Blog, Living in Singapore

"Moon Festival" – Celebrating Chinese traditions

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by Kabeer Chaudhary, Indian, Nanyang MBA Participant, Intake 2011

Diversity is key to create a great and memorable experience and we are fortunate that The NANYANG MBA fosters this and strive to have such for its students – we have 18 nationalities in our cohort! This diversity in nationalities gives us the opportunity to learn about other people’s culture without having to go that far. And we did – right here in Singapore!

The 2011 Student Executive Committee (Ex-Co) kick-started this year’s events for current students with the celebration of the ‘Mooncake Festival’ in September, also known as the ‘Mid-Autumn’ or ‘Moon Festival’ at the Chinese Gardens. The Chinese Gardens, also known as Jurong Gardens, is one of Singapore’s nature parks and is  built over 8 hectares in 1975 under the guidance of a well-known architect from Taiwan.  Twenty (20) of us, current MBA students, with our families and friends, walked through the gardens and were greeted by northern Chinese imperial style of architecture and landscaping. The place awed us with its colorful lanterns tied to ancient legends dotting the lake and the grounds and Chinese customs of the festival.

Mooncake or Moon Festival is a popular lunar harvest festival celebrated by the Chinese community all around the world. It falls on the 15th of the 8th month of the lunar calendar and it is one of the most important traditional events for the Chinese and even Vietnamese, just like Christmas and Thanksgiving for Westerners. There are many legends and folklore surrounding the festival from the Moon Goddess of Immortality to the overthrowing of Mongol Rule and to the Vietnamese legend of a wife who accidentally desecrated a sacred banyan tree and was transported to the heavens by the tree for doing so (the Vietnamese light lanterns to show her way down to earth)*. But it is also a favorable time to have a get together and enjoy one another’s company, eating mooncakes under a full moon (for us, we did at the Chinese Garden!). Of course, apart from the delicious mooncakes some of us brought, we were also delighted by mooncakes shared by gracious celebrants who were there to enjoy and celebrate the festivities.

Our Chinese classmates were excited and eager to share with us their culture specially that surround these festivities. Each of us was ‘welcomed’ with a traditional mooncake and our Chinese friends helped to differentiate between flavors such like walnut, lotus, pumpkin and red beans. , Dominic, our Swiss classmate, had a mooncake with a nut filling, and commented, “It was my first time at a Mooncake Festival. I’ve heard a lot about the famous mooncakes and I was excited to finally try them. After trying about every possible mooncake flavor, I can say that my favorite is the one with the nut filling.”

Mooncake Festival - Nanyang MBA
Some of our classmates from China (from left to right) – Zeng Cheng, Tan Yanning, Lu Zhongjie, and Wang Jie who were gracious to share with us their knowledge about the festival.

Continue reading "Moon Festival" – Celebrating Chinese traditions →

Blog, Sports

Let's do exersice – Friendly Bowling Competition

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by Ng Wei Fang, Singaporean, Nanyang MBA Participant, Intake 2011

Engaging in sports is one of the many venues to foster team spirit and camaraderie, and often times it brings out the best in people – to become leaders, team players and great supporters in a ‘more fun way’. That is why we recently had our first bowling event where we had all the ingredients we want in a sports activity – getting fit, having fun and fostering team spirit and camaraderie with not only with our MBA peers, but also with the MBA Office staff.

Our batch’s first ever organized ‘friendly bowling’ tournament was held last September at the Orchid Bowl at The Chevrons, a vibrant and relaxing bowling facility located in the west side of Singapore. There were over 50 MBA participants from our batch (new cohort) and outgoing batches, together with members of the MBA Office who participated and shared the fun with each other

As The NANYANG MBA prides itself with its student diversity (well, we have 18 nationalities in our current cohort!) and how we work together as a team, we were divided into 8 groups that consist of a mix of at least 2 nationalities. Our teamwork came into play in a different setting – bowling! As our Thai classmate Chaweewan puts it, “The bowling session creates unity within the cohort. We get to enjoy each other’s company and get to know each other better. It also creates a good opportunity for the full-time MBA students to meet with our part-time classmates.”

As the games progressed, we witnessed strikes, spares and splits. We screamed and cheered, even if the ball rolled into the gutter. Curved balls, dead balls and even gutter balls – you name it, we have done it. And the way these balls were thrown, add up to the excitement and anticipation whether we could make a strike or just hit the plain gutter. In fact, there were many tries that went down the drain. Nevertheless, we had fun, and our resilience to be the best in what we can do in bowling, just shows that we strive to beat the odds, in whatever we do. And I believe that this makes us Nanyang MBA students to be more successful later in life.

