In the wake of International Women’s Day, NUS BIZBeat sat down with NUS Women in Business club president Charmaine Ho, a fourth year BBA(Accountancy) and computer science double degree student, to understand the driving forces behind this student initiative, and celebrate the club’s milestones, nearly a year after its inception.
Why was WIB founded, and what does it hope to achieve?
NUS Women In Business (WIB) is a student-led committee founded in 2021, with the aim to create a supportive community that empowers the next generation of young female leaders to hold deep-rooted conversations, be open to exchanging ideas, and be inspired to make profound societal impact. We hope to become the foremost organisation in NUS for women-focused conversations, and the first choice for female undergraduates in NUS to find empowerment, camaraderie, and mentorship.
The initial conversation on NUS WIB was sparked between co-founders BBA students and good friends Seah Jia Ying and Sheryl Chen SiRun, during their six-month internship leave of absence. Their frequent chats and musings about the gender gaps in the workforce, particularly in the tech space eventually birthed the passion to give a voice to all young female undergraduates in NUS.
NUS Women in Business Club founders Seah Jia Ying (left) and Sheryl Chen (right)
Within a short span of two months, the ladies got the WIB show on the road, and officially founded the club with 29 pioneer committee members in the summer of 2021. Applications were open to the NUS community, and Jia Ying and Sheryl made it a point to have individual coffee chats with every shortlisted applicant during the selection process. With invaluable guidance from club advisors, Associate Professor Marleen Dieleman, and Juanita Woodward, Principal Consultant of Connecting the Dots, NUS WIB established its organisational structure of three key initiative pillars: (1) Strategic Initiatives, (2) Mentorship and (3) Impact Activities.
Club president Charmaine Ho (middle), flanked by her VP of Marketing and Partnerships Wong Shu Qing (right), and VP of Programmes & Operations Lauren Ong (left)
In January 2022, I took over the reins from Jia Ying and Sheryl, and we’ve continued to increase our tribe to 35 committee members, spanning across different NUS faculties.
What have your key milestones been, and what are you most proud thus far?
Establishing NUS WIB during the peak of the pandemic presented its own set of challenges. But despite the unique circumstances, we have pushed out a strong pipeline of initiatives. The highlights of our first eight months include panel discussions on front-office finance, fireside chats on consulting, and also night study programs with SHINE and EpWorth (weekly volunteer tutoring sessions for underprivileged students).
Last semester, under our Strategic Initiatives pillar, our inaugural panel discussion “Breaking Barriers: Female Founders in Tech”, marked the beginning of an exciting roll-out of initiatives. Despite it being our first, we garnered over 100 signups! Our three speakers were each successful business women in their own right and the evening was filled with an enriching discussion.
“Breaking Barriers: Female Founders in Tech” publicity e-DM
Mentorship has continued to be a hallmark of NUS Women In Business. Our female focused mentorship program is the first of its kind in NUS, and the first run of our mentorship program last semester saw a total of 29 mentor-mentee pairs spanning across 11 industries. Our ongoing mentorship programme has grown to over 50 mentor-mentee pairs, with our mentee pool opening up to all NUS undergraduates. We are immensely thankful to have the support of over 50 mentors who are established career women from diverse fields, and also received an overwhelming response of over 100 mentee applications.
Snippet of the virtual mentorship session
We are also very proud of our inter-club collaborations. In early February, we collaborated with other women-focused organisations in both local and overseas universities in a week long Women Leaders Conference. NUS Women In Business organised a panel discussion on ‘Female Disruptors: Trailblazers In Tech’ and were honoured to host Sunita Kaur (Senior Vice President APAC at Twitch), Jana Marlé-Zizková (CEO & Co-founder of Meiro & She Loves Data) and Shweta Shrivastava (Country Manager at MediSage, Angel Investor & Venture Partner) as three esteemed speakers, bringing a rich wealth of experience under their belts to share with our audience.
In celebration of the 2022 International Women’s Day, we will also spotlighted the achievements of women and the adversities they have overcome.
Special event in celebration of the 2022 International Women’s Day
We are definitely most proud of how far the committee has come in just half a year. Our greatest asset has always been our people, and we are immensely grateful to all past and present members, and also advisors, mentors and speakers who have readily accepted our invitation to impart their valuable wisdom and advice to our mentees and audience.
What advice do you have for young women building a career, particularly in male-dominated spaces/industries?
Still an undergraduate myself, I’ve encountered my own web of challenges as I navigated my career path and personal development. The pieces of advice I’ve received that have left the strongest impression on me have definitely been to ‘own my voice, seize opportunities, and not be daunted by uncertainty or failure.’ A key message I recall from one of the panel discussions I attended, and from my own mentoring sessions is that it is only when we are thrown into new grounds and uncertainty where learning takes place, and it is sometimes during moments of discomfort or even in the face of failure that we are learning the most. And most importantly, throughout our own journeys, to remain humble and learn from the people around us.
What are the club’s hopes and dreams?
We want to always be building bridges, and creating synergies. The seedbed of NUS Women In Business has always revolved around our belief that we can promote the benefits of diversity through the conscious inclusion of women into the equation within the university ecosystem and beyond.
We hope to not only establish ourselves as the bridge between the next generation of female leaders and current business leaders, but also create a lasting impact on communities. We are committed to creating synergies with organisations, to bring value to aspiring young women who hope to promote and advance themselves in society. As part of championing our cause, we maintain a strong and growing online presence on social media.
Ultimately, we hope to create a space to inspire and be the catalyst for young female leaders to reach greater heights to excel.
