted by Stephanie Zhao, Co-Chair of the Wine, Beer & Liqueur Appreciation Club
Date: October 10, 2014
Venue: ACI
Last Friday, the Wine, Beer & Liqueur Appreciation Club finally organized its grand opening event: Red Wine Tasting and Etiquette.
A la carte, four classic wines: Pinot noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and the renowned Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
I conducted the tasting session and explained wine tasting etiquette 101 survival basic knowledge. Teaching while drinking wine was interesting but the learning experience for the rest of us was even more fruitful. At the end of the session, most of us became conversant with the wine appreciation vocabulary. The boys especially enjoyed the “tears”, “legs”, “nose” and “bodies”.
Of course, an agreeable tasting does not go without proper snacks.
And wonderful participants who showed strong team spirit – 14 bottles down, and 120 glasses cleaned.
Thank you all for your contribution!
For more information about Nanyang Business School click here.
After getting our brains fried by overdose of case studies, our MBA class was looking forward to a stress buster day at Pulau Ubin Island. We reached Changi Point Ferry Terminal (different from Changi Ferry Terminal and due to this confusion one of our mates had some trouble reaching the place). It was a very different place from the Singapore we know of; no big buildings, not much traffic and life seemed to be going at a leisurely pace.
We had breakfast at Changi village while waiting for friends who commuted on their own. There was a lot of hustle bustle at the ferry terminal with people carrying angling equipment, bicycles to enjoy the Sunday in the lap of nature. After a 10-minute bumboat ride, we stepped onto Pulau Ubin Island. The bumboat was shaky while it was parked at the jetty, making it a minor adventure to jump off the boat and the guys (almost all nationalities) took this opportunity to show off their machismo by avoiding a helping hand 😉
On the island we were greeted by stray dogs which reminded me of my home in India. We turned right from the jetty and walked up to the Celestial Ubin Beach Resort. After formalities and some photo taking, we jumped onto the Kayaks (there were single and double Kayaks). We paddled hard and raced against each other. Our Student Exco President, Mathew, parked his kayak near a rock to take pictures. It was a cheeky moment as after happily posing for pictures, the others stole his Kayak leaving him stranded, asking for a lift. Next we wandered towards the mangroves and it was great fun attacking each other and having water wars. It was great to see our usually calm Japanese friend transforming into mischief-monger.
After kayaking, we took a shower and then went for lunch. It was fun when girls started showing off their sun tan but the fun was ruined when guys joined in 😛 As the majority of people wanted to head back, we decided to skip cycling/fish spa.
For more information about Nanyang Business School click here.
One of NanyangBusiness School’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Club’s aims is to help develop leaders who are compassionate, innovative, and who use their business acumen to solve social issues hovering over communities all over the globe.
The first and the most vital step towards this aim was taken through finding opportunities for MBA students to interact with budding social entrepreneurs in Singapore. The club wanted to achieve more than just a talk so that students get to experience the journey to social entrepreneurship rather than just a monologist lecture on how to become a social entrepreneur. This made “The Hub” an obvious choice for us to visit given that it is one of the biggest professional centers that not just provide office space to social entrepreneurs but also promote social entrepreneurship.
14 MBA students coming from both full-time and part-time programmes interacted with 5 social entrepreneurs. . Social entrepreneurs from organizations Akaraka, Milaap, The Hub, and Silverline Mobi shed light on various issues that a social entrepreneur deals with and a few examples of how they dealt with those same issues during their journey. Highlight of the day was the unique opportunity to mingle with several social entrepreneurs present at The Hub in their weekly evening get-together. The enthusiasm of us, Nanyang MBAs ,at the Hub made Akaraka invite the MBA cohort to its forthcoming fund raising event at The Arts House at The Old Parliament.
We at The CSR Club, will continue to search for more opportunities for MBAs to be a part of such worthy endeavors such as social enterprises such as those in The Hub.
