Hong Kong / China

Celeste Zeng

The NUS MBA Paul Yap Outstanding Contributor Award

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Describe your personal brand.

Dynamic, enthusiastic, inquisitive, and believe in the real mistake is to stop trying.

What were you doing before The NUS MBA?

Before my MBA I was leading the corporate partnership of a new business unit of Global Sources, a leading trade exhibition company in Asia - the new BU is a technology conference aimed to support IoT startups. I was responsible for leading the business development division, demand gen strategy, sales enablement, and contributed approx. 10% of the business unit revenue through partnership sales in 2017. After my MBA, I started to work for the multinational enterprise software company SAP and responsible for executive customer & partner engagement for regional CEO/President and SAP Executive Board members in Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) region. I am also in charge of SAP APJ’s alumni program, lead demand gen, strategy planning, and execution. Successfully relaunched the Alumni network across the APJ region in 2020. Since Jul 2021, I am appointed as Council Member / Director of the board in the Asia-based philanthropic organization Hinrich Foundation.

Please share your key achievements and leadership roles on the programme.

I was the then elected President of the Entrepreneurship Club and organized several club events that invited successful entrepreneurs, startup founders, leading tech companies, PE and VC investors to share their experience and network with the whole cohort. Most importantly, I hope my work helped light the fire of entrepreneurship spirit for our cohort and encouraged them to continue exploring and don't stop dreaming.

What has been the single most stand-out experience of your MBA?

Most of my experience in the MBA has been amazing - it's filled with friendship, self-reflection, challenges, and learnings. The most stand-out experience would be the experiential learning opportunities - 1) participating in NUS Enterprise's Lean LaunchPad program as the business advisor to the Nanosatellite start-up and 2) conceptualizing an Education Startup with a few senior sloan fellows in my exchange school's New Venture creation program.

What advice would you give to other MBA aspirants?

In my humble view, MBA is the opportunity for change, and if there is an opportunity for you to try a new path, just grab it. There is really not much to lose when we have this platform bolstered with all the support we need for change. So my advice is to be bold, confident, and don't regret the chances you didn't take.