Shiyun is a corporate sustainability stalwart having led Company of Good for seven years before taking the position of Regional Head for CSR & Sustainability in APAC at Illumina. During her time as a student at SMU, Shiyun was involved in the founding of SMU Symphonia, SMU Samba Masala, and SMU Ultimate Frisbee. She received her Bachelor of Accountancy degree from SMU in 2005.
What is one key lesson you learned at SMU that is still relevant to you today?
At one of my first accounting seminars, Professor Michael Gan Tin Hua shared about the importance of "integrity." Even though I no longer work in the accounting or finance industry, his lesson has inspired and stayed with me. Integrity is a way of life; it refers to one's willingness to do the right thing even when no one is looking.
What motivates you to achieve your goals?
A single person or organisation cannot tackle most of the world's wicked and complex problems. However, I can always do my part as no tiny act of kindness is ever insignificant. I do what I can with what I have and encourage others to help in whatever way they can.
What did you enjoy most about your time at SMU?
I appreciate how SMU has always provided a safe and nurturing environment for students to pursue their various interests and experiment with innovative ideas. SMU’s distinctive transformative education system has enabled and continues to empower me to explore new areas and blaze new trails after I had graduated.
What do you do professionally? How is it relevant to Earth Day?
I lead Illumina Inc.'s Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability function in APAC. As a leading biotech company focused on DNA and RNA sequencing, Illumina's mission improves human health by unlocking the power of genomes. Beyond advancing healthcare, we also connect solutions to address climate change and environmental sustainability.
My work entails supporting Illumina’s CSR and sustainability programming in APAC, which has committed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, use electricity only from renewable sources by 2030 and reduce emissions by 46% by 2030.
What is something we can do every day to protect the environment?
Bring a tote bag with you when you go shopping to help reduce the use of disposable shopping bags. Here is a tip for students and alumni: combine these disposable shopping bags and donate them to Honsieponsie, a curated thrift store that sells second-hand items.
If you could say one thing to Planet Earth, what would you say?
Thank you for your gift of life and beauty.
Connect with Shiyun on LinkedIn.
Francis graduated from SMU in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science (Economics) degree and is currently a Sales Director at UBS AG, where he is responsible for growing and deepening the investment bank's Asia-Pacific foreign exchange eCommerce business. His passion for coffee led him to co-found Karabica Coffee, a social venture that creates economic and social value through partnerships with ethnic coffee producers in Southeast Asia.
What is one key lesson you learned at SMU that is still relevant to you today?
As the African proverb saying goes ‘It takes a whole village to raise a child,’ the same could be said for SMU, ‘It takes a university to educate and transform one person.’ Without the transformative education, support, and assistance I received at SMU, I would not be where I am today. In that regard, my time in SMU has taught me a valuable lesson, to pay it forward.
Paying my success forward not only enables even more success for me, but for others and communities around me as well. This is evident in both my work at UBS AG and my social venture, Karabica Coffee.
What did you enjoy most about your time at SMU?
Apart from being a member of SMU ASMU (SMU Ambassadorial Corp), I value the network of friends, helpful staff, and faculty members who supported me throughout my time at SMU.
What do you do professionally? How is it relevant to Earth Day?
I am an eCommerce sales director with UBS investment bank and am part of a team that helps oversee the bank’s electronic foreign exchanges businesses in the Asia Pacific region.
The industry is at a crossroads right now as it incorporates ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) thought leadership into the way foreign exchange businesses are managed. Providing my clients with solutions to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in their portfolios is one of the ways I deliver positive ESG outcomes.
Creating shared value is something that I am passionate about. For instance, Karabica Coffee, which was set up as an eCommerce business when Singapore went into partial lockdown ('Circuit Breaker') during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, works on a sustainable and fair-trade business model. This model guarantees that our coffee farmers receive a fair price for their harvest, which allows them to reinvest in their communities' health care and education and protect the environment at the same time.
What is something we can do every day to protect the environment?
Let us use less disposables and plastics! Every day, I bring my own reusables to work and make it a point to reduce the amount of waste I generate as much as possible. We can provide a greener tomorrow for our children if we all do our part now.
If you could say one thing to Planet Earth, what would you say?
For our tomorrow, we give our today.
Connect with Francis on LinkedIn.
Jeremy is a serial sustainability entrepreneur who previously co-founded UglyGood in 2017, a start-up that focused on turning fruit waste into valuable products. He is a thought leader and highly sought-after speaker in the sustainability start-up space and have been invited to speak at UNLEASH Innovation Lab Start-ups in 2018 and the World Cities Summit in 2021. After growing UglyGood into a six-figure business, he exited the venture in 2021 and set up SimplyGood. Jeremy graduated from SMU in 2018 and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems.
What is one key lesson you learned at SMU that is still relevant to you today?
Teamwork.
This is especially crucial for anyone trying to build a start-up. No amount of brilliance alone is going to get you far if you do not have an effective team. The essence of any business lies in its team and its execution skills. The best ideas often fail without a good team, but a mediocre idea with an effective team is poised for success. This is one of the most important lessons I took away from SMU: to learn to collaborate, communicate and achieve a common goal.
What motivates you to achieve your goals?
I am passionate about building sustainable businesses that can make the world a better place.
I strongly believe that businesses can and should be a force for good and that they should exist to solve problems that matter. I am excited that I am in a space that continuously innovates and develops new, circular business models that are more resource efficient and challenges traditional industries to evolve and transform.
What did you enjoy most about your time at SMU?
I enjoyed the flexibility I had to explore my passion for entrepreneurship and business building while studying at SMU. SMU has provided me with fantastic opportunities to participate in start-up competitions, hone my pitching skills and grow as an entrepreneur. I have enjoyed the networking sessions and learning opportunities provided by those who have walked the path before me.
