2021T2 VirtualTSM/Participant Information/Yap Wen Jie, Terence
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Contents
About Terence
SMU email: terence.yap.2018@sis.smu.edu.sg
Linkedin: LinkedIn
Academic Year: 3
Degree: Bachelor of Science (Information Systems)
Major: Digitalisation and Cloud Solutions
Why Virtual TSM?
What motivates you to join TSM?
Technopreneurship has always been one of my favorite topics of interest as it is really intriguing to get to learn of the ideas entrepreneurs have before they started their startups and what hardships and challenges they had to overcome while running their startups. My motivation to join TSM largely stems from how much I want to learn about technopreneurship in this digital age that we are in where technologies advance so quickly. I took a course on technopreneurship back in my final year of polytechnic and got the opportunity to meet local startup entrepreneurs such as Rakesh Gupta of Guptasoft Technologies, Douglas Gan of Vanitee, and Aaron Tan of Carro whom have taught me a lot about being entrepreneurs in the local scene, now I wish to seek for the opportunity to learn of startups from outside of our Little Red Dot and widen my knowledge on how they are ran and managed, especially on how their operations have adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of my all-time favorite reads is Bad Blood by John Carreyrou which covers the rise and downfall of Theranos, a deceitful startup which deceived many investors and endangered the lives of innocents, I enjoyed the book thoroughly as it was thrilling highlighted all the dos and don'ts for startups if they wanted to succeed. This course also provides a channel for the students to be daring and innovative with their ideas and I hope to get the opportunity to see the interesting ideas my peers will get to generate through the tenure of this course.
Where would you like to visit virtually?
Silicon Valley would be nice, thanks to a few friends I have taken an interest in companies like Tesla and Apple recently and knowing that Silicon Valley is where they are situated makes a tech lover like me even more excited to thik about whether we will get to visit there virtually. Germany and Japan looks interesting too as we have mostly always been looking at household names from the United States but rarely looked at the names outside of there, hence getting to learn of startups situated in the 2 highest ranked countries for entrepreneurship will be an opportunity of a lifetime.
Starting a business
What types of business interest you?
Companies that want to do good in this world are always at the forefront of my interests, especially when their mission is to grow the company instead of growing profits because it is not easy to appeal to investors when a company does not look to be profitable in the short run. Thus I have the utmost respect for leaders who want to make a social impact in the world such as Elon Musk whose mission in Tesla is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy and Jack Dorsey whose mission in Square Inc is to serve the underserved and allow everyone to participate and thrive in the economy.
What plan do you have in starting a business? (list existing business)
If I were to start a business, I am looking towards brainstorming on ideas for green technology or technology which can help to reduce waste in the world. It is a difficult task to achieve but I believe that no task is ever impossible to achieve once we set our sight on it. The reason why I came to SMU is also because I wish to meet more like-minded individuals who share the same sentiments as me so that we can share our ideas with one another, another reason for me enrolling into the school is also because I want to learn about the business management aspect in the IS ecosystem so that I can better prepare myself to realize my dream of starting my own business in the future. It is also a goal in my life to start my own non-profit organization one day because philanthropy is something which I look up to and I am a firm believer of giving back to society no matter how big or small our contributions can be, with me aiming to give back the biggest contributions I can in my life.
Past Experience
Work
Singapore Management University - Research Intern [May 2020 – Aug 2020]
Singapore Management University - Teaching Assistant for MITB [May 2020 – Aug 2020]
Singapore Management University - Teaching Assistant for MITB [Aug 2019 – Dec 2019]
Ministry of Defence Singapore - Supply Supervisor [Oct 2016 - Aug 2018]
Agency for Science, Technology and Research - Python Developer (Intern) [Oct 2015 – Feb 2016]
Community Service
Local Community Service Project - Leader of Project Young At Heart [2020]
Overseas Community Service Project - Leader of Project Jai XII [2020] *CANCELLED*
Overseas Community Service Project - Member of Project Jai XI [2019]
Competitions
Defence Science and Technology Agency - BrainHack [2020]
Shopee - Shopee Code League [2020]
Intel - Invent50 [2015]
Ministry of Defence Singapore - National Education Gaming Championship [2015] (Top 8)
Cyber Security Agency of Singapore - GovWare 6th Singapore Cyber Conquest [2015]
Ministry of Defence Singapore - National Education Gaming Championship [2014] (Top 8)
Certification
Amazon Web Services - AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner [2020-2023]
Ministry of Defence Singapore - Certificate in Generic Manufacturing Skills [2017]
What keeps you ticking?
My family keeps me ticking as I am an only child and have gained so much of my parents' support in the life decisions I have made, I wish to do good in this life and be able to provide them with a comfortable life after they have retired so as to undertake my responsibilities as a son in repaying back the efforts and sacrifices they have made for me.
