Ms. Olivia Lum Talk

Over the past two years, we have had opportunities to interact with a range of eminent personalities including industry experts, politicians, Nobel laureates and academicians. However, there is a different kind of excitement in the air when it comes to meeting up with and hearing from entrepreneurs. It is even more so, when the entrepreneur happens to be an alumnus of your school. Mr. Ivan Lee and Mr. Adam Khoo were two energetic entrepreneurs who fell in this bracket and are indeed very famous around. But when I heard about this talk by Ms. Olivia Lum, I wasn’t quite sure what we were in for. As you can guess, NUS happens to be her alma mater as well. Other than that, I had to Google to find out more information on her. And I did find loads of it in there that laid a good platform for the talk. Ms Lum had received numerous awards such as Nikkei Asia Prize Award 2006, Asiamoney’s Best Corporate Executive of the Year in 2005, Businessman of the Year 2004. My expectations were growing and I began looking forward to the talk.

On 30^th of January 2008, we had this unique opportunity to interact with the Group CEO & President and Founder of Hyflux Ltd who started her corporate life as a Chemist in Glaxo (S) Pte Ltd. She began with a brief story about how she started her life off as an entrepreneur. As you can expect, giving up a secure job from a leading pharma company to begin an uncertain business on water purification was a significant step to take. But Ms. Lum had conviction behind her business idea and importantly, was willing to work hard to make it a reality. It was inspiring to hear being the lone female two-wheeler driver on the roads of Singapore in those days scouting for prospective business opportunities. Her enterprise was exemplified as she explained us about the way she went to Malaysia as a ‘foreign’ business person selling her idea, only because she was finding it tough to make an impact in the local circles. Her decision to venture into the China market was yet another interesting part of her experience. She took us through every stage of this part of her venture which included her decision to invest, challenges in funding, project execution and end results (which were bad to begin with which she ultimately turned around).

Every topic of her introductory note had some interesting anecdotes which kept the audience glued to their seats and to her speech. Needless to say, there were some important lessons to be learnt as well. Then came the Q&A session where people got an opportunity to ask questions to this eminent business leader. She answered questions ranging all the way from changes in her management philosophy through the two decades of business to her idea behind identifying the right people and teams for her organization. In every answer of hers, I could feel the intellect of a confident and committed business leader. I’m sure the audience had more than a fair share of inspiration from this icon who had all of us connected through the 90 minutes of interaction. By the end of it all, I did add her to the ‘elite list’ of our alumni who have made an impact in this global business world. If Ms. Lum is at the helm of a corporation that handles four different businesses across multiple geographies in the environmental space, there is a lot more than just coincidence and luck behind that!

Please visit http://hyflux.com/home.php to know more about the company.

-By Srikanth Sridharan
MBA Class of 2008.

The Dream Trip to America

The Dream Trip America has been a special study trip. We stepped outside Asia for a study trip for the first time in the 40 year history of the NUS Business School. The objective of the trip was to give the students an exposure to the western corporate world and to enable them to learn 'best practices' from top business leaders. A total of 23 people participated in this trip, majority of whom were from the MBA Programme.

The highlight of the trip was an appointment with Mr. Warren Buffett, the world’s richest man, for Q&A session and lunch. “Success can be measured by the number of people who are willing to hide you,” said Mr. Buffett, emphasizing on the importance of relationships and integrity. We asked some brilliant questions to get his views on his investment strategies and personal life. Post Q&A and lunch, Mr. Buffett posed for some really nice pictures with us. His humility compared to his success made him even greater than what we had thought about him.

The discussion with Mr. Buffett was very different from the one we had with Mr. Scott McNealy, Chairman of Sun Microsystems. Mr. McNealy’s ideas on open source will have a strong influence on the way companies operate and educational systems work. We also got a glimpse of the thin client systems which are gaining popularity in the business world. Mr. Sumir Chadha, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital, enlightened us on the recent trends in Indo-US start-ups. Sequoia Capital has been investing in USA, Israel, India and China.

The company visits were equally interesting whether they were high techs in Silicon Valley or Investment Banks in Wall Street. The visit to Google campus which marked the start of our study trip was the most entertaining of all company visits. Google has been built like an extension of a college campus with some interesting rules like the rule of “150”, which means an eating place would be available within 150 feet of any point in the Google office. During the presentation a few other interesting facts popped up, like the rule of “20-80”, which means each employee spends 80% of his time on assigned tasks and 20% on his own initiatives. It was surprising to note that successful applications like Orkut and Google News spawned out of people’s personal initiatives. Dressed formally we were thought to be “over-dressed”, as we were explained about the informal atmosphere the company tries to maintain. No wonder the company is breaking all rules purely based on innovation. Apple’s office is different from the “campus-like” Google office. The interesting part of meeting Apple employees was their jovial yet reserved nature combined with a bit of arrogance, much like the company’s own attitude. Unlike the “20-80” of Google, for Apple innovation is a full time task. People in Apple spend days and months coming up with products which blend visual appeal and technology to create brand leaders like the iPod.