In December 2013, Nanyang MBA’s The Venture Capital (VC) Club invited Kelvin Ong, Executive Director of FocusTech Ventures and also NANYANG MBA Alumni, to be a speaker for this session.
FocusTech Ventures (FTV) is an entrepreneur-led startup accelerator that combines private investment, active mentoring, and advisory to help capital- efficient startups transform venture ideas into fundable, profitable companies. Kelvin shared his experiences and what he does exactly in his daily work (Fund Raising, Strategic Management, Recruitment and, Deal Sourcing). To end the session, he gave us some good tips :
Don’t go to the area that you are not familiar with.
Enter the market with ready infrastructure.
Pay attention to the cost projection rather than the revenue.
The key insights shared during the talk are really useful not just in the future, but can also be applied in our case studies and group reports in class.
Marketing & Entrepreneurship Co-Chair Raza Irshad giving a short introduction of the film documentary
The event, organised by the Marketing & Entrepreneurship Club, showed the documentary, “Art & Copy”, which showcases some of the most iconic advertising campaigns of their time and how they were successful in breaking grounds at the time when they were released. The film also includes reflections on the careers of some of the finest people in this field like Hal Riney, George Lois, Mary Wells Lawrence, Dan Wieden, and Lee Clow.
The purpose of the event was to share an insight into the world of marketing and advertising, how it has evolved over the years and to share some real life examples of how people have actually been inspired to produce some of the most memorable ad campaigns of all times.
This activity was a light yet very enriching way to learn more about the marketing and advertising industries as well as to get to know more the members of the club.
On November 25th 2013, the Management Consultancy club organized its first event “Walk the talk”. The event was organized as an information sharing session among the cohort’s members. MBA students who worked previously as consultants shared their experiences and knowledge about their consulting job. The purpose of this event was to expose MBA students to different types of consulting, to familiarize them with what working as a consultant looks and feels like, and to guide them how to look for jobs in the particular fields.
Jason, Rey and Akshay Sharing on their experience
We had a total of 8 speakers and 20 students attending the event. The speakers represented many different industries. Jackson spoke about Risk consulting, Emily shared her experience on oil refining, Vicky on development consulting, Akshay about technology consulting, Rey on HR and Tax and Mohammed, Sukhjeet, Charu shared their experiences on management consulting.
Mohammed, Charu and Vicky in Action
Each of the speakers spoke about their qualification, how they made into the job, experience and one particular project. They had their own style of presentation- some used designer slides, some used whiteboard-marker, some spoke directly and tried their best to make us understand the nitty-gritty of their industry. The attendees in turn asked many questions specific to the jobs and tried to find out what they need to do if they want to join a particular type of consulting.
Token of Appreciation from the club
Thanks to the MBA office for dinner and token of appreciation presented to all the speakers. And the speakers specially for the presentation, enthusiasm, warmth, and confidence.
Given the popularity of IT industry among Technology consulting club members at Nanyang Business School (NBS), the Technology Consulting club organized the industry talk on 23rd November 2013. NANYANG MBA alumni Mr. Robin Tanudjaja delivered the talk.
Mr. Robin Tanudjaja eagerly sharing his experience with the attendees
Mr. Robin Tanudjaja comes with 11 years of rich experience in a project management role in IT industry. He has previously worked in Schlumberger, Cisco systems, American President Lines, Dubai world, and very recently, he joined HP in Singapore. During Robin’s stint in Dubai world for 5 yrs as IT Project manager, he was responsible to manage the delivery of IT solutions to business needs for all the business units under Dubai World umbrella.
The main objective of talk was to allow the club members to meet, network, and gain valuable information -and with a fellow MBA ( alumni) . The talk was specifically targeted to those who are looking for management roles in IT industry.
