Kickstart Your eBay! @ SMU

The most recent Kickstart Your eBay! workshop saw participants from all walks of life, from the majority that is SMU students to professionals and students from other institutes.

Mark Yoong, eBay Education Specialist and Silver PowerSeller kickstarted (pun intended) the session with a brief description of himself and how he started his business and how his home is now his office. You have to see it to believe it, the scale of his operations and how it has completely changed his lifestyle.

Ventures, the SMU Entrepreneurship Society, played host to the programme, working hard to provide the venue for this sponsored programme between eBay, Talentpreneur Hub and Youth Enterprise Academy.

The objective of the Kickstart Your eBay! programme is to help you to start your own eBay business, and if you've missed the last one at SMU, fret not! There's going to be more workshops coming to an institute near you!

So stay tuned and watch this space for more updates of the Youth eBay Ambassador Programme!

National Youth Entrepreneurship Conference 2007

The first NYEC is organised by the Exoro Team (find out more about them here) to reach out to students from all tertiary institutes and also, to challenge them to prove their mettle at the National ExoroGame™ Youth Challenge.

Here, teams of 3 (each taking up the role of a CEO, CTO and CMO for Chief Executive, Technology and Marketing Officer respectively) from each school put on their business hats and go mano-a-mano against the other teams in the business simulation board game ExoroGame™. They must purchase, market, develop (and even patent) and price their products while keeping an eye out on their competitors and avoid falling too deeply into debts at the same time.

The process above sure sounds similar to the actual process of running a real business.

Talentpreneur Hub was invited to be a Supporting Organisation for the NYEC 2007 and it was really good to see some familiar faces from the schools that we have worked with turn up at the Challenge.

Colin from Settler's Cafe was also there and there was a lot of interest from teachers and students in the Settler's Lite programme. To find out more about it, visit the Settler's Lite website.

I thought that the most interesting highlight of the conference was Mr Ron Sim's sharing of his experience as an entrepreneur. Given that he has been on the enterprise path for the last 20 years, his stories really left me a lot to think about.

But more stories about it next time! Youth Enterprise Academy, together with Talentpreneur Hub, will be launching the biggest school entrepreneur event of the year! And you saw it here first!

So be sure to mark out the 27th October 2007 down on your calendar because everyone is invited to the National Schools Entrepreneur Summit 2007!

Stay tune for more information in the coming weeks :)

2 Sheeps for 1 Brick Please!

I had a pleasant surprise during one of my board games session for Kong Hwa School that was held at Settler's Cafe.

One of the creator of the stock market board game Dividends (pictured above), Evelyn Brunner from Fun Factory Games, actually dropped by to check out our board game programme!


Colin invited her, and even he initially thought that Kong Hwa School was a secondary school and told Evelyn, 'You got to come see these people use your board game to teach entrepreneurship to secondary school students.'

So they both were shell shocked when I told them that these kids are actually primary school students and yes, they ARE playing high-level games like Settlers of Catan and Dividends, and they play it well too. And no, you're not dreaming either.

Evelyn told me that Dividends was never really intended for children 12 years of age and below. That's because the stock market system and its concepts aren't easily understandable by the very young.

Remind me to drop her an email the next time saying that she can drop the target age group on the box from 13+ - Adults to 10+ - Adults.

I'm not surprised at how smart and creative primary school students are simply because I've work with them a lot. I get this warm proud feeling in my heart when I see them play Settlers of Catan and they trade and negotiate as well as anyone you can think of.

Bullying techniques? Check.

Reverse-psychology techniques? Check.

Long-term partnerships? Check.

Good head for business? (You want this ore? Sure, pass me 2 sheep and 1 wood and it's yours) Check.

So really, underestimate them at your own peril. Competitions like YESCOM have already proved that when it comes to Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the primary school students are as business-savvy (if not more so) as secondary school students.

Settlers of Catan Board Game Competition

Settlers of Catan isn't the easiest of games to play and can be quite difficult to pick up immediately, especially if you're an unseasoned player.


I conducted the competition for Serangoon Secondary School's I&E Day and expected students to stuggle with the game as the dynamics of european games can be quite different.

But judging by the response and the strategies that were deployed by the students of Serangoon Secondary Schools, they're no pushovers too. They traded, bargained, threatened and cajoled their way to victory. Kudos to them.

There were 2 rounds of competition, where winners of the first round would go on to play the second round. The winners of the second round would go on to win attractive prizes sponsored by Settler's Cafe.

Mr Yeo, the principal, commented on their initiative, stating the school has and will always support new learning initiatives such as learning through board games, and encouraged the winners to step up to take part in the Nationals, if there are any.

Good news for the champions then, there IS a Settlers of Catan National Board Game Competition. When is it going to happen?

Well, I guess you just have to watch this space, I suppose.

'Go Global' Business Case Seminar

The "Go Global" Business Case Competition saw the gathering of students from completely different cultural and educational backgrounds to tackle a business case study. Participants from tertiary institutions and international schools went through team-bonding and problem-based learning to synergise their strengths and efforts in solving an unconventional business case study.
One of highlights of the competition was a seminar with a panel discussion organized by Talentpreneur Hub held before the final presentation of the competition. The topic of the seminar was Youth Entrepreneurship and Opportunities Abroad. Successful local entrepreneurs Ms Elim Chew of 77th Street, Mr Douglas Foo of Sakae Sushi, Mr Colin Lim of Settlers’ Café and eBay PowerSeller, Mark Young gave the audience valuable insights on handling setback and venturing overseas. Young entrepreneurs of Talentpreneur Hub, Nicky Teo of Funeral Solutions, Serene Yeo and Goh Cheng Ze of Dotbox also shared about their start-up journey. An interactive session of Q&A following their sharing had many members of the audience motivated to further explore their own business ideas. Many of them commented that it was inspiring meeting the young entrepreneurs in person and learning about their start-up journey.In the following months, YEA will feature more events that serve as platforms for young people to cultivate their interest and knowledge in entrepreneurship in the months to come. Meanwhile, keep a lookout for details of the National Schools Entrepreneur Summit coming up in December 2007. This event will bring together student entrepreneurs from all over Singapore and offer a smörgåsbord of activities and talks to bring spotlight to the school entrepreneur scene!

Asia Pacific Speakers Summit

The Asia Pacific Speakers Summit 2007 held on 17 and 18 May brought together some of the best speakers and trainers from more than ten nations including UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Thailand. Participants at the event not only witness dynamic speaks and trainers in action, but they also gained fresh insight into the business of training, learning and retention.


Some of our student members at YEA had a chance to meet and interact with some of the best presenters and trainers in professional public speaking.
These students who have undergone training at YEA got a chance to sharpen their knowledge and skills in entrepreneurship under an exclusive continuity programme to cultivate their entrepreneurial skills on the various platforms offered at YEA. The students helped out at the reception and assisted the speakers in their presentations. Many of them realized the value of networking when they put to practice what they learnt about building lasting contacts in business.