Cerebration 2011

It all happened here at NUS on a starry October night. The stars descended from business schools across the globe from London, Canada, China and India. 575 teams enrolled in the competition from business schools all over the world with only 6 teams making it to the final round. They came to share their spark (idea) - to compete in a unique business plan competition. They demonstrated exceptional team work, creativity, and presented facts and analysis based on thorough research. They went through several rounds of presentations, grilling question and answer sessions and at the end emerged winners of prizes worth SGD20,000. Not to mention the applause and respect from industry experts, judges and fellow MBA students and an experience of a lifetime.



NUS Business School - Cerebration 2011

Photo credits: Krishan Kant, Full Time MBA student



Photo credits: Wai Keat Tan, Full Time MBA student



 The competition –Cerebration is a flagship event of the NUS MBA. It is entirely student run and is the largest business plan competition in the world, one where the business cases are real and relevant to the case sponsor. 8 months in the making, organizing the event is a feat in itself. It involved intense planning and coordination with the participants, case sponsors, and judges. All the lessons learned during the course of the MBA from marketing, finance, soft skills, networking, negotiation and logistics were put to great use. The entire cohort worked together as a team to make this a great event!



A trip to Lenovo with Cerebration teams
Photo credits: Krishan Kant, Full Time MBA student



Which team is going to bring home the Tropy?
Photo credits: Wai Keat Tan, Full Time MBA student



Photo credits: Wai Keat Tan, Full Time MBA student



Panelists
Photo credits: Wai Keat Tan, Full Time MBA Student



Photo credits: Wai Keat Tan, Full Time MBA Student



Overall Winner - HarryHans from London Business School
Photo credits: Wai Keat Tan, Full Time MBA Student

Want to know who won? Check out more about Cerebration at http://bschool.nus.edu/Cerebration/2011/index.htm

Sindhura Sunkara (Indian)
Part Time MBA student, Class of 2015

Part-TimeのDiversity

クラスのほとんどがSingaporean。入学前の私のPart-Timeプログラムの印象はこうでした。しかし、思ったよりもDiversityに富んでいるというのが、実際、授業を受けて感じました。

現在、コア科目を２つ履修していますが、ざっと見たところ、Singaporeanは受講者の約半数ほどのように思います。私のグループワークのメンバーも、シンガポール出身以外に、ウクライナ、インド、スペイン、ドイツ、韓国出身など、とても国際色豊かです。クラスメイトの出身地の話は様々な文化を知ることができ、とても興味深いです。

またクラスメイトの仕事も多岐に渡っており、授業中または授業外で彼らのリアルな話を聞くことができるのはPart-Timeならではだと感じています。授業で知識を得るだけでなく、シンガポールのビジネス状況、世界の様々な分野の動向などを知ることができる、とても充実した環境で日々学んでいます。


Motoka Mori (Japanese)
Part-Time MBA Student, Class of 2015

No Ordinary Night

October 3, 2011 started out just like any normal day. The freshies came to attend their Marketing and Finance core courses, the seniors on to their electives.  Groups went on to discuss reports and projects. But around 7 in the evening when the NUS MBA community converged to Kent Ridge Guild House, that's when all the action happened. The MBAs let go of their laptops and readings and traded their casuals and formals for something more colorful. Folks, welcome to International Day 2011 (or shall we say, International Night 2011?!)

After a sumptuous dinner and light-hearted conversation (no talk of exams and upcoming projects), the program hosts Abhiroop and Evelyn got the ball rolling with some introductory remarks from the Student Development Club, the organizers of the big event with the theme, "One MBA.One Family". Then on with the highlight of the night—the cultural presentations!

Team Korea shared interesting information about their country, including a music video featuring popular Korean pop artists. Jin Kwang’s son wowed the audience with his taekwondo skills and father and son even had a match, with the young boy in full combat mode! Do Hyun and DK then gamely proceeded with a demonstration of the “ssireum”, which is Korean folk wrestling. Friends from China gave a song presentation with Dongye revealing his talent in singing. Evelyn gets the most active award with her modern dance number and a recitation of a Chinese poem.

The duo of Evan and Andy from Taiwan likewise gamely presented on stage. The audience were also treated to some informational and music videos about Singapore and Mongolia.

Team Japan got a lot of cheers with their sumo wrestling presentation courtesy of Atsushi and Kenji. They also taught the audience the  Japanese Bon dance to the rhythm of the popular folk song Tanko Bushi . And in their colorful yukatas, it was a fun sight. (Hiroshi and Haruko won the best dressed male and female awards!)

Classmates from Malaysia and Indonesia also shared about their countries, and Corina gave out an Indonesian mask to a member of the audience. Not to be left out are the energetic performances by our friends from India who did a song number and the much-applauded bhangra dance. (Hats off guys and gals for that performance!)

The country presentations were then capped off by a medley of English and Filipino songs performed by Team Philippines acoustic-style led by Lee in vocals and guitar.    

OneMBA.OneFamily. International Night 2011.

With the MBA family hailing from different parts of the world, the International Night is one of many activities to look forward to. It was a delight to see the community coming together to celebrate both our oneness and diversity. It was about the stories and bonds being formed just as it was about the colors, native attires, languages, songs and dances.  It was about the art and craft of the performances (novices though we may be) just as it was about the happiness and appreciation the audience had shown.  It was about us learning more about the lands and people beyond our own. 

As the event winded down to a close and folks went back to their homes, I am sure everyone realized, it definitely was no ordinary night.