Mr. Tanudjaja shared his valuable insights about IT project management and what it takes to be a good project manager. He suggested a few certification programs which are very well recognized in Singapore. Certification programs which were suggested are PMI certifications, Prince 2, CITPM etc. He also shared upcoming IT industry trends, and lessons learned by him while working in different companies. At the end of the talk, he also shared about how to do interview preparation and what are the few frequently asked tough questions one can expect in an interview in Singapore. He also mentioned that before going for an interview, it is very important to do a thorough research on the company and the position being offered. In addition, he also stressed that the interviewee should be aware of the range of pay offered so that salary negotiation can be done in a better way. He recommended the website Payscale to serve this particular purpose.
NBS students networking Mr. Robin Tanudjaja over food and drinks
The talk gave the club members a very good opportunity to gain relevant industry information for their career planning. The members also engaged in friendly and meaningful discussion with Robin during the refreshments and networking session after the talk.
Fun, excitement and delicious runs through my mind upon hearing the words cultural celebration. During cultural celebrations, there will be games, art and most importantly food! Life at Nanyang MBA has been thrilling and entertaining at the same time. I was thrilled to get to know 117 peers from 27 different parts of the world. Past 8 months have been an entertaining journey for me personally.
Nanyang MBA is very diverse in terms of nationalities as well as Industry and background. I was exposed to many different perspectives of thinking, strategies from different industries and various cultures which is the best part!!
There had been several celebrations of culture during my stay at the Nanyang MBA, such as German Beer Fest, Thai Loy Kratong, Deepavali, Christmas (of course), Chinese New Year, and many more to come in the coming weeks. How could I not be excited??Let me share my stories, photos and probably videos about interesting things that happened at these events. Yes, that’s right, some parts of these F.U.N. events are captured LIVE on HD video!! So tag along!! ;D
Beer Fest!
I’ll start with German Beer Fest, as you m ay well aware of what the name implies; it involved a lot of beers and its many varieties. German beer festivals are among the largest beer festivals celebrated around the world, which in Germany is usually known as Oktoberfest. Many places have beer festivals style as “Oktoberfest’s”. Oktoberfest is a 16 day festival celebrating beer held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, running from late September to the first weekend in October.
In conjunction to the Beer Fest, it was Verena’s Birthday who is from Germany. Happy Birthday Verena! I had a great time tasting variations of beer.
Guess who is the birthday girl in the photo above?
Loy Krathong
Next celebration that was celebrated was Loy Krathong. Loy Krathong is a Thai cultural celebration. Loi Krathong takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. In the western calendar this usually falls in November. Loi means “to float”. While krathong refers to a usually lotus-shaped container which float on the water.-Wikipedia.
Loy Krathong can be translated to “Floating crown” or “Floating Decoration”.
Munchuga and Apiwat, my Thai friends, organised the event. Sumptuous Thai food was provided and we listen to soothing Thai songs. The highlight of the evens is to make wish and release the handmade loi krapthong float on the water.
Loy-KrathongThai Food!
Deepavali Celebration
Touchdown!! To INDIA!! Some say Indians are exotic, some say Indians are born to be dancers. You got that right! I experienced a Deepavali celebration, and guess what?? My Indian cohorts danced for Deepavali! And they live up to the expectations!! And Yes, it’s on HD resolution!! ;P starting from Art, which was to create colorful pictures out of colored powder debris (Pardon me, I’m not really familiar with the name :P. Below are the pictures of the team that created the arts.
Henna session done by Saini.
Deepavali or Diwali is popularly known as the “festival of lights” which is celebrated by Hindu across the world. Deepavali is the celebration of good over evil and light overcoming darkness. During this festival, new clothes are worn and delicacies such as sweets and snacks are shared. Not forgetting temporary tattoos which are done using henna. Henna is a flowering plant used for dye skin, hair and fingernails as well as fabrics.
Next Stop Will be Our favorite time of the year!!Chriiiistmas tiiime… time to share our love… Come and join… the tidings to the world… Chriiiistmas tiiime… the best time of the year… Yes, it’s Christmas timeee…
To get everyone in the festive mood, we decorated the venue (one of our classmates home actually!) with Christmas ornaments, neon lights and Christmas trees.
