Alumni News
Yolande Sum Now based in Hong Kong for the second time in her career, Class of 1991 FP Yolande Sum has made strides in the world of business since leaving the High School of Dundee thirty years ago. She first began her career in the Retail and Consumer Goods industry in Hong Kong after graduating in Marketing from Stirling University, then moved into Management Consulting in London after completing her MBA at Strathclyde Business School. Since joining PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 2008, she has successfully advanced up the ranks to Associate Director in Business Development and her current role as Clients & Insights Programme Leader for PwC China and Hong Kong. What are your favourite memories from school? Did you have any subjects that you enjoyed the most and were there any staff who inspired you and supported you on your journey to where you are today? I benefited from HSD’s all-through school structure and joined HSD in Lower 1 Junior School, leaving in Form 5 Senior School (after achieving the necessary Highers qualifications to enter university). I do remember enjoying subjects like English, French, Geography and Music (especially running up to the top of the Girls’ school for music and flute lessons, choir and wind band practice!). I enjoyed the co-curricular activities/clubs and was very proud of my Librarian and Hostess badges back in the day! I also looked forward to playing tennis during the warm Scottish summers up at Dalnacraig and singing my heart out in the choir in St Paul’s Cathedral at the end of term Christmas service. Have you ever attended any of our alumni events or been back to visit the school since you left? Being a full-time working mother of seven-year-old twins and having to think more often about my children’s education and future, has naturally brought back many memories of my own school life and the desire to reconnect with the School. I subsequently volunteered as an HSD Alumni Ambassador (for China and Hong Kong) to help contribute to the School’s alumni network and enhance international relationships. As my parents and siblings are based in Scotland and because I still affectionately regard Scotland as my ‘home’, we normally fly back twice a year. It was on one of these trips earlier this year that the School kindly arranged a Junior Years’ Individual Tour so that my children could experience first-hand what life at HSD (or ‘mummy’s school’) would be like if we decided to relocate back to Scotland in the near future. Having not set foot in the School since I left Form 5 in 1990, it was amazing to see how the School has evolved and its facilities modernised. You are now based in Hong Kong and have been for quite a while now. How did your career take you overseas? As ‘graduate milk rounds’ were taking place in my final year at Stirling University, I looked at the competition around me and it made me reflect on how I could differentiate from others. Having previously travelled to Hong Kong for family holidays, I remembered there were many multinational companies based out in the Far East and as I was already bilingual in English and Chinese, I targeted my graduate applications at multinationals in Hong Kong. Despite feeling anxious about the uncertainty ahead, I flew out to Hong Kong on a one-way ticket two weeks after Graduation and within that month, I was referred to Boots the Chemist for a role. This was the beginning of my career in Hong Kong, initially in Product Development & Procurement with
Boots followed by Account Management at Nestlé. To remain competitive and relevant, I knew I would need to continue upskilling myself, so I decided to return to my roots in Scotland to study for my MBA at Strathclyde Business School. I then transitioned into management consulting with ACNielsen and Capgemini in London. A few years later, whilst taking a short sabbatical in Hong Kong, I was unexpectedly headhunted for an internal change management position for a newly established Business Development function in PwC. That was twelve years ago! You have been working for PwC for twelve years now and you’ve successfully progressed through the ranks, which is wonderful! I wonder if you could tell us a little more about your role and what your day-to-day responsibilities entail? In my current role as Clients & Insights Programme Leader, I regularly meet Board/Senior Management in client organisations together with senior PwC Partners to discuss how we can bring more value to the relationship and to help them meet their business needs or to overcome market challenges. Today, such conversations cannot be underestimated as many organisations are having to adjust their business strategy and re-prioritise due to the impact of geopolitical and macroeconomic risks (e.g. US-China tensions, UK withdrawing from the EU, interest rate environment, the global Covid-19 outbreak). Once we have these key insights, we make recommendations to leadership and act to deliver a more enhanced service/experience to clients, refine our go-to market and industry strategies, improve our service coverage and relationships at client, industry or broader market levels. What would you say is the best thing about an HSD education and did it help prepare you for your life after school? HSD has always had a proven track record in academic excellence which I believe is fundamental in helping pupils to unlock their potential and strive for their best, regardless of background, ability and where they may find themselves in the future. From my own experience, the School’s traditional core values and strong sense of community/friendship, combined with active learning and problem solving in a high performing environment helped instil important attributes such as diligence, perseverance, discipline, ambition and self-awareness during my school years, and this better prepared me for life’s challenges after leaving school. If you could offer any words of wisdom to your school-age self, what would they be? If I could go back in time, my advice to my school-age self would be - to be more inquisitive and ask more questions; keep an open mind and think more broadly around what is written in textbooks by exchanging ideas with others; be more self-confident and adventurous. Having said that, I have no regrets as I believe that all my life experiences up until now have shaped me into the person I am today!
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