It was a memorable exchange experience for NUS Executive MBA (Chinese) student Zheng Lei. He was selected, along with eight other classmates, to join a short-term exchange programme at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, in the United States.
The “Bay Area Innovation & Entrepreneurship” programme offered an immersive learning experience to understand the vibrant innovation ecosystem in Silicon Valley. Collaboration and development were among the key areas of focus.
For Zheng Lei (Intake 29, General Manager of User Platform, Tencent Games), the exchange programme had a great combination of theory and practice relating to entrepreneurship and investment. “The experience is interesting as we immersed in intense learning and practice. We also gained deep insights for daily business management for our enterprises.”
Nine NUS EMBA (Chinese) students went for exchange at UC Berkeley in May.
The students delved into entrepreneurship and investment, examining the inter-relationship between the two.
Learning activities included entrepreneurial competitions, which highlighted what entrepreneurs had to commit to in the early stages of starting a new company. Another activity is writing investment memos, which facilitated an understanding of venture capital strategies and operations. Interactions with entrepreneurs and doing presentations also reinforced the students’ knowledge and they were prompted to design their future paths.
“It was truly an enriching and unforgettable experience,” said Tu Mei Yi (Intake 29, Senior Managing Director, EFG Bank Ag). “We studied alongside MBA students from the Haas School of Business and our classroom discussions were invigorating.”
Agreeing, Kevin Shao (Intake 30, Founder, Bitrise Holdings) said that interacting with classmates from diverse cultural backgrounds provided different perspectives for a valuable learning experience. “Importantly, we approach the learning with a developmental mindset and proactively seek to apply our acquired knowledge.”
Classes at the Haas School of Business.
For Lina Zeng (Intake 31, independent film producer), the opportunity to study entrepreneurship first-hand in the Bay Area was even more cherished, following COVID-19 challenges and economic downturns in recent years. “I appreciate the NUS EMBA (Chinese) programme for providing this excellent opportunity to gain an international outlook. It is really a gateway to the world.”
