Jamie Yau Li Ting
Diploma in Business Administration (DBA)
Awards:
Low Guan Onn Gold Medal
The enterprising and enthusiastic entrepreneur
As a teenager, Jamie was intrigued by the prospect of creating value through innovative products and services. The thought of creating something from scratch and making it successful ignited her entrepreneurial spirit, and she began to research a polytechnic course that could fulfil her needs.
A visit to the Singapore Polytechnic (SP) School of Business during its open house sealed the deal; she was impressed by the students’ enthusiasm for their courses and specialisations. She did not hesitate to apply for the Diploma in Business Administration (DBA)
to pursue her passion for business.
It is safe to say that the Low Guan Onn Gold Medal recipient has truly punched above her weight. She was selected to be amongst the inaugural batch of 30 Fellows, from a total of 300 applicants, to be awarded a prestigious nine-month National Young Leaders Fellowship by the Halogen Foundation. The programme develops and provides outstanding youths with resources, networks and leadership tips to broaden their perspectives.
The North Vista Secondary School alumna counts her internship with Enterprise Singapore as one of her memorable experiences with SP. As an intern, she took on three projects that spanned different scopes. She was given key roles in taking
on cases that administered substantial grants, a Robotic Process Automation project to build projects and a start-up impact study on 400 start-ups.
These were fuel for Jamie’s ever-growing entrepreneurial spirit, which eventually came to the fore. Spurred on to help those affected by online and offline hurtful behaviour, Jamie co-developed an artificial intelligence-powered software, called Empathly, to scan online messages in multiple languages and dialects to detect condescending and negative overtones. These include racial slurs and hate speech. Upon detection of a harmful message, the software prompts users to assess whether their messages are appropriate to be communicated to the recipient. Empathly is currently in its testing stages, and there are plans to improve its functions.
Although Jamie and her team have received criticisms that their software may struggle to keep up with the rapid development of language, she has taken these in her stride. ”At the end of the day, it is a matter of perspective.
These challenges should not be seen as roadblocks, but as a powerful stimulus for innovation and collaboration,” she quipped.
With these experiences under her belt, this bubbly go-getter has the ambition to contribute back to Singapore’s economic development and entrepreneurship space by working in the public service. But first, she plans to further her studies after graduation. She has eagerly applied for admission to both local and overseas universities.
"The public service is the perfect place for me as it aligns with my values and what I am passionate about, which is to enable businesses to make a positive impact on our economy and our lives,” Jamie shares.