Reflection on the Mapletree Innovation & Entrepreneurship Forum on 20th March 2019

After attending the Mapletree Innovation & Entrepreneurship Forum, I now have a better understanding of the entrepreneurship industry and how important it is to be sustainable. The purpose of the forum was to provide a platform for Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) students with the entrepreneurial drive to be creative and create innovations that can improve sustainability.

Four distinguished speakers were invited to speak at the forum, and they were Mr Shamir Rahim who is the Founder and CEO of VersaFleet Pte Ltd, Mr Eugene Wong who is a Venture Capitalist of Sirius Ventures, Ms Nancy Ling who is the Co-Founder of EcoU and Mr Zach Wilson who is the Managing Director of AlfaTech & DVUCA.

Some of the topics discussed were how their businesses were able to be brought to the market, in terms of its innovative and sustainability aspects, challenges faced by them and advises they have for aspiring entrepreneurs.

However, what caught my attention was when Ms Nancy shared an anecdote about when she first came to Singapore almost nine years ago. She mentioned how surprised she was when she noticed the amount of plastic used in Singapore and how there were no other sustainable options available at that time. After listening to this, it made me realise the importance of being sustainable.

Since plastic takes a very long time to break down, most of the plastic wastes end up either polluting the landfills or the oceans where it could really harm the ecosystem. If marine animals ingest the plastic wastes, it could kill them. Also, not all forms of plastic are recyclable and, burning of plastic is harmful to the environment. Therefore, I feel that this has to change, and we should not be too dependent on plastics.

Overall, the forum gave me great insights on how entrepreneurship can relate to sustainability. Also, I learned that we need to have the passion and determination to succeed in being an entrepreneur.

Panellists of the Mapletree Forum

* Edited on 10/04/2019, 13:45

* Commented on Syahiran's, Yong Xing's and Baizurah's posts.