As a final year Business student specialising in Marketing, I am honoured and grateful to be a recipient of the Leong Siew Meng Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship helps to ease my student loan’s financial burden and allows me to focus on the essential aspect of school – learning! NUS’s marketing modules entail a practical blend of disciplines, ranging from Consumer Psychology to Marketing Analytics. These modules opened up my eyes towards how broad marketing is and how exciting this field can be, inspiring me to specialise in Marketing. During sectionals, I learned alongside like-minded peers, where we worked on projects that spur us to put into practice the marketing knowledge we have learned and inject our own creative flair during presentations. These projects honed my critical thinking skills and the ability to work in teams, which I believe are essential for my career.

Additionally, I am very thankful for the support rendered to me by the professors who were always willing to go the extra mile to interact with students and share their expertise and experience, allowing the class to learn further beyond the curriculum. Moreover, I also had the opportunity to undertake several marketing modules in Germany as part of the exchange programme offered by NUS. The experience abroad was fulfilling and exciting, and I am blessed to have the chance to learn more about marketing in an overseas environment. The scholarship is indeed a significant motivating factor to strive to work harder in my academics and in the real world, and become a better marketer.

Joy Tan, recipient of Leong Siew Meng Memorial Scholarship

Personally, the awards recognise the effort that was put in throughout my 4 years in NUS Business School, and reinforce my belief that hard work pays off. On a deeper level, the awards exemplify how Marketing is ubiquitous, versatile and highly applicable – even for an unconventional Marketing student like me.

Marketing is the new pair of glasses that you will own which allows you to relook and revisit your everyday life from a myriad of lenses and perspectives – challenging the status quo, compelling you to stay curious and piquing your interest to find out more.

It’s also a mindset which pushes you to rethink your personal and professional brand, your outlook and behaviour; allowing you to identify your points-of-difference, your value proposition and your marketing strategy as you pursue your passions and dreams.

Simultaneously, it is also a toolkit that will equip you with the applicable tools to tackle the obstacles in this everchanging world – from pitching innovative ideas to clients to convincing your baby cousin to eat his vegetables – marketing will be the greatest toolkit to help you overcome those challenges.

Having acquired this new pair of glasses, a refreshed mindset and a formidable toolkit – regardless of what your next step in life might be or which route you choose to take, everything you gain from the Marketing specialisation will propel you one step closer to achieving your goals.

Randy Ang, recipient of Leong Siew Meng Memorial Prize and Marketing Institute of Singapore Gold Medal

I am extremely honoured to have been awarded the Marketing Institute of Singapore (MIS) Prize for being the top student in the module, Marketing Strategy: Analysis and Practice. Marketing has always been my passion. Being recognised for my passion by the national body for Sales and Marketing motivates me to advance my learning beyond classroom concepts. It also reinstates the growing relevance of marketers in a digital economy. This reinforces my conviction to pick up practical marketing skills and knowledge from the Marketing specialisation.

I chose to specialise in Marketing as I am intrigued by how marketers are able to understand consumers, sometimes better than consumers do themselves. The creative strategies derived from this intimate understanding, coupled with seemingly boundless creativity, never fails to inspire me.

The most well-crafted creatives can connect and move consumers globally. I took up the Marketing specialisation to learn the insights behind such excellence, and I have never looked back.

I had the fortune of having great Marketing professors who made classroom learning insightful and fun at the same time. It is no exaggeration to say that I look forward to my Marketing seminars every week where I can take part in lively discussions. You should definitely consider specialising in Marketing if you are piqued by people and brands, look forward to picking up practical and transferable skills, and are excited by the prospects of inspiring emotions and behaviour with your actions. Enjoy!

Sam Wee Leong, recipient of Marketing Institute of Singapore (MIS) Prize