Continue reading Let's do exersice – Friendly Bowling Competition →

Blog, Happenings

Karaoke – Singing our hearts, MBA style

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by Ralph Camus, Filipino, Nanyang MBA Participant, Intake 2011

Some 20 Nanyang MBA students organized an MBA Karaoke session at the lounge of ‘one of the last bastions of unspoilt nature in this largely cosmopolitan city-state of Singapore – Raffles Country Club, a 25 minute drive from the central business district and less than that driving time from NTU. The lounge where we were going to test our vocal chords overlooked part of the 146 hectares of luscious land with a tranquil lake and rolling green hills plus a glimpse of the club’s two 18-hole golf courses. It was the first Karaoke Night organized by the MBA Student Executive Committee (Ex-Co) where we experienced an enjoyable and fun night of musical expression.

Together with my peers from the MBA program, we were joined by part-time MBA students, as well as our exchange classmates from Spain, the United States and Israel where we gladly  belted out power ballads from Aerosmith, Greenday, and even Tom Jones! One of our male Japanese classmates even tested out his vocal prowess with Lady Gaga songs, much to the delight of everyone. There was even a showdown between the ladies and the men, but modesty aside – we, the male participants, dominated the microphone and thus, the night. We sung like there was no tomorrow and hogged the microphone until closing time.

Our exchange peers from the USA, Christine (left) and Israel, Olga (right) with our classmate Janina (center)
Our exchange peers from the USA, Christine (left) and Israel, Olga (right) with our classmate Janina (center)
The men of Nanyang MBA dominated the singing
The men of Nanyang MBA dominated the singing
The ladies showing us how to dance the almost forgotten – Macarena dance.
The ladies showing us how to dance the almost forgotten – Macarena dance.
Harutaka-san (holding the microphone) belted out Lady Gaga songs
Harutaka-san (holding the microphone) belted out Lady Gaga songs

What made that night more fun was that some members of the MBA Office shared laughter and musical notes with us as they added vocal power to the event.

The karaoke night turned an ordinary Tuesday night into a lively gathering of friends, acquaintances and good music. Now that we have discovered who has the powerful voices and the grooviest dance moves accompanying the singing, we are sure that this is definitely not the last karaoke night for our cohort.

Blog, Clubs

Nurturing Women Leaders for the Future

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Financial Women’s Association – NTU Mentorship Program

By: Alejandra Mejia, Colombian, Nanyang MBA participant, Intake 2010

Recently, the Finance Women Association of Singapore or FWA , together with NTU, established  a mentorship program to women currently studying in NTU, to help shape and start their careers in the financial industry, specially taking into account the time requirements and demands of having a very successful job, while  looking after their family and children. FWA provides a valuable platform to network with other experienced women professionals in the financial industry in Singapore and  the opportunity to listen and meet some of the admirable women in the finance industry, who are balancing the demands of their work and family time.

NTU-FWA, in collaboration of FWA, Nanyang Business School (NBS) Undergraduate Program and the Banking and Finance Club of The NANYANG MBA, launched its mentorship program in September at a coffee dessert bar located in Orchard area where the bustling shopping district of Singapore is located. Nearly 50 students from the Nanyang Business School’s undergraduate and MBA students had the chance to meet with members of FWA from companies like Walton International, HSBC and Standard Chartered.

Being a woman is already a great challenge – juggling our roles as students, mothers, wives and career women and striving to make a difference in the lives of the people who matter most. From the talk cum networking session, I realized that, “regardless of who we are and where we come from – women from foreign countries or women wanting to change careers or start anew, we all face a great incertitude when the end of our studies arrives. We are overwhelmed about all the things we are told to do to start our careers, but the truth is, a more certain success is guaranteed when we fix ourselves a target. Somehow,  we need a counselor from the industry to help us fix this target.” This was how the mentorship program was conceived — to help women like us, who are in school and looking into the future of building our respective careers, to trace our path, coherent with our interest, strengths and possibilities.

