1617T2g1 South Korea/Participant Information/Lee Kuan Yong
Contents
About Kuan Yong
Email: kylee.2014@sis.smu.edu.sg
Academic Year: 3
Degree: Information Systems
Second major: Marketing
Interests: Beatboxing, Fencing, Coding
Why TSM South Korea?
What motivates you to join TSM?
My interest in entrepreneurship started many years ago, where I started my internship journey in a relatively new company when I was in Polytechnic, which is now known as Groupon Singapore. Through my short stint with the company, I was fortunate enough to witness its transition from a small sized office, to a large and spacious one. While having to meet and interact with its founder, it was also during that period of time when it sparked me into exploring my future educational path with Information Systems.
Why South Korea?
Renowned for its gaming technology and mobile-app development, it is the hub where most of the startup ideas originates. I have always yearn to check out what technology do these new companies have in store.
Starting a business
What types of businesses interest you?
What plans do you have in starting a business?
Once I had my laptop spoilt, and I had to send it for repair. While having no available laptops at home or anywhere, and it was also during the crunch time where project submissions were around the corner, I sunk into a panic mode. Fortunately, my friend had an old but functional laptop for me temporarily and I could finish my assignments on time. In the subsequent years, I had also witnessed some of my friends who were frantically borrowing laptops, just because theirs had broken down, and had no laptops for work. It was then that I was thinking about having to create an application where we can rent spare laptops to students. With a small fee, we are able to help ease the tension, especially during the crunch period, of students who have their laptops unfortunately broken down. It can be further enhanced, where a platform can be created to allow users who have spare laptops to rent them to those who are in need.
Past Experience
I have interned in SMEs like Groupon Singapore (as mentioned previously), as well as XDel Ptd Ltd, a courier service provider which takes pride in their continuous investment in technology to provide the optimum service to their customers. I had also interacted with its Managing Director and Founder, Mr Harold Lee, whom gave us priceless advice on his life journey as an entrepreneur, where he propelled the company towards success and excellence. This also earned him numerous awards, which enforces the credibility of XDel services for their clients. Although it is not a big corporation or a globally established organisation, I definitely had an enjoyable and memorable time during my stay.
What keeps you ticking?
With no prior IT background and having the courage to step into an unfamiliar and hostile environment like Information Systems, I take pride in my tenacity and my constant reminder to never give up, even when things are not in my favour. In fact, things are NEVER in my favour. However, if life were smooth sailing, what's the fun of it?
