2122T1 TSM/Participant Information/Tan Shermin
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Contents
About Your Name
SMU email: shermin.tan.2018@sis.smu.edu.sg
Linkedin or other Social Media: LinkedIn
Academic Year: 2018
Degree: BSc(Information Systems) - Business Analytics Major
Why TSM?
- What motivates you to join TSM?
I've always had the entrepreneurial spirit in me, where I consistently thinks that there is no idea that is bad or is lousy. Any idea that sounds as simple as completing a task could be a business opportunity. And while we are still young and running, we should try on all kind of opportunities and who knows it might work? Even if you fail, you still can try again. Through TSM, I believe that it could provide me with opportunities to the entrepreneurial world, and by understanding how the whole ecosystem actually do work. Additionally, I would also like to get explored towards how businesses outside of Singapore apply appropriate technological advancements towards their corporation, and getting to know how it eventually aid their business processes or innovations. Apart from that, we understand that different countries have different business cultures, I believe that through this course, it could also help me understand the cultural differences from country to country, which could possibly benefit me in the future.
- Where do you NOT want to travel for TSM?
I'm an avid adventurer, there isn't a country that I do not want to travel to. Instead, I want to travel to as many countries as I can if I have the opportunities to do so in the future. With the current global economy, many countries have been blooming and growing very well over the recent years. In that case, we can assume that every country has an opportunity to explore on.
Starting a business
- What types of business interest you?
There are many types of businesses that I've not had the opportunity to explore on. However, currently I'm particularly interested in social entrepreneurial businesses that help support a social cause or community.
- What plan do you have in starting a business?
Apart from my current startup, I've always wanted to start a social enterprise to help the special needs community, by creating employment opportunities and/or learning opportunities. Through my past volunteering experiences, I've realised that many special needs kids had to live through the support of their parents for most of the stages of their life. Majority of the businesses do not employ them even after graduation, in due of concerns towards their disabilities. However, there are many of them that I've met, have lovely personalities and even gained skillsets to seek for future employment opportunities. If we can work on this, I believe it would benefit the community substantially.
Past Experiences (optional)
- My Startup Experience
I've previously startup a company many years back, which focuses on providing affordable competitive race and training swimwear to the masses. We are an online reseller that caters to the needs of the swimming community in Singapore.
The journey started in 2010, where we started selling through traditional methods such as setting up booths in swim meets and eventually got onboarded to the digital world a year later. The company is currently going through the phase of expanding through other sales portals, as well as investment-seeking.
- Others
Through my polytechnic years, I managed to have an opportunity to explore the startup world in Shanghai, where I interned at 86Links (Shanghai) through a 6 months Global Entrepreneurial Program. 86Links is a global business one-stop service platform where they aim to help Chinese enterprises venture out, and also help foreign companies enter to exchange and promote their contribution to its corporation. In short terms, it is a professional global enterprise of supply, demand and high-tech project resource platform. As an overall, this internship has been an empowering and enriching journey for me. I've gained many insights and experiences through this program.
Apart from that, I'm currently interning at Attorney's General Chambers, as a Legal Technology Intern in the Legal Technology & Innovation Office, where I will be embarking on projects that aims to alleviate and increase efficiencies through their current processes. I'm throughly excited as I get to gain experiences first-hand in solving real-world problems.
What keeps you ticking?
- Say something about you
I've always believe that 'If you can dream it, you can do it'. Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.
