1617T2g1 South Korea/Participant Information/Charmaine Chin

About Charmaine

Email: charmainec.2014@business.smu.edu.sg

Academic Year: Year 3

Degree: Bachelor of Business Management

First Major: Marketing

Second Major: Strategic Management with Entrepreneurship Concentration

Interests: Singing, Baking, Dancing and Watching mind-bending movies

Why TSM South Korea?

What motivates you to join this TSM?

I have a strong passion for learning and exposing myself to new experiences. As an aspiring entrepreneur, I am constantly seeking opportunities to widen my horizons and gain valuable insights about the start-up scene in Asia. Behind the glamour of being your own boss and putting "CEO, Founder" on your LinkedIn profile, the life of running your own start-up is incredibly fast-paced, complex and intriguing. And the ambitious dreamer in me yearns to be immersed in that culture.

I believe that learning goes beyond the classroom (or seminar room, if you will) and, in this case, far beyond our little red dot. I would absolutely love to be given the chance to embark on this trip and possibly spend my summer doing an internship there.

Why pick South Korea?

South Korea has one of the richest and most colourful cultures in the world - it is truly the S(e)oul of Asia.

Puns aside, during my summer internship at a local start-up, our team applied to the K-Startup Challenge 2016 in the hopes of bringing the company to Korea, where I would have taken on a management-level position on behalf of the founders. Our dreams sadly never came to fruition, but my desire to dive into the Korean start-up culture remained. So you could imagine how quickly I jumped at the chance to do so!

Also, Korean food is pretty awesome. :)

Starting a business

What types of business interest you?

What plans do you have in starting a business?

A couple of friends and I are thinking of opening an F&B outlet that is also a space for people to study or relax. Nothing is set in stone yet, as we are still doing more market research and seeking new insights that will add value to our current ideas. Personally, I plan to take courses in basic coding and continue to hone my IT skills (e.g. Photoshop) as I hope to create a mobile app for a business that will have a positive social impact.

I believe in giving back as much as you take from your community, if not more, and my ultimate goal in life is to success in creating a sustainable social enterprise.

My Past Experiences

The Spark Asia team and me, at our launch party

For my summer internship this year, I worked with Spark Asia as a Marketing and Business Development. In the 3 months I spent there, I worked very closely with the founders, and I am incredibly grateful for having the chance to be so involved in all aspects of this start-up.

I crafted financial reports, press releases and even pitched to investors. On the business development side, I met clients, and worked on collaborations and partnerships. I gained extensive marketing experience by spearheading many marketing campaigns. I even had the opportunity to dabble in product development, more specifically, I helped create wireframes for the latest version of the app and worked with the company’s tech team to design some app pages.

It was extremely tiring but deeply rewarding. This internship only further fuelled my passion for entrepreneurship.

What keeps you ticking?

Self-Love

Loving yourself enough to give 110% in everything.

Loving yourself enough to press on.

Loving yourself enough to work for your dreams.