Internship experience in Enterprise Asia, Malaysia

There was an old saying that “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”, which Isaac Newton’s words that emphasize the importance of building up of knowledge & ideas of the predecessors.

This phrase is very similar to my three-and-a-half months’ internship experience in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I have been established a consolidated and concrete knowledge of the business fields by learning and working practices from the experts of my company, my interpersonal communication, and thorough cultural discoveries, in other words, it is also a genuine turning point of my life.

I would like to pay the greatest tribute to the Non-local Company Attachment program of CityU, and also the hosting organization of AIESEC in CityU, as well as AIESEC in Kuala Lumpur, who offered me such opportunities and living supports to me to accommodate in the business environment in Malaysia. The attachment program also provides me with additional financial supports for me pursuing the workplace learning environment.

In the early September to late-December, I have been having an internship in a company called Enterprise Asia, a regional Business NGO that is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, while having branches of operation in Bangkok, Hong Kong and Singapore at the same time. Enterprise Asia is an NGO that focuses on entrepreneurship cultivation and development through various business ceremony in Southeast Asian cities such as Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila and Bangkok etc. Awards from Enterprise Asia is ranging from Innovation, CSR and Entrepreneurship. Grab, Microsoft, Ping-An and AIA are several winners of the aforementioned business awards

My position is a project executive, as known as membership coordinator, who is responsible for screening, researching and recruiting notable enterprises and SMEs across Asian countries for participating in the business awards ceremony. This time, I am in charge of a project called International Innovation Award (IIA), which is held in Singapore, therefore my duties are to nominate and research potential firms which are possessing with great innovative ability according to their products, services or organization cultures they have offered. Moreover, we need to promote our different marketing packages to the applicants, which contains assistance of marketing and media publications of Enterprise Asia. My supervisors are Miss Prichelle Lim, who is in charge of Marketing & Partnership Director, and Dato Mr William Ng, founder and Entrepreneurs of Enterprise Asia.

As a project executive, I am required to make cold calls, and sending emails to the potential innovative enterprises by nominating their innovative features, inviting them to join the events. Sometimes we need to meet the clients by face-to-face. In the recruiting stage, we have been establishing corporate relationships across enterprises from Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Korea and Hong Kong, to name but a few. For me, my focusing scope of clients in innovative companies of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Korea and Mainland China.

The starting period is hectic for me because the preparation time is so less comparing with another award program, which only gets 3 months for calling applicants. I need to do both researching and contacting at the same time. Also, it is my first time for me cold calling and promoting, I even get tongue twisted or even unable to answer inquiries from clients on some occasions.

Luckily, my supervisors, both William and Prichelle are very kind, that Prichelle devotes a lot of efforts of building knowledge of business innovation and business communication, she also gave numerous supports and encouragements to me during the internship. For William, he also provided me with opportunities for attending mass events of the business awards, as well as the company retreat camp. For example, I was granted to participate in a business award called Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Award in Kuala Lumpur InterContinental Hotel in September, and SME100, an award program ceremony specialises in SME achievements, in KL Convention Centre, as to experience for learning through such events in a practical manner. The company retreat camp in Janda Baik, Pahang (Near the Genting Highlands) also provides me with a great chance of mingling with other colleagues, and able to know more a bigger picture and strategic aims or plans in the future of Enterprise Asia, that I think all these experiences are very unique to me and add colours in my academic life.

Finally, the events of International Innovation Awards are successfully held in Sentosa, Singapore on 4th December 2019. Throughout this event, I successfully managed to recruit 12 companies mostly from Taiwan, and some from Korea and Hong Kong. K11 Shopping Mall, Taiwan Cement Corporations and Lite-on Corporation are some of the well-known enterprises that I have established friendly business networks with their representatives. Currently, I was also being appointed by Enterprise Asia to implement a new event called “Room 42”, which is an enlightened conference between university students and some of the winners from Enterprise Asia, this will probably collaborate with AIESEC to organise such campaigns in the future

To illustrate the takeovers of this experience, I would say it is really fruitful and beyond my thoughts. To commence with, I can able to work with colleagues from cultural backgrounds. For example, our team comprises with Tamils, Malaysian Chinese, Thai, Singaporeans and Mainland Chinese, that enable me to learn from diverse cultural contexts like cross-cultural differences and appreciate each other’s cultures. My colleagues’ are also very nice that they will take me to many entertainments activities such as jogging, movie, tasting authentic Malaysian cuisine experience, and even teaching slangs or language of their home countries. Moreover, It also provides me with ample opportunities for cultural interactions, since the housemates of my accommodation are from the Philippines and Mainland Chinese, which we will sometimes spend the leisure times with each other like hanging out during holidays or after work. During some public holiday in Malaysia, I can also able to build up multicultural friendships and expand cultural visions by having a short vacation in the neighbouring states or even countries, ranging from Malacca/ Penang in Malaysia to countries like Cambodia, Indonesia and Singapore etc.

Another thing is, I am able to equip myself to be a person who is more excel at communicating and knowledgeable. Through practising several times and immersing in researching through IIA, I learn more comprehensive about innovation business across Asian states, for example, the distinctive business operation or mind-boggling from Mainland Chinese innovative business, whose innovative ability and technologies are so strong and appreciative. Apart from that, the knowledge related to Product and Service Innovation Management is also being deepened since I have enrolled in the course with the same title before in my undergraduate curriculum.

Also, I have learnt about negotiation with clients and problem-solving abilities such as crisis management of dealing with troubles with clients. It is also an eye-opening experience for attending in the formal business award ceremony that I can only watch through television before I am here, information about event management & marketing, rundown, business attire and courtesy are therefore deepened by participating in such events.

After all, I would like to thank Enterprise Asia for cultivating me to be a person who is more excel in business fields, with the cultural backups and supports from all members from AIESEC in Malaysia team, but also College of Business financial support during the experience.