ASEANpreneurs Youth Leader Network 2008

ASEANpreneurs Youth Leader Exchange (AYLE) is the flagship exchange project organized by the ASEANpreneurs Youth Leader Network of NUS Entrepreneurship Society (NES), bringing together student leaders and entrepreneurs from the ASEAN countries. Launched in 21 May 2008, AYLE has successfully organized the first edition of AYLE in Singapore, having attracted 29 student leaders from 8 ASEAN countries. Through the 7-day program consisting of entrepreneurship and leadership lectures, company visits and brainstorming sessions, delegates explored on a wide range of entrepreneurship related issues and many went back to their respective countries as advocates and voices of ASEAN youth entrepreneurship. Moving on to our second year, AYLE would be assisting another ASEAN country to host AYLE 09 while actively promoting youth entrepreneurship in ASEAN region through a series of workshops and events.

Talentpreneur Hub and Youth Enterprise Academy was invited to take part in the ASEANpreneurs Youth Leaders Exchange to share about our entrepreneurial journey. It was a great way for the delegates to learn from our experiences as well as pick up ideas and opportunities from the sharing and bring it back to their home countries.

And boy did we have fun sharing. Interestingly enough, most of the foreign delegates were interested in board game programmes (I mean what's not to like about board games, they're super fun, educational, impactful and you learn so much in 2 hours and yet it doesn't really feel like learning at all) and inquired about opportunities to bring some of these educational programmes back to their countries.

There was a Vietnamese student who shared that she's the President of the Cashflow Club back in her university in Hanoi and they really love the board game Cashflow. I mean, like, wow. That's awesome.

To find out more about ASEANpreneurs, visit their website here.

Cream of the Crop

I personally think that the IvP is a great programme for young students to stand up and dare to be creative.

These students at Kong Hwa School are exceptionally intelligent, creative and initiative (and self-initiated learners if I may add). Don't judge them based on their sizes, for small people, they sure have big ideas.

The red dot design museum never cease to amaze. Especially if you're visiting it for the first time. Students want to email the designers to ask them some questions on their works.
'Grandma, what a big fridge you have...' 'The better to chop you up and refrigerate you my dear...' A student explores one of the award-winning design refrigerator.
Back to school : students share what they have learnt during the museum visit.

BrainWriting in action! 'So what do you think?' The Innovative 8 (one of them is missing from the picture) brainstorm for ideas.' So tell me again why these students are so passionate about innovation? They come up with great ideas, question everything and have a huge hunger to learn.'

'These are the better students, they're all student leaders and are good performers in school.'

Ah, this explains everything. All the best for your IvP project kids! I'll definitely be seeing you soon!

InnoWorks™ : Spark That Idea!

I think I forgot to announce this but Youth Enterprise Academy is the Education Partner of the 9th Design Competition organised by Bukit View Secondary School and Ngee Ann Polytechnic.



To help students to find that creative spark they need to create that winning design, a compact version of the programme was customised for the competition and students and teachers from schools like Rulang Primary School, Raffles Girls School (Secondary) and Pasir Ris Primary School came together for an afternoon of learning and fun!

'Hmm where does this piece go?'

Students learn about the importance of Innovation in today's world. It's presentation time! Feedback is always important. And I really like their ideas too!

The red dot design museum is a great place for new ideas to spawn forth from young minds!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the teachers and students for attending the workshop.

It's not often that we have teachers and students to come together as participants and I'm glad they did, because I think that just the simple task of working together will help to them to bond as a team and I'm confident that they'll be able to do well in the upcoming competition!

Selling Made Easy

I suppose that I should really feel quite touched when students from the ETP Club who turn up for the Fundamental of Sales workshop even though they have already attended it before.

When asked why the repeat attendance they responded, 'Because your workshop is interesting mah!'

As a trainer, that's easily the biggest compliment your student can give you.

A good thing then that I always try to make sure that each workshop is a unique experiece with different examples, case studies and activities.

Here are the highlights of the recently concluded Fundamentals of Sales workshop at ITE West (Clementi Campus).

Showing them the ultimate Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon sales move

Students were split into 2 groups of buyers and sellers to try and see who can get a better bargain out of the negotiation process.

Students share a private funny moment.

Jeralynn and friend try to act cute. They succeeded.

Roleplaying is fun!

I really look forward to working with them again. Hehe, I haven't shown them the Raising Phoenix Marketing Stance yet.

I³ Workshop @ St Anthony's Canossian Secondary School from 20th Feb 2008 to 22nd Feb 2008

It was my first time being a facilitator for a YEA programme at St Anthony’s Canossian Secondary School. I was pretty excited about the workshop and have been looking forward to it all week!

On the first and second day of the workshop, board games were the highlights where the girls get to play educational board games as part of their learning. The board games were interesting and interactive as you can easily see that from the happy faces of the girls. The girls were happily playing and cooperated very well with one another. This was most obvious when they're negotiating “deals” among themselves in order to push and promote their businesses. I was impressed by the ‘friendliness’ in their negotiation.

Negotiation of deal being carried out among the 2 players. An “Ok settled!” statement is quickly followed by a swift transaction. If only things are as easy in the real world....

The girls are listening attentively to Donnie for the explanation of the cards and their functions.

On the last day of the workshop, the girls were able to generate many creative ideas for their upcoming entrepreneurial projects. It was impressive to see that the girls are very enthusiastic and supportive of the ideas produced by their classmate. Girl power!

Cracking their brains and putting ideas together to decide on which product or service to provide.

Presenting their innovative ideas!

Good job girls! I am so proud of all of you. Hope that all your ideas would be put into action in the near future and be a great success!

Hope to see you all again soon!

