Lim Li Long (Leroy)

About Lim Li Long (Leroy)

Academic Year: 3 Degree: BSc Information Systems Management 2nd Major: Advance Business Technology (Enterprise Systems Solutions) Previous CCAs: Innovate IT'13 (Business Case Executive), Whitehats Society (Publications Director) Current CCAs: SMU Ventures (IT Director), Microsoft Student Partner Interest: Soccer Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leroylimll

Why TSM South Korea?

What motivates you to join TSM?

Can Entrepreneurship or for a matter Technopreneurship be taught in class? We, some would say yes. But books and the close and safe classroom environment can only take you so far with the theoretical knowledge. Nothing beats going out there to get your hands dirty, meeting people / companies and learning from them.

I've well you can say got my hands a little burnt and very dirty once, but I believe there is much more that I can learn from such a trip - the do's and don'ts of doing one's own business. Learn from other's mistakes such that I don't make them as well, so that in my next venture, I'd have a much higher chance of success! =D

Why pick South Korea?

Well, South Korea has one of the most vibrant start-up scenes in the world and being the 8th easiest country to start a company in. That aside, the technological advancements and innovations made by South Korean companies cannot be ignored. There is much that can be learnt from them and I really do not want to miss out on such an opportunity.

Internship Opportunities

What types of internship opportunities interest you?

• IT Consultancy
• Software Architecture

Any ideal firms (based in South Korea) that you wishes to join?

Samsung Electronics (HQ) / Samsung SDS Global HQ

Having worked at Samsung Asia Pacific Pte Ltd back in 2011 for 6 months as a HRIS Software Developer at the Regional Headquarters Office, it has certainly shed light on what is it like to work in a South Korean organization, especially when a large number of the people I had to interact with were South Koreans posted from the Global HQ. During my stint there, I had to also work together with Samsung SDS ensuring that the application that was being built was in line with the various company standards, especially application security. I guess, I can be proud to say that during the period, I achieved a clean record of ZERO major violations. As such if given the opportunity to go back, it will be a great honour and I would certainly want to take things to the next level.

Starting a business

What types of business interest you?

• HRIS related businesses
• Any other technology related businesses

What plan do you have in starting a business?

HRIS Solution Provider. Back in 2011 while working for Samsung Asia Pte Ltd, there was this idea to start-up a HRIS software company to provide a powerful yet customizable Training Needs Analysis solution for the market. My HR Director back then had conducted a market research and found there was a gap in this segment. However, due to the lack of funds as well as our binding contract with the company at that time, the plan of spawning a start-up was put on ice.

Over the past few years, Software-as-a-Service solutions have been increasingly prevalent in the market and there is a growing adoption among SMEs in adopting such solutions. As such, should this market segment still be unfulfilled and feasible, I would not hesitate into diving back in doing such a start-up.

Past Experiences

MGMT221: Entreprise Development

Just last semester AY2012/2013 Term 2, I was very privileged to take an entrepreneurship module - MGMT221 Enterprise Development under Professor Soon Loo - a serial entrepreneur who was recently awarded the Top 10 Most Outstanding Person of the Year Award. In this module, as part of the term project, I had the chance to get my hands dirty to try start a business. Although the social enterprise business did not take off in its entirety due to the lack of traction and time constraint, we did get secure 90% of the resources required get it up and running. After all as Prof Soon Loo mention, "entreprenurship is not an easy journey" and thus there were many lessons learnt through this process. I would say one of the most important lessons learnt was to ensure that for any kind of business, the make up of the team was right and balanced.

SMU Ventures

After the experience from MGMT221: Enterprise Development, I realized that as a student in SMU, there are many avenues for students who have a great business idea to pursue. However many-a-times, these avenues tend to be hidden away. That is why, I decided to put myself forward to serve in SMU Ventures. As part of my responsibilities, I am in-charge of maintaining the social media and web presence of the club as well as to provide technical advise to the best of my abilities on technology related business should the need arise.

In addition, apart from my responsibilities, I actively keep a lookout for possible mentors and speakers (usually technology related) to bring in to the club so that fellow students can learn from them.

Helping in Father's business - WinComm Asia Pacific Pte Ltd

For the past 5 years or so, my Dad has been running his own sales and distribution business. Ad-hoc as and when my dad needs help on certain matter, I would assist him, especially on things related to IT.

Watching him run his business and helping him off and on, I have certainly learnt much from him - things such as how to manage the company's finance & accounting, pitching, negotiating and coordinating with customers and suppliers, etc.