Guest Seminar, Summer 2012

This term’s Guest Seminar was a nice surprise for me. I had expected a quiet guest seminar with little fuss given this is the summer semester with relatively lower student enrollment. To my surprise, our organizing committee brought in exceptional guests with insightful information, good food sponsored by kind donors, and impeccable scheduling.

Greg Hauw

Greg Hauw’s view that Singapore is too small for an entrepreneur who means strikes a cord with me, and must have too with the rest of the speakers. His insightful take on the importance of cloud security sparked some thoughts about the various applications that could materialize once secured storage on the Cloud is possible. I am thankful for that imagination journey.

Norma

It was indeed great to see Norma again after eight long years. Being a social entrepreneur myself, I am so happy to know that there will be a powerful, intelligent and effective executor that will serve the unbanked. Her presentation reminded me of how she will always get things done, her persuasive power, her connections, her ability to bring forth her views and points always in a clear and concise manner. This is the kind of skill I want so much for my students to have.

Suresh

Suresh reminded me of how it is like to start a company, and then to entrust the baby to someone else with the hope that it will grow into an adult. I was reminded of the times I struggled as a newbie entrepreneur, the days I did not know where my next pay check will come in, and he reminded me how important it is that I had the support of my husband who would bring back the bacon. Yes, entrepreneurs need passion, enthusiasm, and most of all, he reminded me to listen to the inner voice with me.

So, it is the end of another guest seminar, and another semester for me. This guest seminar has been especially enlightening for me personally. It reminded me that, I too am a payment person like Norma, and have been since 1990 when my team implemented the first international ATM in Citibank. The seminar also reminded me that like Greg, I too am an international entrepreneur who managed to obtain a Nasdaq-listing approval in 2000 for the company I founded, and last but definitely not the least, like Suresh, I have always been listening to that inner voice. That inner voice is now speaking louder than ever reminding me to begin charting the path back to the place, where I should really belong, and perhaps my days in the wilderness are numbered.