CITIBANK-YMCA’S OFFICIAL LAUNCH 2006

“Success never comes without hard work and encouragement, even eagles need a push!” quipped Mr Jeffery Goh, the keynote speaker of Citibank-YMCA’s Official Launch 2006 held at YMCA of Singapore on 8th April 2006. As a well respected and highly experienced training consultant within industry circles, he was certainly the best person to share his perspectives on Social Entrepreneurship to over 100 student-participants from various schools nationwide.

“It was my primary school teacher’s kindness and generosity of occasionally giving me recess money that inspired me to work doubly hard, hoping to repay him someday when I grew up”, Mr Goh shared.
“In those days, being a teacher seemed like a fulfilling and worthy cause; thus my personal goal was to nurture and enrich young lives, hoping to emulate my teacher who made a difference to my life”, recounting his arduous journey as an impoverished teenager who could not afford to purchase textbooks for school; much less own two sets of school uniforms.

Indeed Mr Goh’s testimony put many young participants to shame, as their lives are constantly filled with an overwhelming amount of material comforts and possessions.

Hoping to revive the creative dynamism and the pursuit of effectiveness to social development among Singaporean youths, Mr Goh’s take-home message for the day was: Young Singaporeans today are certainly more locally and globally connected with their community and the world, but their active commitment to the community will be sparked with a little “nudging”.

Through a brief outline of the 5 key qualities of confident, empowered people who will make a difference in society, Mr Goh challenged participants to move beyond their comfort zone and broaden their horizons by engaging in social entrepreneurship projects, such as Citibank-YMCA Youth for Causes. At the same time, he cautioned youths against their desire to expect quick successes, but to remain patient and highly committed to their cause till the very end.

Other speakers at the forum include Rev Don Wong, executive director of The HighPoint Halfway House, Mr Aaron Ng, executive director of MINDS, Mr Bey Kok Cheng, director of Beauty, Energy, Youth, Mr Zheng Wenxiang, Leader of Best Team (17-21 years old category for YFC 2005) and the session was chaired by Ms Eunice Olsen, Nominated Member of parliament.