What do you do professionally? How is it relevant to Earth Day?
I manage SimplyGood, a home care brand that produces dehydrated cleaning tablets focused on reducing single-use plastic and carbon emissions. We allow consumers to reuse the single-use plastic bottles that they already have, fill them with water and dissolve our proprietary SimplyGood cleaning tablets to make their own cleaning solutions at home. Our proprietary cleaning tablets are 300x lighter and 200x smaller than traditional liquid cleaning solutions.
Our products eliminate the need to transport water, reducing carbon emissions and single-use plastic bottles. This circular model not only benefits consumer pockets but also our planet - cleaning Mother Earth one home, one tablet, one refill at a time.
What is something we can do every day to protect the environment?
Refill. Reduce. Recycle. It is a lifestyle change, and it comes down to taking small steps that will have a significant impact in the long run.
If you could say one thing to Planet Earth, what would you say?
Bear with us as we clean up our act.
Connect with Jeremy on LinkedIn.
Liang Yi currently works as Manager, Sustainability Partnerships & Communications at Pan Pacific Hotels Group. She majored in Political Science and Analytics from SMU in 2018 and holds a Diploma (Merit) in Mass Communication from Ngee Ann Polytechnic. In her spare time, she enjoys being outdoors (walking, hiking, cycling, etc.), reading and gouache painting.
What is one key lesson you learned at SMU that is still relevant to you today?
I learned that you should not be afraid to try new and different things. At SMU, I was always busy, whether it was cycling with the SMUX Biking Team, taking on leadership roles, internships or being involved in other projects and activities. It was hard juggling so many things at one time, but I grew so much and made many friends for life, including meeting my fiancé.
I have acquired time management skills and became more open to taking on different roles and projects to broaden my experience, both of which have helped me grow personally and professionally.
What motivates you to achieve your goals?
Living a happy life and spending time with my family and loved ones are my main goals right now. On the work front, this means doing my best at work so I can go back home and be happy with what I achieved.
What did you enjoy most about your time at SMU?
SMU has also done an excellent job in offering a wide range of degree programmes and allowing students to choose their own majors. I had planned to major in psychology when I started at SMU, but after attending the introductory course in political science (thank you, Professor Donaldson!) I fell in love with the subject and switched majors on a whim. I do not think I could have done that so easily at other universities.
What do you do professionally? How is it relevant to Earth Day?
I currently work at Pan Pacific Hotels Group as the Manager of Sustainability Partnerships and Communications.
I coordinate a variety of initiatives in our focus areas of inclusive employment, sustainable hospitality, and building opportunities for local artists to shine. We work closely with different departments internally, and with external partners such as government agencies and non-profits to bring our sustainability initiatives to life. Earth Day is not just about the environment, but about supporting and uplifting our local communities too, so we can thrive on Earth together.
What is something we can do every day to protect the environment?
So. Many. Things.
Bring a reusable tote bag along everywhere you go. It will come in handy especially when we make purchases. Shop at thrift shops and buy second-hand clothes instead - it is a special kind of joy to go to a thrift shop and find something new every day. Instead of food deliveries or takeaways, dine in so that restaurants can use less disposable plastic cutlery.
Also, let businesses know that you care about sustainability. It may sound insignificant, but your feedback can create a domino effect. A few years ago, I made a commitment to use my own coffee mug for coffee runs. This caught the attention of the staff and prompted them to urge their management to reduce the use of disposable coffee cups.
This is an example of how small sustainable actions that we take every day can add up to make a significant difference.
If you could say one thing to Planet Earth, what would you say?
Thank you for taking care of us. We will pull ourselves together and treat you well.
Connect with Liang Yi on Linkedin.
Clement graduated from SMU with a Bachelor of Business Management degree in 2019 and currently works at Innovate360 as a Business Development Manager. Having worked in Indonesia, Clement has experience in agriculture commodities such as rice and palm oil. During his undergraduate days, he was President of the SMU Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapter and led teams to Indonesia to build homes for beneficiaries. He is a food lover, has a passion for history, anthropology and is fluent in four languages.
What is one key lesson you learned at SMU that is still relevant to you today?
My time at SMU taught me the value of being a well-rounded individual, which I continue to apply in my professional life. This means venturing out of my comfort zone, meeting, and studying other people's experiences, learning new skills, and even doing things I am not familiar with.
Such personality attributes require discipline and can only be cultivated through years of practice and self-leadership.
What motivates you to achieve your goals?
My family and my wife are my greatest sources of inspiration. The ability to make them proud of me as a sibling, a son, and a spouse is the most powerful motivator for me to reach the goals I set for myself.
What did you enjoy most about your time at SMU?
I had the privilege of leading the SMU Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapter as President and organising two trips to Indonesia to help build houses for the people of Yogyakarta. By leaving behind a home for them, I felt for the first time in my life that I have made a real impact on people, even if it is in a small way.
What do you do professionally? How is it relevant to Earth Day?
I work in Innovate360, an accelerator and venture capital firm that supports more than 50 food start-ups across four different verticals, Deep-tech, Agri-Tech, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) and Food Sustainability (food valorisation and alternative proteins) grow and scale their businesses.
Aside from promoting sustainable and food production, I have also been able to contribute to the Singapore Green Plan 2030 by helping our start-ups participate in LowCarbonSG, a capability-building programme for local businesses in Singapore to monitor and reduce carbon emissions.
What is something we can do every day to help protect the environment?
Walk! I enjoy walking long distances and as much as possible, I would take the public transport or walk to get to my destination. Not only does this reduce my carbon footprint but is also a wonderful way to incorporate some exercise into my daily life.
If you could say one thing to Planet Earth, what would you say?
I wish people would treat you better because you deserve so much more.
Connect with Clement on LinkedIn.