"....
Running the club that counts several
nationalities among its members has been a beautiful experience for us. Of
course, it was not a bed of roses especially since we had no predecessors to
rely for advice. The two co-chairs wear multiple hats. One is a full-time
student and a full-time mother (mothers cannot take leave, can they?). The
other is a part-time student with a full-time job. However, we share the vision
to see the club take off and understand the servitude required from leaders. We
are privileged to have help extended by club members to source for senior
professionals and the school for supporting its activities in logistics and
finance.
A special characteristic about our club is its
inclusiveness. We recognize that men and women must learn to work alongside
with one another. Hence many of our events are open to the guys too. Similarly,
our club mentorship programme includes male mentors. Being a small organization
with big dreams, we constantly seek collaborations to benefit our members, the
school and even the society. A fine example is the Nanyang MBA Olympics which
we jointly organized with the school’s CSR club. Ultimately, network is an
asset and networking is an ability which we leverage heavily on to nurture this
budding organization and its members.
The biggest challenge for women in business at
the moment is making their presence known – seen and heard. The business
setting has traditionally been male-dominated, even in the MBA class. As
observed frequently, few women speak up. There has been even research that
suggests women’s unwillingness to speak up is biologically influenced. We are
not sure how useful this piece of information is but we do know one thing for
sure - women who can overcome any inner doubts or fear are able to stand out
more easily than others. Women have come a long way since our grandmothers’ and
mothers’ time. With each generation, women have achieved milestones for
themselves and our generation will not be an exception."
