by Eric Lim (Singapore)
This module is one of the most practical modules in SMU. I remember on the first day I entered into class, Professor Pamela Lim actually said that in other classes we actually wrote many business plans but none of it gets executed but this class is about executing the business. Me being the practical person, I am delighted to have taken this course as it allows us to learn the true difficulties that an entrepreneur faces when starting a business. It’s so different from the rosy description depicted from the business plan.
In this class, my team and I started with the idea of setting up a database for selling condominiums and along the way after seeing that the field is so saturated and that we can’t stand out, we changed our idea many times and eventually evolved into a rental management company. Through this experience, I learned that a business should be set up to solve an existing pain and ideas previously thought to be brilliant initially could prove to be mediocre or even unoriginal after being carefully thought of. Like they always say, “change is the only constant in life”. Our businesses should always evolve so that we can always stay competitive.
Another experience that benefited me greatly was the seminar session. It was a great privilege to have 4 distinguished speakers from 4 different fields to be gathered under one roof to share their experience with us. It was inspiring as I heard true entrepreneurs sharing their experience with us and motivating us to go out there to do likewise.
The CondoSG entrepreneurial experience is rather unique as this team is a diverse team of students from different countries, schools and interests. When we come together, we shoot off many ideas but I discovered that when we presented our ideas we would try to build on each other’s ideas and incorporate it into our business. This makes working with the CondoSG team a wonderful team to work in.
Everyone has a childhood dream and mine is to start my own business one day. Right now, I would like to be a social entrepreneur. I was inspired by the Professor Pamela‘s “can-do” spirit, as in her personified the characteristic that everything can be done. This course has further strengthened my cause to be a social entrepreneur as through the encouragement that I got and the experience I gained, I’m more inspired than before to help solve a part of the world’s problem. I would like to continue chasing my childhood dream. What about you?
