Budding Entrepreneurs At Work

Budding Entrepreneurs At Work

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Spy vs Spy - 2 Day Workshop 11 & 12 Dec 2012

Hot off the press! I am so excited to announce that Kids Invent!will once again be working in collaboration with the Science Centre Singapore. This time, to present to you our next event called Spy vs Spy, which is a 2 Day creative workshop held at the Science Centre itself on 11th and 12th of Dec!
 
The trainer for this workshop will be none other than yours truly, so join me there for 2 days of great fun!
 
Kids don't miss out on this event! Workshop fees include entry into the Science Centre as well! Contact lorraine.paul@kidsinventasia.org to register!
 



Monday 12 November 2012

Cheers to a successful Innovation Symposium on 21st Century Learning!


9th November was an eventful day for me. Though mentally exhausted from a full day of training the day before, I was totally invigorated listening to speakers such as Dr Bonnie Cramond and Mr Bernie Trilling (The Bonnie and Bernie Show as they humourously call themselves), who gave insightful presentations on the importance of creativity in education, and learning the 21st Century way.

Dr Timothy Stearns, Co-Founder Kids Invent!

The other speakers were: Dr Timothy Stearns (Co-Founder of Kids Invent! and Executive Director of the Lyles Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship); Dr Lyndon Jones (Founder Chairman of The Association of Business Executives); Mr Bernard Lim, a facilitator of Focus-On-The-Family's "Parenting with Confidence", an active advocate of the fathering movement in Singapore, and father to 3 gifted children; and Mr Teh Chong Mien, Vice President for Sales at StarHub's Enterprise Business Group.



Joining us as our official media partner was Asian Geographic Junior and The Read, who graciously gave away hundreds of their magazines to the very lucky kids who came to the Science Centre that day.

The key message from all speakers was clear... creativity in the new age is an essential tool in surviving whatever the future throws at us. Be it in education or in business.

We need to empower our children, and ourselves, with the right tools and mindset right now through learning 21st Century Life Skills.

It is no longer the era of rote learning. Literacy and numeracy, while still important in education, is starting to take a back seat as creativity and innovativeness slowly takes centrestage to cope with the stresses of the new information age.

Powerful thoughts to lead us as we face head-on the rapidly transforming landscape of the future.
 
Bernie Trilling interacting with the audience during the Q&A session.





Sunday 11 November 2012

Interested in being an Entrepreneur?

It's been a while since I've been asked to speak to kids at schools. The last time was when I was still a lecturer at Ngee Ann Poly's School of Film and Media Studies (FMS). I was part of the outreach committee and used to go to secondary schools to talk to students about their career path and why FMS was the way to go.

So it was with great honour that I accepted this opportunity to speak with the P6 kids at Fuchun Primary early this month during their Career Fair.


It was an opportunity for me to share my experience as a mom-preneur and why I decided to take this route instead of a regular 9 to 5 job.

As each batch of kids came round to talk with me, I asked how many of them wanted to be their own boss. Interestingly enough I only got 2 positives, a few maybes but mostly blank stares.

But as I talked with them, some had interesting view points to share about being an entrepreneur either because they had a parent or parents who owned businesses, or because they had interests in being their own boss.

It was heartwarming to know that we had budding entrepreneurs in our midst.

My message to them was a simple one: Find your passion and if you can turn it into a business, you'll never have to work a single day in your life.

A big thank you to Mrs Yap Dai Jee, Principal of Fuchun Primary School, as well as Ms Chin Yee, the teacher in charge of the Career Fair, in allowing me the privilege of meeting these young towkays (businessmen) and having such a wonderful experience to remember.