The Importance of Business Planning

Youth Enterprise Academy was invited by the JJ Enterprise Club of Jurong Junior College to give an assembly talk to share on youth entrepreneurship and business planning.
We subsequently invited Nicky Teo from Funeral Solutions and Ken Koh from Talentpreneur Hub to share their experiences with the youth.
Nicky Teo is one of those young people who creates ripples everywhere they go.
Given the industry that he is in, it's hardly surprising that most people will do a double take when they hear that a young chap is a funeral director.

When Nicky was invited to speak at an entrepreneurial assembly talk recently at Jurong Junior College on the importance of the business planning, he openly admitted that he didn't do any planning before venturing on his business. Prior to setting up his company, Funeral Solutions Pte Ltd, Nicky had years of experience by being actively involved in the funeral processes and rites at a local temple.
He decided to start out on his own and his company was born. He believed that it was important to be responsible to the client and not overcharge them. He felt that transparency was the best way to go when dealing with his clients and it because his unique selling point the industry.
He shared with the 800-strong audience that it was only after he became his own boss did he realised the importance of business planning to help shape the direction of his company. He found out that many of the mistakes that he committed could have been avoided had he taken the time to do proper business planning.
That message was firmly echoed by my good friend and colleague, Ken Koh, Managing Director of Talentpreneur Hub and Youth Enterprise Academy. Ken gave tips to the students on what to look out for before starting a business, citing examples from YEA itself.

Ken also shared on several local successful entrepreneurs who are below 25 and how they were able to succeed in their industry despite stiff competition.
The students at JJC enjoyed themselves with Nicky's and Ken's humorous sharing and Youth Enterprise Academy sincerely hoped that more students will be encouraged to venture out and start on their entrepreneurial endeavours, starting with the strong initiative and support from their college.

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.

Thinking of New Ways to have FunD!

The challenge posed to the Dunearn Secondary 2 cohort was this, to come up with interesting and unique fund-raising ideas for the schools.


Some of the students were a bit reluctant, and they didn't really believe that their ideas will be green-lighted by the school and brought to fruition.

It is often this resignation to fate or the notion that their ideas will not make a difference. Why come up with great ideas if they're all gonna be swept under the carpet? Then there's always this fear that their ideas won't work out. It's often easier to just not do anything than to do something and run the risk of failing

The thing is, reluctant students won't remain that way for long while in my class. It is paramount that my students must always believe in themselves and their ability to come out with an idea that's great.

I got Yun Rui, one of my students a previous programme from National Junior College to help out as a facilitator in my class. Her infectious ice-breaker soon roused everyone and I recoreded clip where my class did a class cheer that brought down the house but it would have been too ear-piercingly loud to put it here.


Here's some footages of the great ideas from the cohort training at Dunearn Secondary.

Sometimes, all it takes for unity is 2 fingers. And with a united team, anything is possible.

I should know :)

Earth Craft

Earth Craft (n): Craft work that is environmentally friendly.


Actually, I just made that up. I'm constantly amazed at the level of talent that I come across in our programmes in school (I sure don't remember being anywhere as creative as these dudes and dudettes when I was their age not too many moons ago.).


But it is, little gems hidden in Northbrooks Secondary School. Enough said. I'll let their work do the talking.

It's still too early to tell, but I bet there's going to be a lot of flowers and bees in this one.

The clay guru shares a funny moment with her students.

Whoever can guess what this is get a prize from me :)

I think this look a lot like me!

And this is Roy from my favorite online comic brought to life. I didn't know you could use key like that.

And They All Wear Pink Bags!

I just couldn't find a picture of the schools bags, I asked the girls in my class, 'Why is it that everyone's bags are pink? You see Barbie, Cars, Shrek, and they're all in pink!'

Their reply was just, 'Because we are girls what!' My apologies then, I stand rebuked.

The Primary 5 cohort of CHIJ Lady of the Nativity went through the InnoWorks™ at red dot museum programme to generate and think of new and fun ways to teach maths.

I haven't gone back to the school to take a look at their end products yet, I can't wait for it.

The class that I took was 5 Hope, supposedly the smartest class in the cohort and well, it showed. Despite being obvious smart alecks, they came up with really innovative ways to teach math.

The girls were real darlings (maybe because it was only 2 days, instead of 200 days as a teacher), and again, the visit to red dot design museum proved successful and was really good in expanding mindsets and revisiting mental boundaries.

I remember seeing a team of the girls entering the Bukit View Design Competition (because I snucked a peek at the Bukit View Design Competition entries, but that's another post for another time) but I couldn't be sure, but all the best Team Nativity! We're rooting for ya!

Recycling's The Way to Go

To make our InnoWorks™ programme at for the Secondary One cohort at Dunearn Secondary more interesting, we decided to up the usual challenge to the students more interesting.
Design, pitch, plan the materials and then redeem for the materials that you need to make your product.


And since each team only had limited amount of points and there were limited resources, it was most interesting to see how they would decide which materials to use.


'Eh, let's use the colgate box.'

'Don't want la! The cardboard so flimsy, plastic bottle better.'

'No plastic will not be good for our product, so hard to decorate it.'

'Then I do lor, come pass to me.'

'I still think colgate box is better.'


Once again, the level of creativity and the quality of their ideas and works never fail to stump me. It's these little surprises that I really look forward to with each programme. I'll post about the great ideas by the Secondary Two cohort sometime later this week when I have the time.


Cheeras, happy holidays to all you students out there and have lots of fun! (But don't forget to revise ok? Heh)

Back to Bukit View

Last year, around this time, we did a InnoWorks™ for Bukit View Secondary for their sec 2s.

This year, we were invited back to do the same programme both their Secondary 1 and 2 cohorts.

As as usual, it's always a riot (I mean it in a good way) for trainers because it's honestly is great fun!

Bukit View Secondary has always been well-known in its cluster to be very innovation-oriented. And this is reflected in the quality of their students and how quick they are to come up with great suggestions and improvements for the school environment.

As usual, the red dot design museum is a catalyst and breeding ground for wild ideas. All the best to the students at Bukit View (do they call you Bukit Viewers?), Youth Enterprise Academy would certainly hope to be back to see you all again!

The Importance of Networking

During 1 of the 4 E³ sessions for National Junior College's I&E Club, Dean was going over the fundamentals of networking.

He asked the students how much they knew about networking, and they all thought that they knew quite a bit about the subject. I mean, c'mon, isn't it as simple as meeting new people and making friends? They reasoned.

We decided to put them to the test and did a mock of an actual networking session. It turns out that there was quite a bit about networking that they don't understand. That getting to know someone professionally isn't quite the same ball game as socialising and making friends.

We told them that there were a lot of things they were doing that could be improved on, like how proper handshakes, or how to walk, talk and speak properly. What kind of topic to talk about when meeting someone new.

And then we ran the session again. And this time, both Dean and I were dumbfounded at how much they have improved. In a matter of an hour, the students have stopped being students and were networking, exchanging contacts, getting what they want out of the networking sessions as if they've done it their entire lives.

After the workshop, Dean and I had this conversation.

'Well done, Dean. They improved alot.'

'Yeah, I didn't expect them to be this good after a quick session.'

'These kids are different, it's not like you don't know it already. They absorb what you teach and fling it back at you with equal finesse and they make it look easy while they're doing that.'

Isn't it remarkable?