In New York, the Mecca of finance, we visited Lehman Brothers and Citi. Their offices are located in huge sky scrapers in Manhattan. The meeting with Citi was hosted by the head of recruitment, North America. The presenters gave us an insight into how the different divisions like investment banking, capital markets, structuring and sales & trading work together at Citi. We also got good information on the challenges faced by the operations team at Citi. The discussion was followed by a tour of the trading floor where we got to see for the first time the renowned chaos of the trading floor. The Lehman Brothers visit was unique because unlike Citi, the presenters avoided using PowerPoint slides. The discussion at Lehman was on a variety of topics ranging like how to make a career switch to Investment Banking, credit crisis and risk management at Lehman. The discussion at Lehman was followed by a tour of the trading floor. Lehman’s trading floor is similar in structure to Citi’s, but it is different in the way different groups like equity traders, commodity traders are organized. The “palace-like” offices of these investment banks were very impressive.

We also visited Stanford University and Columbia University. Both universities had old and amazingly beautiful campuses. In Columbia University we interacted with a faculty member who gave us an insight on the teaching methodologies at Columbia University.

Last but not the least were the 'free and easy' trips to Napa Valley where we enjoyed Wine tasting. Golden Gate Bridge and Fishermen’s Wharf are some of the most beautiful places in San Francisco, a must see for all those who plan a visit there. In New York, we visited Wall Street and Times Square (where the cold weather of New York failed to dampen out spirits). Los Angeles was a good break as it allowed us to relax after a hectic week.

This trip was the experience of a lifetime. The participants described their trip experience as adventurous, enlightening, motivating, insightful, fruitful and with many such adjectives. Each of them will cherish the memories of this trip for a long time to come.

-By Rajesh Khanna

MBA Class of 2009

NUS MBA Club Elections

The Electoral fever not only gripped United States but also passed on to NUS Business School premises in late January. The MBA club elections were scheduled to be held in mid February for the post of respective Club Presidents, Directors for Program Development, Student Activities, Career Services and the 'Big One' the President of NUS MBA club.

The candidates kicked off the election campaign by floating their mandates for the forthcoming academic cycle, followed by canvassing within the cohort. The Consulting Club election set the tone for the rest of the two week marathon process. In a closely fought battle for the post of President of Consulting club, Isha Gupta scampered home by 11 votes to 9. Isha has laid down the agenda for the Consulting club members. Her emphasis will be on inviting industry experts, conducting case workshops and facilitating tie ups with Consulting Clubs of other major Business Schools. Gagan Deep, Atreyee Pal and Rohini Srivastava won the elections for the Executive Committee to make it an all women’s line up and set a fresh precedent in history of NUS MBA clubs.

The Finance Club elections was more of a one sided affair with Nevaj Kochar coming out victorious by a big margin. Nevaj has the enviable task of meeting the standards set by his predecessor Tushar Kheterpal. Finance Club has set extremely high standards for other clubs to follow and Nevaj will be looking to raise the bar. In his agenda, Nevaj will be broadening the scope of flagship events like FinXplorer Series and Study Trips.

The Marketing Club was again an All Women’s affair with Meghna Bhargav being declared new President of the club. Urmila Shinde and Shilpa Marodia are Executive Committee members of the club. Marketing Club faces a tough challenge from Consulting and Finance Club. The past year has been a subdued one for the club and the new office bearers are looking to buck the trend.

For the post of Directors of NUS MBA club (for the current term) – Program Development, Finance and Administration, Student Activities and Career Services: Ooi Aik Hwee, Danny Alexander, Shilpa Marodia and Pankaj Kumar were chosen the new leaders by the students.

The real thrill was reserved for the coveted post of NUS MBA Club President. Adarsh Abhineet, Rohini Srivastava and Hadi Christian formed a formidable three way contest. The campaign for the post reached its climax in the “Face Off” event for the candidates. Adarsh, Rohini and Hadi put forward a very strong case for themselves in front of Students, MBA office staff and the Program Director. While Adarsh spoke about his vision for the future of the NUS MBA program, Rohini detailed her contributions to the MBA program till date and her future plans. Hadi stressed more on bringing in diversity to the club events and encouraging participation in club activities from all nationalities.

With three strong candidates in fray, their supporters too upped the ante by vigorously canvassing for their respective leaders, displaying posters and roping in Part Time students. Election fever reached its crescendo during the voting period and it was impossible to predict who the actual winner will be. Ultimately Adarsh Abhineet came out victorious in a tough and fair competition. The election result was followed by an Investiture ceremony where the incumbents handed over the responsibilities to newly elected leaders.

Program Director, Dr. Nitin Pangarkar, Vice-Dean graduate studies, Susanna Leong, Director, Graduate studies, Lim Yue Wen , Head, MBA students development, Celia Wu and other MBA office staff graced the occasion with their presence.