My Day With Business-Minded Youth

This week is Global Entrepreneurship Week and I kicked it off last Sunday 22 November at Causeway Point. I was invited by Tan Huan Peow, Director of the Centre for Professional Development at Republic Polytechnic, to be Guest of Honour at Republic Polytechnic’s annual competition for secondary schools, where 15 schools competed this year in the “Push Cart Business Competition”.

I love watching young people develop their sense of entrepreneurship. It takes a special kind of imagination to think of items that people want to buy, packaging those items in an attractive manner, making the products available in the right places, pricing and more. Being an entrepreneur is the full package – and I was excited to see so many teenagers so keen and able to understand these concepts of marketability.

Being a mother of three, it gives me great pleasure to speak into the lives of young people and to have the opportunity to plant a seed that, who knows, might one day flourish into a full-fledged business talent!

Speaking to the young people, I shared with them my story of how, when I was 18 and had just started modelling, I lugged a huge Chinese vase (it was one metre tall!) in my luggage bag on an assignment to Sweden. I had visions of expanding my father’s business beyond Singapore into Europe where, surely, such China vases would be exotic and valuable. I had a big dream, and although nothing came out of my efforts, I grew a confidence level that has never left me since. At that point I never thought “What if I fail?”. I only imagined the glory that would come when someone in Sweden said, “That’s beautiful! I’ll buy 10,000!”

I also shared with them that one is an entrepreneur no matter what one’s background, sex and age are. “Don’t be intimidated by your youth!” I told them. “Or your sex.” When I was CEO of ONE.99Shop, one of my Japanese clients came to visit and when I picked him up at the airport he thought I was the secretary. It took a few hours before he realised that I was actually the boss! If we are intimidated by our own sex or youth, or background, then there is nothing anyone can do to make us confident about our capabilities.

After a hard, hard round of deliberating, the judges finally had to choose the top three winners. There were 15 great ideas on display that day! The youth of Singapore have a natural business streak that I would love to see cultivated and motivated over the next decade or two decades.

I had a lot of fun — and I found myself inspired by the clever ideas behind the push cart businesses too! All glory comes from daring to begin (Eugene F Ware). And these young people are raring and daring to begin!