Singapore Polytechnic scholar changing the world with kindness and business acumen

This article was contributed by Singapore Polytechnic.

Gerwyn Teo Wenqian
Diploma in Business Administration (DBA)

Awards: Toh Chin Chye Gold Medal, Alfred Robert Edis Prize

Future Entrepreneur With A Heart Of Gold

Business was in Gerwyn Teo Wenqian’s blood since his primary school days. Back when his peers only began to understand how money works, Gerwyn was already selling erasers and other knickknacks for a profit. In secondary school, Gerwyn took his hobby in model kits a step further by importing rare and exclusive ones from Japan and flipping it for a 100% profit.

It was thus an obvious choice for the Bukit Batok Secondary School alumnus to pursue a business administration course even before his GCE ‘O’ Level exams. Ultimately, the precocious teen chose Singapore Polytechnic (SP) as the lecturers’ personality and attitude while conducting the selection tests for the Early Admissions Exercise impressed him.

Today, Gerwyn has come a long way since his primary school days. Now, the Excellence Award Outstanding Contributions (Individual) recipient spends his time pursuing his passion in business by testing out new ideas and concepts in various business competitions. During the recent Fedex JA International Trade Challenge, Gerwyn conceptualised and developed a sustainable all-in-one lightweight travel solution. His creation won one of the three prizes in the national competition.

This win is the latest feather in Gerwyn’s cap as he had previously led a team to develop an integrated marketing campaign as part of a competition to build brand awareness for a home-grown furniture manufacturer. His bold marketing campaign saw the team achieving first runner-up in the competition.

During his final year project, the SP Scholar put all that he had learnt into creating a campaign backed by strong market research for a local manufacturing company. Gerwyn and his team of five classmates researched the relevant competitors of the company and developed a personalised brand guideline to help the company stand out. In addition, Gerwyn’s team even developed a prototype website and creative marketing collaterals for the company.

Besides competitions and industry projects, Gerwyn also built up his business acumen during his internship at Wandr Pte Ltd. There, Gerwyn had the opportunity to experience various aspects of the business, including retail, marketing, design and research. The experience taught Gerwyn that learning never ends as he was exposed to many unfamiliar business topics.

Behind Gerwyn’s competitive nature lies a heart of gold. One of his reasons for choosing SP was the opportunity to take up the Diploma Plus in Humanitarian Affairs. He aims to combine his business skills and knowledge from the humanitarian affairs course to help charities and non-governmental organisations uplift disadvantaged communities in the region.

During his first year in SP, Gerwyn embarked on a community service trip to Bintan where he was part of a team of multi-disciplinary students that built a scalable wastewater management system for the locals.

Part of Gerwyn’s motivation to help the disadvantaged stems from the multiple community service trips he had undertaken in his personal capacity around Southeast Asia. Each of these trips reinforced in Gerwyn, how fortunate his life was, compared to his peers in less developed countries.

Gerwyn’s current plans are to further his studies in business at a local university, before setting up a social enterprise to help the disadvantaged. We look forward to Gerwyn changing the world, one project at a time with his kindness.