Han Yuding, SCCCF Business Scholarship Recipient

I’m the youngest of three in my family and my parents are in their sixties. Feeling like I was holding my parents back from retirement and thinking I was doing quite well academically, I decided to apply for a scholarship to alleviate my family’s financial burden.

Receiving the SCCCF Business Scholarship has really expanded my opportunities such as applying for exchange at University of Southern California (USC), an expensive decision made a lot easier. I could also maximise my school life by taking up a leadership role at the SMU Student Managed Investment Fund, a CCA which acted as a spring board to my investment journey. As the Co-President, I stepped up as a mentor to juniors, helping them along the way within and outside the club.

Since receiving the scholarship, I also took part in a case competition where my team represented SMU in Sydney, Australia. Watching competing teams from non-native English-speaking countries present ideas effectively and concisely really opened my eyes. The competition taught me about collaboration and cooperation as a team under guidance of seasoned SMU professors and mentors.

While my exchange at University of Southern California was cut short due to COVID-19, I still managed to experience a bit of American college life. I joined different student groups in investment, meditation and sustainability at USC and continued my courses and projects online while in Singapore. Working virtually on a project with peers based in another continent has definitely prepared me for a post-COVID-19 working world. These past months have made me appreciative of what we have in Singapore and cognizant of how unpredictable life can be.

I am looking forward to working at Temasek as an investment analyst intern this summer which will last until the next school term starts.

Han Yuding, BSc(Econ), SCCCF Business Scholarship Recipient 201