Dear Alumni,
To keep the ball rolling from last week’s Year 11 Careers Day, here are some biographies of the speakers, together with their reflections of that day.
Edwin Koh (2005)
Edwin has a great love for business and innovation. He stems from a finance background and has been working in the hospitality industry for the past few years. Edwin has worked with Melbourne based product designers to invent a one of a kind beer dispensing technology called the BeerVault.
He is also the co-founder of a beer bar & restaurant in Melbourne CBD called Biero which showcases the technology. Through his steep learning curve obtained by jumping into co-owning a bar/restaurant without prior experience, he now stresses on attention to detail and great customer relationship in which he believes are key to any business success.
In regards to digital space, Edwin has also been heavily involved in the founding and growth of ilovediscounts.my, and in assisting in marketing and corporate strategy.
As a co-founder of businesses in very different fields, Edwin knows how important it is for the founder to get out there, listen to the feedback of customers, suppliers and everyone in between. Edwin currently helps out in his family business in property development.
Reflections of the day:
I had a great time sharing my experiences with the students and I hope they found it helpful. Going back to GIS after all these years was extremely nostalgic and it was awesome to see and catch up with my old teachers Mr. Gui and Mr. Mah, it’s a pity not all the old teachers were around. I will be back!
Shaun Tan (2006)
Shaun Tan obtained an MA in International Relations from Yale University, an LLB from King’s College London, and was called to the Bar at the Honorable Society of Lincoln’s Inn. He writes and speaks on international relations, politics, history, philosophy, sociology, and education. He enjoys reading, playing tennis, and talking about himself in the third-person.
Reflections of the day:
It was great to come back, engage with the students, and meet some of my old teachers again. Mr Mah still looks the same.
They’ve really done up some parts of the school. The library looks really cosy, I wanted to curl up and sleep in it. Maybe one day I will!
Oh, and the students get catered food from Ben’s now? They are so spoilt. So spoilt!!!
Nabila Almashoor (2004)
It all began with a profound love of doodling since childhood, album art covers, art zines and vinyl stickers that totally dragged Nabila into the art scene.
“When I first discovered a cd cover of Thurston Moore’s ‘Psychic’ lying around my sister’s room, it was just history. I was so infatuated with the raw drawings and vivid imagery.”
A current art education activist -Nabila’s involvement with the indie art industry began shortly after her graduation in Broadcast Arts from Center for Advanced Design (CENFAD) in 2004. After a few years of corporate training in the advertising and publishing industry of Jakarta, Indonesia -Nabila gave it all up to instead dedicate her time to promoting and lobbying many young independent artists and designers from Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. These included business startups, writing for independent columns such as Violence Visual (Indonesia) and also play host to various indie art events. In 2011, Nabila was nominated as Event Communications Director for Designers Weekend, an art NGO that helps provide an international platform to both artists and designers. In 2013, Nabila was nominated by CREATIVE©ITIES to represent Malaysia as one of the 250 established young city curators for the Asia Pacific Cities Summit.
Reflections of the day:
As strange as this may sound, speaking to the students really reminded me a lot of things that I used to love and was starting to forget after working in the industry for so long. It was amazing to share ideas and opinions to prospective designers, and of course, it was incredible to be able to share such a heartfelt experience. Loved the fact that the students are still cheeky but smart lil ones! Create and inspire!
It was amazing to see all the changes and being back physically really reminded me about all the things I loved about school. High school wasn’t all fun and games, and we really had to work hard – but it was all worth it. Really made me wish I was ten years younger again!
NK Tong
Group MD, Bukit Kiara Properties
National Treasurer, REHDA Malaysia
International Board Member, Young Presidents’ Organization
An undergraduate in Architecture (B.A. Hons) from the University of Manchester, N.K. Tong went on to gain a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. Starting his career in the late 1980s, he is currently the Group Managing Director of Bukit Kiara Properties (BKP), a niche developer of innovative lifestyle properties in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Prior to setting up BKP, NK was the Executive Director of Sunrise Berhad, listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. He was actively involved in the genesis and transformation of Mont’Kiara into a prestigious neighbourhood from what used to be acres of rubber estates. NK was also instrumental in the strategic sale of the listed company in late-1996, just ahead of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.
Today, he helms BKP, which he co-founded in 2000. NK has been involved in the conceptualisation and development of BKP projects located in Mont’Kiara and Kuala Lumpur city centre with a combined gross development value of over RM1.5 billion.
NK also currently serves as the National Treasurer of the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (REHDA). He has been an active member of REHDA for the past decade, holding various positions in the WPKL branch as well as in the National Council. He believes and promotes that REHDA should be consumer-friendly and transparent in its dealings, so as to enhance the public’s understanding of the role that REHDA and its developer members play in nation building.
NK also sits on the Investment Committee and the Board of Directors for Kumpulan Sentiasa Cemerlang Sdn. Bhd., a unit trust management company based in Malaysia, and was a former Director of Vinaland Ltd. (from 2006-09), a London-listed US$700M fund investing in Vietnam.
He is also an active leader in the 21,000-strong CEO network, Young Presidents Organization (YPO), having held various roles at the chapter, regional and international levels for the past decade. He is currently on the YPO International Board, as a member representing S.E. Asia and AustraliaNZ.
Reflections of the day:
“It was an engaging day, sharing with the Year 11’s and discussing their thoughts on their future careers. I also learnt a lot from them and found it fascinating to see the future generation in action! Keeping their attention was certainly a challenge and it helped to hone my facilitation, communication and leadership skills!”
Once again, a huge thanks to the speakers for spending a day with the students. The sessions were beneficial for the students and many of them learned from the speakers.
We will be holding similar events in future and we will work on bringing in more alumni with different professions. Watch this space!
If you would like to contribute to future Career Days, please write to us at alumni@gardenschool.edu.my.
Cathrynne Yeong
Manager – Alumni Relations