Speed Mentoring and Facilitated Networking Over Dinner Reception

Speed Mentoring and Facilitated

Networking Over Dinner Reception/

Second Fall Event: Hosted by Mr. Jon Mills and Ms. Mable Chan

Victor and William Fung Foundation Limited

The first half of the evening was filled with a networking simulation exercise over a dinner buffet. It began with a list of ice-breaker questions written on index cards prepared by Mable Chan, founder of One in a Billion Productions. Fung Fellow Abbie Liu also guided an informed and interesting conversation flow among the Fung fellows. They picked up quickly and the impromptu networking was fun. They each remarked how much they’d gotten to know one another through simple language and genuine curiosity about one another.

The second half of the evening was with Jon and Mable conducting what’s popularly known among university students and young professionals as Speed Mentoring sessions. Jon talked about the importance of leveraging one’s college platform and developing relationships with professors during class and after hours, as well as tapping into alumni networks in fields and industries that appeal to them. He emphasized that this was one of the most overlooked yet critical steps students should take before graduating and launching one’s career. University professors and fellow alumni, more often than not, are happy to serve as mentors and counselors after they get their degrees.

Mable gave a five-minute talk about “Finding Your Voice” which was a topic that appealed to many Fung Fellows - males and females alike. She started with the example of Madeline Albright’s (former U.S. Secretary of State) personal journey of finding her voice that even high-profile and outstanding political figures struggle with finding their voice and speaking with confidence before, during and after they rise through the ranks. Mable gave practical takeaway tips on how they could develop their voice by reading, listening, and watching people they admire in public life as well as writing daily journals and reading out loud.

By all accounts, it was one of the most impactful and intimate gatherings with an audience from Harvard, MIT and Boston College. Several fellows gave instant feedback about how they wished that more people were ought to be there that night to experience the high-quality connection as a network community. They also described the evening as “packed with a lot of advice to take home to unpack” and they felt much tighter as a group.

PROJECTS SHARING PROJECTS SHARING

03.

Community Engagement –

Oxford Strategy Group X Fung Foundation Collaboration

/Jefferson Chen

Returning from the 2019 Fung Scholar Leadership Conference in Shanghai, I was beyond excited to have met so many likeminded individuals from around the world. Experiencing the Shanghainese cuisine, seeing the Bund at night, and taking part in the massive Chinese International Import Exposition were just some of my favourite activities that weekend. Indeed, what makes the Fung Scholars programme unique is that of a sense of community.

As the Client Acquisition Director of Oxford Strategy Group (OSG) and a Fung Scholar, I kept this in mind when pitching a collaboration between OSG and the Fung Foundation. OSG is the premier student-run consultancy at Oxford, with members coming from diverse backgrounds across disciplines and nationalities. Since 2012, OSG has worked on a low-cost basis with around 90 clients, which are collectively valued at US$650bn. These include listed companies such as Barclays and Unilever as well as many fast-growing start-ups including a transport unicorn in SE Asia and a hospitality unicorn based in India. We are active in the non-profit space as well, partnering with organizations ranging from West African government incubators to Nobel-prize nominated NGOs.

Immediately the collaboration between the two organisations was fraught with excitement from both sides. We are currently in the middle of the first engagement, looking into novel ways for the Foundation to engage with its Scholars in the UK. As a project mentor, I am thrilled to see the preliminary primary and secondary research done by our team (and thanks to the Fung Scholars’ responses) to support insights for crafting final strategic recommendations. I hope this is the start of a long-standing partnership between OSG and the Fung Foundation, and I am honoured to have been the bridge that led to the exciting collaboration between the two organisations. I hope the Fung Scholars network shall be continually reinvigorated in our journey aiming to become the leaders of the future!

If you would like to learn more about OSG, or would like to follow the latest updates in the partnership, feel free to visit https://www.oxfordstrategygroup.com/.