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Businesses are prone to imminent dangers that can occur unknowingly. The need for businesses to employ creative minds, to take significant measures and contribute positively, is essential if businesses want to thrive in the rapidly evolving and competitive environment. How does one step out of their comfort zones and thrive in such a competitive era? How does one expand their entrepreneurial toolbox? To answer the riddles shrouding this topic, the Business Career Development Committee (BizCare) invited Alumni, Waraa Lodha, and Seniors, Ryan Siah and Justin Loh for the I&E Internal Networking Sharing Session on 19 January 2023.
Waraa emphasized on the importance of networking through this specialization as it promotes a creative and efficient work culture amongst your group. Networking becomes especially important during student years as, while you would expect most business students to pick up related I&E modules, in reality, there are a handful of students from different majors such as engineering that graze upon these modules as they develop interest in taking this as a minor in their studies. Planning for relevant modules is another aspect that Waraa mentioned that interested students should consider taking into account. She mentioned that those taking double specializations or more should pay close attention as few modules might have the same professor conducting lessons with almost similar projects and formats for teaching. To avoid being stuck in such a situation, cautious planning of modules is crucial for students.
Justin highly encouraged students present to go for the NOC (NUS Open College) program rather than the student exchange program due to the drive that NOC provides, being pushed into a practical working environment, doing hackathons, taking part as an intern, and creating solutions for the betterment of established businesses. Ryan dwelled deeper into the format of the classes. He described classes to be very engaging, with professors displaying great interest for the subject and being open to every idea generated from the class. Any sort of misconceptions or queries were clarified by the teaching staff and the guidance provided through engaging frameworks helps students process situations analytically when tackling business problems. “There was never one right answer”, as stated by Ryan was the approach professors took when assessing students’ projects and the possibility to explore numerous approaches was well encouraged.
All 3 of the speakers strongly suggested that students pick up related CCA’s even if they do not stay in residency at the college (Few residencies such as KR hall provide additional entrepreneurial CCA’s for students to join). The NUS Entrepreneurship Society and the NUS Online Ventures are 2 clubs that Ryan mentioned would be worth joining, along with hackathons to really substantiate the fundamentals and critical thinking of students that want to pursue excellence in this field. Students were advised to take as many opportunities as possible and demonstrate strong communication skills to approach external sources to broaden the scope of your network.
Post-panel opinions from students
“I often think of numerous ideas when tackling solutions relating to projects given by professor but am never able to truly advocate my thought process to my groupmates. With the business world already consisting of numerous well established entities and my lack of confidence, I always wondered whether I still take my chance and go forth with this specialization. Through the talk today, I believe my queries were answered and I feel more confident in pursuing my interest in this field and see where it takes me. I understand the need to become more outgoing and taken on as many opportunities by communicating more openly with those around and creating strong networks as they might come in handy in the near future!” ~ Russell, Y2 BBA