A GROUP of enthusiastic students from junior collges across the island have come together to organise the second Youth Entrepreneurship Symposium (YES) for about 120 of their peers.
The two-day event, which opened at the Singapore Management University (SMU), aims to be a platform for students to learn more about entrepreneurship skills and to foster future inter-junior college collaborations.
YES 2009 is organised by nEbO, NTUC Club's youth community, and co-organised by SMU.
Mr Daniel Goh, 18, chairperson of YES 2009, who is from Raffles Institution (Junior College), said: 'We hope to empower youths with industry expertise and experience.'
His energetic team is following in the footsteps of their seniors, who organised last year's event.
This year's symposium boasts a number of guest speakers, including Tom Abbott, president and founder of Soho Sales Coaching.
One of the members of the pioneering committee, Phang Yu Jia, 19, said she met her teammates at a networking event organised by the National University of Singapore Entrepreneurship Society in the first quarter of 2008. Planning for the first symposium began soon after.
The bubbly teenager, who will be attending SMU's School of Law in August, felt that there was a lack of opportunities for junior college students to learn about entrepreneurship and business. Her teammates felt the same way, and YES was born. It was held at the National University of Singapore in June 2008.
'We wanted to introduce something new to the junior colleges. Something by junior college students for junior college students,' added Phang.
The symposium wants to prepare each student to 'put their head, heart and hands in innovation,' added Goh.