National Schools Entrepreneur Summit 2007 Revisited

The National Schools Entrepreneur Summit (NSES) 2007, organised by Youth Enterprise Academy, SMU Ventures and Talentpreneur Hub, is an annual platform for primary to tertiary institutes to come together to share and showcase their various entrepreneurial initiatives and achievements. It was held on Sat, October 27th 2007 at Singapore Management University and attracted more than 250 representatives from 45 schools.

Students and teachers from 19 schools and institutes were invited to take part in the Young Entrepreneur Showcase and was a great way for participants to be updated with the latest in the school I&E scene. Student participants received the opportunity to learn and interact with their peers from other schools as well as with young entrepreneurs who have started their business.

Summit participants also got to engage a panel of educators and entrepreneurs on relevant issues in the youth entrepreneurship scene. Individuals on the Panel included Mr Tony Seow, Guest of Honor and Founder & Managing Director of Purple Sage; Professor Desai, Associate Dean of Information Systems; Mr Suresh Shankar, CEO of RedPill Solution; Mr Ken Koh, Founder & Business Development Director, Youth Enterprise Academy.

Here are some snapshots from the event:

Business Planning : Avoiding Archilles' Heel

I've mentioned this before, but those who are familiar with Jurong Junior College would know that the school strongly supports the entrepreurial endeavours of its students.


This can be seen by the 4 student-operated businesses in the school, jointly run by the Enterprise Club.


The E³ Programme that Youth Enterprise Academy conducted for the students was to help them bolster their business planning skills to help them to grow these 4 enterprises, as well as to enable them to perform better for business plan competitions.


The students were quick learners, no doubt accelerated by their experiences in business operations. The marketing strategies and campaigns that they were able to come up with were great.


The Archilles' heel of any business plan is often the finance portion of the business plan. Students often make the mistakes of overprojecting initial sales, or tweaking the figures just so that the business would break-even in a year.


Investors and VCs however, can sniff out any financial loopholes faster than you can say 'oops.' And I was glad that none of the students committed those fundamental flaws.


Here's a quick look of what transpired over the 2-day workshop.

BU2: The Seven Flowers

Planning can be fun too!

A quick look at successful marketing campaigns by companies

And the final presentation after 2 days of hard work!

Easy Target

As I often share with my students in sales modules, I'm the kind of soft-hearted customer that is most susceptible to great salesmanship.


An exercise in bartering and negotiation during the Fundamentals of Selling workshop in ITE Clementi saw me facing off with a student who really knows how to work the situation to her advantage. Needless to say, I was sold into bartering my sassy handphone with her MP3 player.


A student outdoing her master? It's not something that's straight out of a Star Wars script.


Of course, I asked her where she picked up her skills from, and I wasn't surprised to hear her recite a long list of retail outlets, including, she proudly proclaim, Fox; of which she's one of the top performers. Her sales in the ladies section was good, but it was exceptional when she was moved to the gents.


I'm wasn't the least surprised. She has an easy and charming demeanor and a sincere way of reaching out to customers.


Another great example of a talented teen was the student workshop co-ordinator. He was exceptionally polite (and dare I say professional?) in receiving us and in attending to my and my facilitator's needs. He also showed great people skills in handling his peers and was clearly cut out to be a leader (or a business leader, seeing that he's a leader in the ETP Club).


It's these amazing gems that I meet in my work that truly inspires me. The next generation of youth will be amazing. Just wait and see.

Making An Impact On Your Immediate Environment

Our recent Creative Problem Solving workshops at ITE Balestier proves that sparks for creative ideas can be found anywhere and everywhere.

Or in this case, students were able to come up with creative solutions to everyday problems that they face in schools. Problems like the losing of tools during automotive lessons, or the inability to open doors when you're carrying bulky items (because your hands are full), or even how to improve the ways you move heavy objects like tires were put through their creative mills. The end results were, as always, remarkably exciting.

I look forward to see these ideas developed for the Tan Kah Kee Young Inventor's Award.

In the meantime, here's some snaps from the workshops at ITE Balestier.

I don't need no flipchart to present my idea!

Brainstorming for great ideas.

I've actually learnt a thing or two about automotive from these automotive students :)

Girls Rulz...

One of the girls in my class wrote that on her group's working plan. And I have to say that I must agree.

Working with the girls of St Anthony's Canossian Secondary School was a new experience and a definite blast.

The girls were able to express their interests, individuality and passion through their business plans in the E³ Progamme.

Some of the ideas that they came up with were really impressive and they really have some very good marketing skills!

A picture speaks a thousand words so here's a few to prove my point.

The girls assess various creative opportunities that they have thought up.

Time for some games! And teachers get to play too!

'I think she should do it!' The girls learn to co-operate 'arrow' one another.

One of the 2 winning teams in the competition, theWHATmag team.

Another team presents their business plan in a mini-competition between the two classes.

I personally feel that it's great that the girls have strong support from the school to act on and follow up from their business ideas from the workshop. I look forward to seeing these plans put in action next year!

All the best girls!

How to Raise Funds for Next Year

The recent training that I had with Temasek Secondary School's I&E Club reinforces the belief that good ideas, good BUSINESS ideas can come from anyone.

Case in point, the students from the club went through a round of InnoWorks™ to generate a fresh arsenal of fund raising ideas for the club.

Their best idea? I won't tell you but I'll give you a hint: similar to the idea of this RJC (or is it former RJC?) student's business idea.

Check it out here : http://donutsonline.zlhub.com/

Here're some snaps.

Mabel shares a funny moment with the students.

Giving the students some food for thought :)

Hard at work!

A group sharing an idea of theirs.

I look forward to see their ideas bear fruit next year :)