By Levina Gan (19S03E)
Overwhelmed by the myriad of opportunities, I’m sure many of you may be conflicted about how to manage your time in JC. Or in this case, how to spend your Monday mornings. Well, you could choose to prolong your beauty sleep, or for those up for an academic challenge, you’ll be glad to know that the wide range of Monday Enrichment Programme serves as a great avenue to acquire knowledge outside of our syllabus! One such programme, would be the Business Leaders Programme (BLP), which I will be explaining in this article. Hopefully, this will help you make a more informed choice as to which Monday Enrichment Programme you would like to join.
As its name suggests, BLP is a programme meant for budding entrepreneurs to learn how to conceptualise a business idea, and exactly what makes or breaks a company. A great way to sharpen your business acumen, BLP is a great introduction to the world of business, but the skills learnt are definitely applicable in any industry!
But what exactly can you expect from BLP?
We meet for session every monday morning, in one of the seminar rooms. During the very first session of the year, everyone will be divided into groups of 5 – 6, to work on your business plan together over the course of the year. For us, the year began with conceptualising a business idea to address the social issues we were given. Then from there, sessions included theory lessons on the various aspects of business and learning about how to write an effective business proposal. As the year progressed, our proposals were continually improved with the feedback given by our mentor, as well as new knowledge acquired from lessons. At the end of the year, after working together on your business proposal for the last 9 months, you will get a chance to present it to a group of judges and gather valuable feedback from industry insiders. Whether or not you decide to bring these plans into fruition in the future is completely up to you. We have heard of senior groups who decided to go one step further and set up a business based on their project in BLP. So, don’t be too quick to rule out that possibility!
Sessions are conducted by Mr Francis Tay, our friendly mentor, who is extremely well-versed in the world of business. Did I mention, he also brings us snacks every week to keep us going through the 2 hour sessions? :’) From time to time, he will also successful businessmen to share about their specialties and their personal opinion on what it takes for a business to take off.
But if you’re worried that BLP will be too dry, and just seems like additional lessons, fret not, because we also have ample opportunities to go on really interesting excursions! Some of which include those to Muru-d, Vertex and other local start-ups and businesses. Through these learning journeys, we get the opportunity to interact with business owners and see for ourselves what it takes to run a successful business.
So if you are an aspiring entrepreneur, armed with the curiosity to learn, why not give BLP a shot!