300 youths geared up for a start-up career at annual Youth Entrepreneurship Symposium
Singapore, 14 June 2017 – More than 300 budding youth entrepreneurs had the chance to hear firsthand insights from veteran entrepreneurs at nEbO’s annual Youth Entrepreneurship Symposium (YES). Held at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School, YES is a youth-initiated project by nEbO, the junior membership arm of the Labour Movement. With the goal to reach out to aspiring entrepreneurs-to-be, the 10th edition of YES brings together young individuals who share the same passion and innovative spirit.
Present at the opening of YES was Guest-of-Honour, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ms Sim Ann, who also gave an opening speech.
With the theme “Entrepreneurship as a Career”, YES is a dedicated platform for youths to participate and discover their entrepreneurial potential. The three-day symposium features over 20 esteemed speakers from the entrepreneurship scene, where they will share their own experience and the challenges faced while starting their own companies. Some keynote and dialogue topics includes Funding Opportunities, Entrepreneurial Design Thinking, Ace Your Financial Projections and Scaling Your Start-up. Please refer to Annex for the full programme schedule and list of speakers at YES 2017.
“Being an entrepreneur is not entirely about running a business. It is risk-taking, being proactive, resourcefulness and many more character attributes. As nEbO look toward the next 10 years, we are committed to develop Work, World and Life-Ready youths who can work together to achieve change. YES is one of the platforms for youths to take baby steps into the start-up scene and learn the ropes while being provided with guidance and directions from experts in the industry,” said Mr Lim Eng Lee, NTUC Alignment Director (nEbO).
Since its launch in 2007, some 2,350 youth entrepreneurs-to-be have been a part of YES, with some striking it out in their own start-ups.
“Our aim was to let participants get a glimpse of the entrepreneurship scene and motivate them to dream big and work towards their goal. The 19-member YES committee planned and executed the entire symposium from the beginning. As organisers, we have learned about communicating to different individuals and stakeholders, the importance of teamwork and we have gained valuable leadership skills in the process. We believe that everything we’ve learned in the planning process will serve us well as we enter the working world,” said Ms Zoey Lee, President of YES 2017 Committee.
Aside from just listening to speakers, participants also had multiple chances to brainstorm, consult their mentors and develop their business ideas during the highlight of the Symposium on the third day – the Quick Pitch Challenge. The Quick Pitch Challenge is a business proposal pitching activity which allows youths to pitch their idea to a panel of judges from various industries. This is where youths would have think of new and innovative business ideas that is commercially viable and pitch their business plans to the judges within three minutes. This simulates real world situations where entrepreneurs have to convince potential investors to buy into their plans. Groups with outstanding business ideas stand to win cash prices and may even have the chance to work with mentors and investors to carry out their plans.
The Symposium is just the first step for the budding entrepreneurs. There are follow-up workshops that will further develop their ideas and sharpen their business acumen. These are all part of nEbO’s comprehensive programming to nurture Work-Ready youths.