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SUSS Introduces Entrepreneurship Award To Honour Graduating Students During Convocation 2019

  • Inaugural Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) – Executive Management Programme (EMP) Alumni Entrepreneurship Award
  • Pioneer graduands from 19 new undergraduate and postgraduate degrees

Three students received the inaugural SUSS–EMP Alumni Entrepreneurship Award in recognition of their strong entrepreneurial spirit at the opening ceremony of SUSS Convocation 2019 held today.  Mdm Halimah Yacob, President of Singapore and the university’s Patron, presided at the opening ceremony. The Guest of Honour was Mr Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Education.

This year’s convocation ceremonies will see more than 2,000 graduands – including the pioneer batch of 19 new undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes –celebrating the pinnacle of their university life. The ceremonies will be held from 9 to 11 October over five sessions. 2,137 students will receive Bachelor’s degrees, 119 students will be awarded higher degrees and 11 are from the EMP.

Recognising graduating students with strong entrepreneurial attributes

The SUSS-EMP Alumni Entrepreneurship Award recognises our graduating students who have shown strong entrepreneurial attributes, such as leadership qualities, initiative, passion, and resilience. They have also demonstrated high potential for achieving a positive impact on society, which is in line with the university’s mission.

The inaugural recipients of the award are Daryl Teo Zhe Wei, Eunice Low Yi Ting and Kaesang Pangarep. (Please refer to Annex A for more details.)

Each award winner received $5,000 in cash and a plaque.

Candidates were nominated by students or faculty, and reviewed by a selection committee which comprised SUSS staff and faculty members with strong industrial as well as entrepreneurship experience. Shortlisted nominees were interviewed by a panel, which selected the final award winners.

Pioneer graduands from 19 new undergraduate and postgraduate degrees

This year’s convocation also marks the graduation of SUSS’s pioneer batch of 19 new undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.

These programmes were launched in response to market demand for skilled workers in emerging fields such as intellectual property and innovation management, and early childhood education. The university also introduced many courses with minors, such as Communication Studies with a Minor in Political Science, and English Language with a Minor in Film Studies or Military Studies.

This year, SUSS introduced a new Couple and Family Therapy (CFT) specialisation track for the Master of Social Work (MSWK) degree. This CFT specialisation track has been well-received by the social service sector, as it enables graduate students from this programme to have a deeper understanding of couple and family relationships, and build stronger skills to counsel them.

SUSS President Prof Cheong Hee Kiat said: “Congratulations to the Graduating Class of 2019! You are all part of SUSS’s exciting journey, and I hope those precious memories will stay with you after today.

“The university continues to pursue its mission to promote lifelong and applied education in Singapore, with a strong social focus in every programme. The integration of the Institute for Adult Learning (IAL) within SUSS as an autonomous institute this year will further advance SUSS’s lead in researching and championing adult and lifelong learning for the future.

“And as I told last year’s graduands, today’s goodbye is not forever. We hope to welcome you back in the near future as students of our continuing education and training programmes.”

CONVOCATION 2019 BY NUMBERS

The convocation is the third since SUSS was accorded an Autonomous University status, and the 14th since the University was established.

  • 2,256graduates in total
  • 2,137 Bachelor’s Degree graduates
  • 11 Executive Management Programme Certificate recipients
  • 118 Master Degree graduates
  • 1 Doctorate Degree graduate

School/Programme

Total

School of Humanities & Behavioural Sciences

417

SR Nathan School of Human Development

485

School of Business

763

School of Science & Technology

472

Total Undergraduate

2,137

Master Degree

118

Doctorate Degree

1

Total Graduate Studies

119

Total for convocation 2019

2,256

Executive Management Programme

11


For media queries and interviews, please contact:

Valerie Ng
Senior PR Manager
Communications & Marketing
Singapore University of Social Sciences
DID: 6248 0364
Email: valeriengww@suss.edu.sg

Tian Zhiyuan
Manager
Communications & Marketing
Singapore University of Social Sciences
DID: 6248 8836
Email: ztian@suss.edu.sg

About the Singapore University of Social Sciences

SUSS is a university with a rich heritage in providing lifelong, learner-centric and industry-relevant education.  Our mission is to champion lifelong education to develop future thinkers and leaders to their fullest potential through our 3H’s education philosophy – ‘Head’ for professional competency with applied knowledge, ‘Heart’ for social awareness of the needs of the society, and ‘Habit’ for passion towards lifelong learning.

