Two new bond-free study awards for SMU undergrads, postgrads

The Singapore Management University (SMU) unveiled two new bond-free study awards yesterday to promote real-world learning opportunities for its undergraduate and postgraduate students, and to improve their entrepreneurial knowledge, skills and exposure to global trends.

The Tolaram Global Innovation Immersion (TGII) Award and Tolaram Entrepreneurship Venture (TEV) Award are supported by the Tolaram Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fund.

The fund was set up last year by local conglomerate Tolaram and SMU, with a $600,000 contribution from Tolaram, which has businesses in consumer goods, fintech, infrastructure and industrials.

Mr Hugh Edmiston, SMU's senior vice-president of administration, said at an appreciation event yesterday that Tolaram's support "is a much-valued investment into the ideas and dreams of our future generations".

The TGII Award is given to full-time undergraduates in any discipline and year of study to pursue an internship at overseas companies curated by the SMU Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The award covers all related expenses, including airfare and accommodation.

Twelve students were selected for this award for the 2021/22 academic year.

Among them is fourth-year economics and data science and analytics student Bey Sheenin, who was a business and product strategy intern at Paris-based start-up Flitter from May to July.

The 22-year-old recalled having to lead a project by herself with minimal help from her managers, and was eventually told that her work was good enough to be shown to investors.

She said: "I was glad that I was able to do something meaningful, even during the short period of time that I was there."

The TEV Award is given to full-time undergraduates in any discipline and year of study at SMU, as well as postgraduate students with their own business ventures. It provides student entrepreneurs with financial support to work on their start-ups during the school holidays.

Twenty students were selected for the award for the 2021/22 academic year. The award is valued at $5,000 each.

Award recipient Sherritze Lew, 22, used the funds to work on her start-up Aerealm, a digital marketing platform for self-employed individuals set up in 2019.

She and her co-founder were paired up with a mentor as part of the award. "As a small start-up, we had always been centred on small-scale aims, which we felt were more attainable, but our mentor taught us that we should always aim higher," Ms Lew said.