Carissa Caparas (Filipino)

Full Time MBA student, Class of 2013

Recess hues and midterm blues

This September, I and my fellow full-time cohorts got to experience our first recess week and series of midterm exams (3 down, 1 to go…but who’s counting?).  Recess week gave us the much needed R&R, with activities of our batch ranging from watching the Gossip Girl marathon; going back home to the Philippines, India or China; embarking on trips to other Asian countries(there’s Korea for the study trip, Vietnam, and Phuket for myself); and taking the time to catch up with friends in Singapore who are conveniently still part of the workforce.

I thought of highlighting my experiences during the past couple of weeks, in order of the level of emotion involved:

Elephant ride

Level of emotion: +1 (excitement)

I haven’t been near an elephant before (the closest pseudo encounter I’ve had was watching Dumbo, the Disney cartoon), much less ride one, so feeling very much like a little kid, I happily rode on the elephant’s back while he happily ate away everybody else’s bananas (how was I to know I was supposed to feed him?).

Fanta Sea

Level of emotion: +2 (wonder)

This is Phuket’s famous cultural show, and though I would still prefer watching musicals, I found the entire concept amazing.

Tom Yam and Thai curry

Level of emotion: +3 (satisfaction)

I loved eating Thai curry, and Tom Yam became a new favourite for me, but I learned the hard way that too much curry can result in several trips to the restroom.

Phi Phi island hopping

Level of emotion: –4 (anxiety)

There was sun and there was sand, but there was also the incessant bump of the huge waves against the boat.  It was, to put it mildly and literally, one heck of a hopping boat ride.

Flight delay

Level of emotion: –5 (distress)

The flight from Phuket to Singapore takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes.  Guess how much time I spent at the Phuket airport waiting for that short flight?  I was there for almost 12 hours – because of the over-8-hour delay!  Now, I don’t pride myself as being the most patient person in the world, but at that time, with several other people more impatient than I am, I was able to distract myself with listening to them alternately complain about the delay to the poor airline personnel, to their flight agent (although I don’t know how much the agent can help at that point), and to each other.   

Super project

Level of emotion: –6 (panic)

We finished the case analysis the night (or rather, early morning) before the deadline. 

F1 Singapore Grand Prix

Level of emotion: +7 (joy)

No, I am not so fond of cars as to pay over $300 or up to $1,000 to watch them zoom past me.  I am not a fan of cars, period.  In fact, I had to research what SGP stands for.  F1 being a huge event in Singapore, however, made my friends fly all the way from Manila to here and it gave us the chance to meet and catch up. 

Mad for Garlic

Level of emotion: +8 (delight)

I’m no food critic and I’m no cook, but I know a good pizza when I eat one (and I love eating one, i.e. one whole pizza, not just one slice)!  Mad for Garlic’s garlic snowing pizza is the best pizza I’ve had in Singapore so far.  It has shrimp, pineapple, and garlic (I told you I’m no food critic – just taste it to believe me!). 

Finance exam 

Level of emotion: +9 (relief)

Who wouldn’t rank the finance midterm as such, especially after the economics exam (or is it because it came after the economics exam that it earned its rank)?  Anyway, refer to the last entry to understand what I’m talking about.

Freakonomics

Level of emotion: –10 (frustration)

I’m not referring to the book, although I am currently reading it and I am finding it very interesting.  I’m referring to how freaked out I was with the economics midterm.  I spent days (yes, days) studying for a 100-minute exam, but I never expected the law of diminishing returns to apply to me so quickly.  Need I say more? 

Charisse Rossielin Cruz (Filipino), Full-time, Class of 2013

Enjoying The NUS MBA Experience...

From tomorrow, Mama will be going to school too is that what I had told my puzzled 2 year old a few months ago. I showed her my backpack; she brought out hers and we chuckled together…but in the back of my mind, I was nervous. I had not been in an academic setting in more than 8 years and the last time I had been a student things were much different, I had no filial responsibilities. This was not the first time I was getting out of my comfort zone, and decided to give the best to and get the best out of the MBA experience.  While prioritizing time and activities will be vital to success; enjoying the journey will be most important.

When I reflect on my undergraduate years; I think of the friendships, on-campus jobs, mentors, student clubs, research-conferences, and internships which enriched my learning outside the classroom. I yearned for a similar student life experience through the MBA. With more than 36,000 students spanning over 100 countries, 70+ student clubs and several world class research centres, NUS offers unparalleled diversity in campus culture and opportunities.

Here is a glimpse of student life during the first two months at the NUS MBA - During the first two weeks after orientation, I teamed up with an exchange student to participate in a business plan competition, and organize a welcome party. Next were the Alumni Dinner and the NUS MBA student council face-off and elections; great networking and leadership opportunities. Some of the students formed new student clubs and new activities were being planned for the existing clubs. The cohort spent a fun evening at Singapore’s Night Safari. A few students travelled to Seoul for a study trip during the recess break and before we knew it, we were applying for the NUS MBA Mentor program and getting ready to showcase our diverse talents for International Day. Coming up in October is the NUS MBAs flagship event; it is also the largest student run business plan competition – Cerebration. Did I mention the career services events, group discussions, home works, case presentations, mid-terms and the fooz ball games which we ceremoniously (well, maybe not the fooz ball games) also engaged in during this time?

Amidst all these activities I saw a new sense of unity and purpose evolving among the cohort.   Despite the pressure to perform academically, each one of us enjoyed the pleasure of coming to school each day and going that extra mile to enrich each others’ MBA journey. I knew now that I would have a lot of fond memories from the NUS MBA. As I saw some of my apprehensions put to ease, another question lingered in my mind…I realized that most of us were returning to school after several years, in that context what drives us to overcome inhibitions to perform and excel…in other words, what characterizes an NUS MBA student?

Sindhura Sunkara (Indian), Part Time MBA Student, Class of 2015