We offer more than 70 undergraduate and graduate programmes, available in full- and part-time study modes which are flexible, modular and multi-faceted in learning experience to cater to both fresh school leavers and adult learners. We also launched a broad range of continuing education and training modular courses for the professional skills and knowledge upgrading of our workforce.

Our programmes and courses are made available through our five schools:

S R Nathan School of Human Development
School of Business
School of Humanities and Behavioural Sciences
School of Law
School of Science and Technology

To date, over 30,000 graduates have chosen SUSS as their university of choice. Each year, about 15,000 students are pursuing their full- and part-time studies with us.

From 1 April 2019, the Institute for Adult Learning (IAL) became an autonomous institute of SUSS. Both entities enable a synergistic collaboration as IAL brings to SUSS its expertise and experience in adult learning and Continuing Education and Training (CET), while SUSS provides an ecosystem of resources and experts rooted in academic rigour.

For more information on SUSS, please visit www.suss.edu.sg

Annex A

SUSS-EMP Alumni Entrepreneurship Award Winners

1. Daryl Teo Zhe Wei, 27, Bachelor of Finance

Daryl Teo is the founder and Managing Director of Dakota Ventures, a Southeast Asia-focused real estate company aimed at working with global corporations to offer more education opportunities in developing countries. The company manages shared community spaces for education institutions, enterprises, and e-sports companies, and links up developing countries with global corporations to offer more scholarships, as well as accessible and relevant education. Dakota Ventures has raised S$1 mil from investors to date.

Dakota Ventures runs Kaplan Myanmar University College with Kaplan Inc, and also runs a cafeteria within the campus. In addition, Dakota Ventures operates a bar in Myanmar, which provides employment for youth-at-risk, and its other partners include marketing agency Liquid Marketing and gaming facility GameOne.

Prior to starting Dakota, Daryl was the Chief Executive Officer of Spout Entertainment Group, an e-sports company which was invested by Japanese venture fund, Reapra, in 2017. He left the company in April 2018. Daryl was also the Head of Strategic Products for Grab from June 2015 to April 2016.

Daryl was a winner of the Merit Award of the National Youth Entrepreneurship Awards (NYEA) by the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE). He also had the opportunity to work at a local Yangon eCommerce start up, which inspired many of his initiatives at Dakota Ventures. An avid community volunteer, Daryl was Vice-Chairman of the Youth Executive Committee, People's Association at his constituency and organised service-learning initiatives at Hospice Care Association and Ramakrishna Mission.

 

2. Eunice Low Yi Ting, 23, Bachelor of Accountancy

With a belief in equal opportunities for women, Eunice Low Yi Ting embarked on start-up “Wink Formula” (https://winkformula.com/) with the mission to empower women around the world by promoting makeup as an art form. She believes that makeup gives women greater confidence in the corporate world and in social circles.

Eunice was motivated to start Wink Formula after attending SUSS Entrepreneurship talks by her course mates, who had very inspiring stories about their start-up and social enterprises. She also pursued an e-commerce marketing internship in Laos over and above her compulsory Work Attachment. In Laos, she learnt how to handle the PR of the brand and established robust relationships with her selected influencers. Eunice also took an interest in content creation, and learnt the best way to communicate with her potential customers through social media. As a humble start-up competing against other bigger players, she managed to garner attention by building a fresh brand image and engaging her audiences from around the world.

Starting out with only five products, Wink Formula now carries more than 30 products, which have received positive reviews from customers on the website and social media platform. The company’s customer base grew 500% from 10-20 to an average of 100 monthly orders in the last 1.5 years and has recorded an increase of 20% quarter-on-quarter sales. Most of Wink Formula’s customers are youths and majority now come from the United States and Australia.

 

3. Kaesang Pangarep, 24, Bachelor of Science in Marketing with minor in Communications
He is the founder of Ternakopi, a Coffee delivery brand that raised a seed round from angel investors and venture capitalists. He sold 8,000 bottles in three weeks and set up 13 stores within a three-month period. Kaesang’s Ternakopi business successfully entered the fourth batch of Plug & Play Indonesia, a startup incubator.

Prior to starting Ternakopi, Kaesang also founded Sang Javas (a T-shirt brand), Sang Pisang (a food franchise), Hompimpagames (a board game company), Madhang.id (a food app) and Kaetering (a restaurant app). Through his multiple businesses in Indonesia, Kaesang has created more than 100 employment opportunities.

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