After the decoration is done, we begin our celebration with Christmas carol. 4 of our classmates – ,Filipino John-Rae and Taiwanese Mimi were singing, accompanied by Malaysian Alex on Keyboard and Singaporean Jonathan on Violin.
Finally the “Secret Santa”!This is the fun part whereby we got to choose our gift from the santa sack. Nanyang MBA cohorts were so creative and out-of-the-box!! You need to expect the unexpected. The gifts were no ordinary gifts.
Merry Christmas!
CNY Dinner…
Quite recently we celebrated Chinese New Year. !! Before the celebration was done we did a lot of preparations such as grocery shopping, decorations and lastly food preparations. We started with our “reunion dinner” by having the traditional Chinese Hot pots. Definitely, it is not complete without beers and Chinese liquors. The food prepared was marvelous and delicious. After filling our stomach we have the Cheongsam competition-“Ms. Cheongsam” competition and voted for best-dressed Ms. Cheongsam.
Unexpectedly none of the girls won… Guess who wins the competition?
The winner Is no other than Mr. Henri!Happy celebrations Everyone!
After the contest, we started writing of Chinese FU Character to bring good luck and good fortune for everyone.
So there you are – a sprinkling of various cultures – there is no substitute to these experiences – and while you are doing your MBA!
The Nanyang MBA Culture Club and Women in Business Club successfully co-organized the 2013 Chinese New Year Party at Graduate Hall Lounge It was a wonderful festival celebration event that gave all of the guests a happy , cheerful and maybe grand cultural banquet.
With a team of six mostly mainland Chinese people, except for one, led by Jennifer (Chen Yan), Amy, Wu Hao, Alex (Malaysian), Lily and Rayman (Lily’s boyfriend) ,we started the preparation as early as 12 noon. We went shopping at Sheng Siong supermarket near our campus. After almost four hours of grocery shopping, we managed to bring back: vegetables, beef, beers for the dinner and definitely Chinese FU Character and Spring Couplets to get us into the festive mood. It seems a short list but we ended up with so many shopping bags. However, many thanks to our classmates, Hantang Da Ge and Andy (American), for helping us to carry and deliver our food to the Graduate Hall.
Hotpot!
At 4 p.m, we were busy preparing for the dinner at Graduate Hall kitchen. This year’s main menu is HOT POT, the must-have meal in almost every Chinese family during Chinese New Year. Hot pot is basically a way of cooking food in a pot , mainly boiling. Meow, Amy and Jennifer’s worked hard in washing all the vegetables and cutting radish. Albert (Indonesian) and Apiwat (Thai), for your help on our venue decoration! And yes, our Singaporean hosts, Amanda, Eng Soon, Weiming and Ingo (German) provided the hotpots for cooking!
In Chinese poetry, a couplet (simplified Chinese: 对联; traditional Chinese: 對聯; pinyin: duìlián) is a pair of lines of poetry which adhere to certain rules (see below). Outside of poems, they are usually seen on the sides of doors leading to people’s homes or as hanging scrolls in an interior. A special, widely-seen type of couplet is the spring couplet (simplified Chinese: 春联; traditional Chinese: 春聯; pinyin: chūnlián), used as a New Year’s decoration that expresses happy and hopeful thoughts for the coming year. – Wikipedia
By 6 p.m., the traditional Chinese Hot Pots were set on the table. Chinese cabbage, rape, mushrooms, radish, fried tofu, vermicelli rice (thin white noodles) are laid on the table around the hot pot. While waiting for the soup stock in the pot to boil, we gathered around the table impatiently with chopsticks and plates ready to attack. At the sight of boiling bubbles, we placed the food ingredients into the pot. And the countdown begins- Five minutes… two minutes… one minute… Hooray! It is ready! Oh yes, we have the special sauce prepared by Lily & Amy! Yummy! The sauce is sumptuous and complements the delicious food cooked hot pot style. This made us eat more! The lounge became warmer with the steam from hotpot and more than thirty people who are having hot pot together, in summer!
