I am Hibiki Sumioku, a fourth-year student at the School of Economics, Nagoya University, currently enrolled in the Integrated 5-year Bachelor-Master's Program. I am conducting research in marketing and machine learning while also working as a freelance data analyst for a startup in Nagoya. This past summer, I was selected by the Aichi Prefectural government as one of three students to participate in the NUS Enterprise Summer Programme in Entrepreneurship, held from July 8th to July 19th, 2024. This two-week program, organized by NUS Enterprise, focused on entrepreneurship through a combination of lectures, workshops, company visits and so on.
I am at the bottom right
Visiting Amazon and Google
The program brought together over 300 students from 22 different countries, creating a diverse and multicultural environment. My group, called a "clan," included 9 students from Singapore, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan. We explored various parts of Singapore together, shared our languages and cultures, and worked on team projects about business plan creation. Through these experiences, we not only learned about entrepreneurship but also the importance of working together with people from diverse cultural and language backgrounds.
Singapore is a hub for Southeast Asia and is regional office to many major big tech companies like Amazon, Google and so on. Being in Singapore gave me a chance to see these companies up close. I also realized that in Singapore, aiming for international markets, not just the domestic market, is normal.
One of the most valuable parts of the program was interacting with students from different countries. Since English was not the first language for most of us, we had to respect each other's ideas and communication styles. This taught me how important teamwork and collaboration are. You can start something alone, but to achieve bigger goals, you need support from others and the ability to work well as a team. This insight will be valuable for me when collaborating with members from different backgrounds in the future.
Working on a group project to create a business plan to prevent drowsiness
I also noticed how much Japanese culture has spread overseas. I saw the names of Japanese companies mentioned in lectures and many Japanese restaurants in Singapore. Japan's presence in foreign markets is strong, especially in industries like cars, food, and entertainment (such as anime). This made me think about how Japan can continue to succeed globally even though its economy has slowed down.
The program provided numerous learning opportunities in various aspects. I am grateful to everyone who supported me. I hope to visit Singapore and work overseas in the near future. It has taught me that I have many options for my career, and I learned that it is up to me to seize those opportunities.
After the program, I attended the opening event of Station AI, where I met Professor Tan Eng Chye, the president of NUS, and Professor Naoshi Sugiyama, the president of Nagoya University. When I asked the NUS president what the most important part of NUS's education is, he said it was "talent"--both in terms of developing individual abilities and growing human resources. His answer really stayed with me because I believe that taking action and reflecting on your experiences are important for discovering your potential. As I continue my research, I want to stay focused on my interests and keep challenging myself to grow both personally and academically.
With Presidents Tan and Sugiyama