Continue reading Nurturing Women Leaders for the Future →

Blog, The NANYANG MBA

Start of my MBA journey – reflections on The NANYANG MBA Orientation Week

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By: Zhou Dan, Chinese, Nanyang MBA Participant, Intake 2011

Arriving a month early in Nanyang prior to the MBA course for my intensive English class, I met for the first time  some of my future MBA classmates –they come from all over the world – from Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Thailand, Taiwan Vietnam and from my own country, China. Then during our MBA orientation, the week before our actual classes started, I met more people coming from more countries like Bulgaria, Germany, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Switzerland and the USA. Imagine – to be among this very diverse talented and passionate group of individuals of 18 nationalities (and looking forward to meeting more peers from other parts of world from the previous batch, which at some point we will meet in school), I was pretty excited to start my MBA program. It will be a 16-month journey of life-long learning which I am sure I will certainly be grateful of. Orientation week was just the start of this journey.

Our weeklong orientation was held mostly in school and it was divided into several parts which were about enhancing our skills and preparing us for the MBA program – Workshops included networking, case analysis, presentation skills, speed reading, learning style, and so on, which are essential in our MBA studies. It was the first time for most of us to really feel what MBA life is like through lectures, discussions and group work activities. Every day, from morning until early evening, we had intensive but enlightening and fun days. For me, this one week gave me a peek into a what is in store for me – a demanding yet exciting and fulfilling MBA life.

Continue reading Start of my MBA journey – reflections on The NANYANG MBA Orientation Week →

Blog, NANYANG-WASEDA

My thoughts on spending time with Japanese MBA students during their Waseda Summer Intensive Program

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By Sharon NG, Singaporean, NANYANG-WASEDA Double MBA Program Participant

My NANYANG-WASEDA classmates and I had the opportunity to join our Waseda peers from Tokyo during their  Summer Intensive Program. The program is created with the goal to expose Waseda students to how Japanese companies are operating in a global environment. It is conducted entirely in English to expose students in an English and foreign environment, which sets the tone of the Program to come.

The intensive program spanned over five full days during the first week of August,  and  it even included the Singapore National Day holiday on the 9th of August, the day when Singapore became an independent republic*. Now that’s what I call intensive. There were a total of 25 students, including us from the NANYANG-WASEDA program,, and it was helmed by “Zemi-Cho” (Group Leader) Taniguchi Tatsuro-san and led by Professor Reiji  Ohtaki, Director of the Nanyang-Waseda Double MBA Program.  They were assisted by three very hardworking Waseda staff members: Tamada Masaki-san, Saitoh Kaz-san and Yajima Tomoko-san.

As I was doing the Nanyang-Waseda courses, I did not get to attend the first day of this Summer program because I had a full day of classes that day. On the 2nd day which I managed to attend , it was the Singapore National Day, and the group first discussed about organizational issues for Japanese companies. The session touched on how overseas branches have to deal with a consistent message on objectives and goals to align their activities with the Headquarters. A key take-away was that the Waseda students should aspire to become Global Business Leaders (GBL). This included teaching overseas branches how to fish, instead of spoon-feeding them or worse, force-feeding them.  Another key issue was remuneration and promotion of local staff to senior positions. This could help manage local staff better and also motivate them to perform better with the prospect of promotion.

Next was a session by Mr. Takayanagi who leads SBI Venture Capital, the venture capital/private equity firm of the SBI Group, a listed financial services group in Japan. Mr. Takayanagi has very impressive credentials, having degrees from Oxford’s Said and Harvard’s Kennedy School. He talked about how his company operates in Singapore as a parallel to the HQ in Japan, and enjoys a high degree of independence of decision-making. He also touched on how Singapore is ideal as a business location. As a transportation hub, many people stop by Singapore en route to other destinations, and hence, it is easy to meet people. The small size of the island also makes it easy for people to get introduced to one another, as each person probably only enjoys “two degrees of separation”.

On the third day of the week-long program, we were visited by the Managing Director of Yamato Transport Singapore, Mr. Toda Naoki (Yamato Transport is Japan’s No. 1 transportation service that offers same-day service, house-to-house delivery or Ta-Q-Bin). Mr. Toda spoke in Japanese, but had an interpreter who has a distinctive Singapore-English or we what we call as ‘Singlish’ accent! Kuroneko, the delivery service of Yamato, is a well-known household name in Japan that requires no introduction. However, Mr. Toda lamented about how tough it is for the company in Singapore in the first year of operations. SingPost is a formidable competitor with well-established locations and customers, and the concept of house-to-house delivery (Ta-Q-Bin) may not be well-understood by the local market. Training and high turn-over also proves to be a problem, as it is difficult to provide good quality service without competent Service Delivery staff.

