Singapore was one of the most diverse, exciting cultures I have received the chance to be immersed in. I’ve visited Asia on a few occasions, all of which were to India. However, being in a country where the local population is a blend of various ethnicities brings out characteristics of each culture to the way of life in Singapore. For example, in India, there is always a large emphasis on putting the guest first in a business. There. I’ve been to multiple shops and offices where water is offered along with tea and snacks. We had that same experience in Singapore, where a lot of the companies we visited made sure to lay out refreshments.
Our course allowed us to gain perspective into the operations of various businesses such as ExxonMobil, Maybank, Adobe, S&P Global, and more. These all operate in different types of industries and each has certain differences from their counterparts in other parts of the world. With Singapore being such a small country, a lot of these corporations have offices in Singapore that have control over operations in other parts of the Asia Pacific region. With that, other cultures are added to the mix, and leaders find themselves needing to learn and adapt to traditions that they may not have encountered before.
I additionally got the chance to visit a few startups in Block 71 and 79, which is an area that is Singapore’s mini “Silicon Valley”. It was so interesting to see how the Singaporean government allows startups to flourish and what types of incentives they provide to bring talent to the country. Having a lot of interest in the tech area myself, this experience convinced me to plan to come back to Singapore one day in hopes of creating a startup.
In conclusion, this trip allowed me to broaden my understanding of the business world in Singapore. I am very fortunate that I had the opportunity and I will truly remember it forever. I wanted to thank Dr. Lane, CIBS, and Global Academic Ventures (GAV) for the amazing experience and learning opportunity.
