ENTREPRENEURSHIP SEMINAR:
The Making of an Entrepreneur
By Iris Tan
Last night, a spark was ignited, and the spreading of wild fire has begun. The Entrepreneurship Seminar- the first of its kind organized by SPIN, Singapore Philadelphia Innovators Network was a great success. This definitely was the spark for SPIN- the beginning- which deep inside each member, we knew, would grow to become the blazing fire that will burn, leaving traces that will impression. This marked the conquering of the first milestone, and with many more events to come.
Planning for the event had begun only a month before. To put the entire event together was definitely no easy feat. Having known each other for only 2 months, and with no experience working together, the 10 NCBVians sat together, bringing in whatever experiences we’ve had had from other events previously organized and attended. All of us were strong in character, each a leader in their own right, but amazing, we naturally fell into our roles quickly- choosing to contribute by doing the things that we did best- and worked together as a team. Meeting almost twice weekly, the team slowly pulled together the minimal resources that we had- finances, manpower, logistics, contacts, and the severe lack of time.
The day finally came. I still remember how happy I was to realize that so many of us had left work early to help in the preparations. This is testament of the dedication that each member of SPIN had for the organization. The room was set, the reception ready, and dinner was laid. The event began as the first stream of people started coming and networking around the dinner we had prepared. Bit by bit, the area outside the seminar room got crowded as interns from the NOC program came with their bosses, U Penn students, professors and entrepreneurs started arriving. The informal sharing had already begun outside the seminar room as good conversation and interaction were exchanged between entrepreneurs and students. The turnout was great.
 |
| Networking session outside the room before the seminar. |
The seminar, entitled “The Making of an Entrepreneur”, a very general topic that invites entrepreneurs to share their experiences, began at 730pm. The panel formed had a very good mix- suitable for a general topic as this- Mr Bill Marvin, Co-founder of InstaMed Communications, in the software and healthcare industry; Mr C.H. Low, CTO of StarCite, in the IT industry; Dr Dean Cress, VP of Research at RheoGene, in the pharmaceutical industry; Ms Julie Wong, former founder of Asian Bank and general manager of Fortune Plaza Investment Group, currently President of Pan Am Realty, bringing in experiences from the banking and real estate industries; and Mike Dugery, CEO and managing partner of VascuLab Technologies, in the biotech industry. The moderator, Professor Jeffery Babin, Managing Director and Co-founder of a strategy and management firm, Antiphony Partners, and currently lecturing Entrepreneurship classes at the University of Pennsylvania, has definitely had a fair share of inte raction with entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial experiences. As the audience eagerly listened, the panel shared their experiences in the various fields and the challenges that they met. Good advice was dished out ever so often that I found myself scrambling for the pen and paper to note all that down. The session concluded with a 30 minute question and answer session as the audience were invited to ask the panelist questions.
The seminar without doubt, was a success. Personally, I definitely had taken back a lot more. Apart from the knowledge, insight and skills gained from the entrepreneurs who have “been there and done that”, more importantly, being part of the organizing team, and joining in this entire creation process was part of the entire experience. How highly charged the team was, focused on making this a success and bringing SPIN to greater heights serves as an encouragement to me- knowing that I am not alone with this vision. In walking this road with them, we had begun the path of “making an entrepreneur”- through the first steps of vision and team work.
 |
The team wants to thank all the panelist and VIPs for gracing our event, and our fellow NCBVians for making our first event a huge success.