Nevertheless, this is the best time of the whole trimester-gatherings, enjoying with so many friends companion and enjoying hot pot
After 2 hours, we finallyfinished our dinner. We are now full and bloated. Nonetheless, we need to get into our sleek costumes for the Cheongsam Competition! Cheongsam or Qipao is a Chinese traditional costume which has been worn since the Manchu dynasty ruled China in the 17th century.
Before they wore the original qipao was wide and baggy. The one-piece dress featured a high neck and straight skirt. The qipao worn today are modeled after ones made in Shanghai in the 1920s. The modern qipao is a one-piece, formfitting, floor length dress that has a high slit on one or both sides. Modern variations may have bell sleeves or be sleeveless and are made out of a variety of fabrics. – About.com
Who will be our Miss. Cheongsam?
Our Group gathering picture- Henry (Taiwanese), Amanda(Singaporean),Yu Qing, Anise, Amy,Chen Yan,Rita, Lily, Munchuga (Thailand), Mimi (Taiwan) and Josephine (Singaporean) and below with our German friends Julia and Stephanie –wearing traditional Chinese Cheongsam (Qipao) and Chinese Changshan.
Henry surrounded by girls.
Finally, we have the winner…. No other than Henry (thorn among the roses), the only guy in traditional Chinese Changshan! The prize is a red envelope with $20! Thanks Mr. Changshan, for bringing us so much fun!
Paloma with 2 hunks
At 9 p.m after the contest, we started writing of Chinese FU Character. Put the red paper on the table, raise up the writing brush, dip the ink, and you can write Chinese Fu now- it is that simple??. Yes,it is that easy! You can do it! Don’t believe me? Look at Josephine’s professional gesture! Wish our Fu bring good luck and good fortune to everyone and to our Nanyang MBA! Thanks Hantang Da Ge again, for helping us to get the writing brushes, ink and red paper.
Writing Chinese FU character
And that is how we celebrated the Chinese New year – with the company of our friends!
Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festival in the Chinese calendar. It is the time to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new spring, to reconcile, forget all grudges and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone. Thanks to everyone, we have had an unforgettable Chinese New Year with you! Till the next one.
Culture Tips:
1. Spring Couplets – In Chinese poetry, a couplet (simplified Chinese: 对联; traditional Chinese: 對聯; pinyin: duìlián) is a pair of lines of poetry which adhere to certain rules (see below). Outside of poems, they are usually seen on the sides of doors leading to people’s homes or as hanging scrolls in an interior. A special, widely-seen type of couplet is the spring couplet (simplified Chinese: 春联; traditional Chinese: 春聯; pinyin: chūnlián), used as a New Year’s decoration that expresses happy and hopeful thoughts for the coming year. – Wikipedia
2. Hot Pot: Hot pot (simplified Chinese: 火锅; traditional Chinese: 火鍋; Mandarin Pinyin: huǒ guō), refers to several East Asian varieties of stew, consisting of a simmering metal pot of stock at the centre of the dining table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table. Typical hot pot dishes include thinly sliced meat, leaf vegetables, mushrooms, wontons, egg dumplings, and seafood. Vegetables, fish and meat should be fresh. The cooked food is usually eaten with a dipping sauce. – Wikipedia
3. Cheongsam: Qipao or cheongsam (旗袍) are one-piece Chinese dresses that have been worn since the Manchu ruled China in the 17th century. The original qipao was wide and baggy. The one-piece dress featured a high neck and straight skirt. The qipao worn today are modeled after ones made in Shanghai in the 1920s. The modern qipao is a one-piece, formfitting, floor length dress that has a high slit on one or both sides. Modern variations may have bell sleeves or be sleeveless and are made out of a variety of fabrics. – About.com
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