On this National Day, I pondered over my own ‘heritage’ and background as a Singaporean and how my aspirations for myself has been deeply rooted in one of our founding fathers, Dr Goh Keng Swee. I went to study Economics at the LSE because of him; and joined the public service of Singapore, focused on the economic sector because of him. In fact, during the most challenging times in my stint in government when I was helping to start the new office, Infrastructure Asia, I revisited his speeches and thought through the fundamentals of how we wanted Singapore to be positioned. I asked myself what are the economic factors and practical considerations he would be thinking about.
Today, I have moved out of the public sector, hoping to develop deeper expertise in Energy Transition and Sustainability, an area which I deem an important part of the future that our country and economy will be stepping into. I continue to ponder over topics of business, economic strategy and human capital development. This is after all, the cornerstone of Singapore’s development strategy. We always say that people are our only resource, given that we have hardly any natural resources nor sufficient land. It is the brain power, combined with the culture we create for this nation that will steer and determine our future.
And it continues to be so; which is why I continue my work of mentoring youths pro bono through the network that Advisory.sg has and also coaching young professionals.