As Mr. Toda took his leave, the program continued on the theme of talent management. Prof Ohtaki (left photo) quoted a survey done by JobStreet.com (which he is a consultant for, one of Singapore’s major online job search portals ) on the issues of speed of promotions, job-hopping, work-life balance, career aspirations and expectations, and also the keen interest of Singaporeans to be their own boss one day. This is in contrast with the Japanese concept of employment, which places an emphasis on loyalty, slow promotion, a more equitable rate of compensation, and also the desire to work for a big company. Noting these differences, Prof Ohtaki urged the Waseda students to think about such issues when managing local staff, so that both the company’s expectations and staff expectations can be aligned and met. Continue reading My thoughts on spending time with Japanese MBA students during their Waseda Summer Intensive Program →

Blog, NANYANG-WASEDA

A day out with visiting Waseda peers during Singapore’s National Day

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By Sharon NG, Singaporean, Nanyang-Waseda Double MBA Current Participant

My Nanyang-Waseda peers and I had a most intensive week when our counterparts from Waseda Business School Japan (mostly Japanese nationals) visited Singapore for their Summer Intensive Program. The short program speaks for itself – it was, indeed, intensive but also fun.  It was fascinating for me, too, as I was able to somehow play ‘guide’ to the group, including my Nanyang-Waseda classmates, which is  an international bunch of individuals coming from Japan, Korea, India, Philippines and Thailand. But how do you spend the national day with a large group of visitors?

9th of August is the day that Singapore became an independent republic, Singapore’s National Day.  That day, being a holiday, I dragged my lazy feet to school. Traffic was very smooth, less cars on the street, so that really made me feel slightly better. We had a ‘longer than usual’ half-day of lectures, and after which the group tucked into local food stall for lunch, with a serving of Singapore’s famous chicken rice – a dish of Chinese origin comprised of special chicken-flavored rice topped with roast chicken*,  slushed down with cooling lime juice (chicken rice is considered to be one of Singapore’ best dishes and Singapore is known for it, worldwide). With that, the group took off for a half-day sightseeing trip of Singapore.

Continue reading A day out with visiting Waseda peers during Singapore’s National Day →

Blog, The NANYANG MBA

Taking time off in Bintan beach, Indonesia – Nanyang MBA annual class trip

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by Andrew Humphreys, American, Student Ex-Co VP Social (2010-2011)

During the term break, some 60 of us, Nanyang MBA participants, and our friends made a weekend trip to Bintan Lagoon Resort in Indonesia, one of the resorts located on Indonesia’s largest, and most enchanting Riau islands in the South China sea – less than an hour ferry ride from bustling Singapore, for our annual class trip – to unwind, enjoy the company of classmates and friends. The trip also serves as a farewell celebration for fellow classmates as several attend exchange programs across the globe during their 4th term. During these 3 days, we engaged in various sports activities like volleyball, soccer, banana boating, jet skiing, all terrain vehicle (ATV) riding, swimming, and tree climbing which everyone enjoyed very much.

“The class trip was enjoyable. It was a great opportunity for me to interact with my classmates,” Christine Hum remarks. Christine is one of our exchange students from Cornell Johnson School.

Christine (first from left) with her Nanyang MBA peers, taking a break from driving the ATV.

What a good way, then, to end three days of having fun? Of course – to party and have a blast, which is exactly what we did. We had a private beach party with games, prizes and we danced the night away at the local nightclub.

Cheers! – (MBA classmates from left to right) David, Amalia, Irfan, and Gabriel with his wife Maria (2nd from right).

It was a great 3 days full of memories that surely will last a lifetime. I hope this type of event will become a legacy that incoming cohorts will also do, and passed on from one class to the next class. A well-deserved break, indeed.

Blog, Clubs

Cheers! Santé! – Wine Appreciation Club

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By Laurent Cambon, Current MBA Student, and Mathieu François, Graduating Class of 2011.

