-This blog aims to showcase my life and my course in Ngee Ann Polytechnic (:
-I hope that after reading this blog, parents and graduating secondary school students will be able to make an informed choice and hopefully become my juniors in future cohorts!
-Enjoy ~
Tennessee man sentenced in bank bailout fraud case
Madoff's key middlemen face fraud charges
Renci CEO commits charity fraud
Tired of these newspaper headlines??? I am sure Business & Social Enterprise(BZSE) will show you the right way to do a business!
In BZSE, we are taught to be socially responsible when we run a business and this is one major value that I myself live by!
It has been said by Rosabeth Moss Kanter that without a social enterprise, a business school might just as well be a trade school.
Michael Porter has also noted the fact that economic and social objectives are not mutually exclusive.
Bob Burakoff also once mentioned that since businesses know about accountability and non profit organisations know about missions, we can combine the two!
Joining this course will allow one to learn more than what normal business students do, it is after all, business with a twist to it!
First up, what are social enterprises? This might not be a familiar term with many students in Singapore as it is not commonly heard.
A social enterprise is formed when social welfare meets capital enterprise. Personally, I believe that a social enterprise is a modernised version of a charity-- one that is able to generate sustainable income to help others in need.
Watch these below videos to find out more!
If you think making money is the most important thing in life, think again!
this is a video of the Grameen Bank, one of the world's classic examples of a successful social enterprise
First question,why did I choose BZSE?
For me, I had wanted a Business Diploma in mind when I was making my JAE choice.However,in truth, I joined BZSE at first only because I could not get into the course that I wanted. I was very upset at first but it actually had turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The reason why I chose this course as my second choice was that we would have mentors experienced in running social enterprises to guide us along the way. I have always aspired to work for the United Nations one day and I believe that this unique diploma will help me to get there! Now I cannot be more glad that I am in this prestigious course which only accepts a limited number of 40 in each cohort!
What does BZSE has in store for you?
In BZSE, we are taught business skills like business management skills and business communications. In addition, we learn what is it like doing business for a good, not just for the money.Besides, this course also allows us to venture abroad to gain new insight on how global social enterprises are being run in different countries. For example, in my next semester, the Year 1 cohort will be going to Gawad Kalinga(GK), a social enterprise in the Phillipines. We might also be given the chance to go to Boston for a presentation about GK as well.
What are my thoughts after my first semester in this course?
I definitely do not feel like I lost out compared to the normal business school students as I am taking modules like Business Management and Economics just like them. In fact, I have gained a lot of new knowledge like more sophisticated IT skills and I learnt a lot about local social enterprises as we went out to interview and did a project on them too. The project had opened my eyes to a whole new world as I realised that it is challenging and meaningful to work for a social enterprise. My group did the project on World Toilet Organisation which aims to provide clean sanitation to the whole world. It had never occurred to me that there are actually 2.5 billion people in the world who are living without toilets and they are constantly at risk of infecting deadly diseases because of the poor sanitation. Living in Singapore has made me take these seemingly little things for granted. If not of the opportunity that BZSE had given me, I wouldnt have experienced these at all.
I also learnt that there are some things in this world that just cannot be measured by money such as the happiness derived from helping others. Besides this, I realised that there are many job opportunities when I go out to the work force in future as this is definitely considered to be a sunrise industry and the job prospects are unlimited!
This is a poster that we created in the project!
This is a video that me and my group created for world toilet organisation!
Hopefully this has brought new insight into BZSE!
that' me
I am Denise Yeo, a Year 1 Business & Social Enerprise(BZSE) student studying in Ngee Ann Polytechnic
I am turning 18 this year. I love swimming,shopping as well as learning new languages. To top it off, I love to help others and this is why I made BZSE part of my choice.So can you.
