Charlotte Chan has had an impressive career trajectory since completing the BSc Economics and Management: previously a strategy consultant at Accenture, she worked closely with clients to help them form new growth strategies based on novel technologies. Over her five years in the role, Charlotte worked to explore new industry trends, business opportunities and implement concepts to prove investment value. Now working towards an MBA at the London Business School, she is at the forefront of exploring new avenues in private equity and big technology. 

Charlotte’s journey to London began when she enrolled on the BSc Economics and Management programme at the Singapore Institute of Management. She explains why she chose this pathway: “It was one of the top international programmes that supported my learning in Singapore. I knew that I wanted to have the comfort of being in this country while also being on an internationally respected and competitive programme.”  

A snapshot of Charlotte’s highlights at university include the internationally diverse classrooms; the charisma and expertise of the lecturers she was learning from; seeing rewards for her hard work and diligence; and finishing as one of the top achievers in the second year of her programme. Charlotte was a top scorer worldwide in one of her modules, an achievement which she describes as a “huge word of affirmation for my efforts” and an “encouragement to continue pursuing greater challenges”.

Extra-curricular activities were a large part of Charlotte’s university experience, where she was given the opportunity to build her own society – the Innovation and Networking society: “I realised that the speed of innovation and technology development was going at a pace that was so quick and I was seeing so many desirable job opportunities in that space, I thought, why not bring back some of the connections and ‘know how’ back into university and get a group of people to be as driven as we can be so, after we graduate, we can enter into those hot technological industries.” Within 3 months of garnering support and budget for this society, Charlotte created a pathway in which students could build technology, prove their concepts and present these to industry professionals. This allowed Charlotte to meet stakeholders and faculty members and build on her perspective of how the University was managed outside of the classroom. Alongside this, fireside chats were organised with leading industry experts such as IBM and Google, giving them the opportunity to recognise the talent of students at the Singapore Institute of Management. Five years later, Charlotte is proud to announce the society is still operating with over 100 students actively participating. 

Charlotte was awarded a scholarship for academic excellence and for her full contribution to student life at the Singapore Institute of Management. During her years at university, Charlotte formed strong networks with Career Life, part of the Student Development team. This helped her receive support in writing referral letters and being invited back as an alumnus to present at the institution. Charlotte said: “you know that there are people rooting for you and that you can also then practice mock interviews with the people that you've built rapport with.” For Charlotte, the scholarship “has played a huge factor in lifting off one of my biggest dreams, which is pursuing graduate education and accelerating my pathway towards, hopefully one day being part of a C-suite of a global corporation.”