In a very diverse MBA class, it is inevitable we get exposed to the richness of culture and gustatory delights of the countries represented. So, two of us from France started the Wine Appreciation Club to share a common, yet very important part of our culture – Wines. I have always been passionate about food and wines. To me, they are integral components of that which we consider French culture. Nearly all the 22 regions of France produce their own wines, each of which were developed to match the region’s cuisine. “If I have to choose wine according to conventional wisdom, I would opt for a very famous wine like Romanée-Conti from Bourgogne. But I prefer to answer based on my personal feelings. I have family roots in the South of France. So, each time I appreciate a Châteauneuf-du-pape, many memories and sensations from this region come to my mind, especially when I was a child. To be more specific, Château Mont-redon is certainly one of the best from this Côtes-du-rhône category,” adds by my co-initiator, Mathieu. This diversity of wines contributes invariably to the richness of French culture.

In Singapore, wines are just aplenty and you can get them easily- in groceries, or wine depots, to shopping malls, to even convenience stores available 24 hours. And the variety is just really great- coming from all the wine producing countries, including the best wine producer – France, of course.

The Wine Appreciation Club was set up with the aim of extending our passion for wines to other MBA students. Some of the initiatives of the Club include helping students identify the type of wines they already appreciate, introducing them to new wines, and inviting them to wine tasting processes that would enable them to appreciate wines better.

Sessions were not complete without food – we paired whites, reds and ‘bubbly’ or champagnes with food. Surely, members of the club, both the new and seasoned ones, took pleasure in every session in the appreciation of wine.

Even though Wine Tasting is not a course in the MBA curriculum, we believe that it would serve as a complementary component in the life of an MBA student, who will soon be actively engaged in business dinners or in social gatherings. We hope to see this club continue in the new academic year.

Our first event – Wine Appreciation-White Wines, attracted 14 wine lovers, curious souls and converts.

Wine Appreciation - White Wines

Wine Appreciation: White Wines

The Club’s second event  – Wine Appreciation-Red Wines; Me (Laurent, first from left, in green) and Mathieu (2ndfrom right, last row) together with our peers
Wine Appreciation: Red Wines

Wine Appreciation: Red Wines

And as a last hurrah to end T3 (and for some of us in the NANYANG-WASEDA Program who graduated recently in July), we had a special guest in our Champagnes session, which made the session more delightful – our ‘unofficial’ mascot.

Wine Appreciation: Champagnes

Blog, The NANYANG MBA

An ‘English’ Breakfast to start the MBA journey – 18 attend Intensive English Class.

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by: MBA Office

During an early July morning  ,  a group of 18 MBA participants from the new intake gathered for an “English breakfast’ – not really a typical English breakfast, but a yummy McDonald’s breakfast before they head out for  their Intensive English Class, part of the Pre –Term program.  Coming from China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Mexico, Vietnam, and Indonesia, the first ‘official function’ together  allowed them to warm up to each other  and get to know each other – and also get to meet face to face the MBA Office staff whom they have been communicating prior to their arrival in Singapore.  Here are some snippets to share: 

A group photo for early birds who grabbed breakfast with us!

Students enjoying a fun time getting to know each other.

Vida (third from left, wearing a very nice hat that we all loved) from Zhuhai City, China,  was ecstatic to meet people from different nations, and to have an eclectic experience of culture and gastronomy, “At Nanyang, you can not only meet people from other countries and get to eat food with mixed flavours (am looking forward to such experience) , but also you can learn and experience a diverse set of cultures. The most often used question for people you first meet in Singapore, especially in class, is ‘Where are you originally from?’ Need I say more?”

Italian student, Giuseppe (in red shirt, first from left), shared with us how he felt the warm welcome by his peers when he first arrived at the Graduate Hall (this is where most MBA students stay, located in the nice green campus).  “My fellow Nanyang MBA participants  who arrived earlier , certainly welcomed me… they helped me to organize my stuff and gave me my ‘first orientation’ about Nanyang … how to move around this huge campus of 200 hectares (!). I immediately felt at home with their help!”

After the breakfast, we all took a short walk to the English Class, where the conversations of their ‘first time in Singapore’ experience continues –

Some of the  MBA Office staff (in the first photo, standing – from left, Rachel, Yuni and Nick) spending time with the group.

As the academic year has yet to commence, the students are looking forward to an exciting year, meeting   and learning with friends and exchanging knowledge . As Giuseppe puts it, “At Nanyang, you will meet friends from all over the world; together, you will enjoy the countless facilities of the campus and vibrant nightlife of the dragon city,  Singapore. But most important, you get to experience with them, “ The NANYANG MBA experience.”

Nanyang Technological University