Style for a cause

By Lian Jianwei

Final year Business School student


NEW YEAR NEW LOOK: (Back row, from second left) Business school students Ms Ng Hui Yi, Ms Fong Ying Ying, Ms Ingrid Liew, Ms Candice Chew and Michael Jianwei Lian with the hairstylists

Hairstyle, charity, and fun – this was the unlikely combination of the defining elements of our final year project as part of our Honours Year curriculum requirement. Our dynamic team of five business students is currently collaborating with GIVE.sg on a year-long academically supervised consulting project “Style for a Cause – New Year, New Look, New Hope.”

GIVE.sg is a fresh start-up incubated under the NUS Centre for Social Entrepreneurship & Philanthropy. The portal allows fundraisers to create their own fundraising pages and have their families, friends and colleagues to donate online.

For our “hair-raising” campaign, fundraisers start an individual fundraising page on the GIVE.sg portal by choosing a charity of their choice (World Vision, The Salvation Army – Gracehaven, Student Advisory Centre, AWWA Smiles, Sanctuary House and CARE Singapore) as well as a bold hairstyle they wish to have for the New Year. Friends, family members and colleagues have till the end of January 2011 to actively support these fundraisers’ cause by donating to the selected charity.

Determined to make the inaugural campaign a success, we aimed to raise $10,000. Getting people to fundraise was initially an uphill task but the number of donors and fundraisers multiplied later. This was through creating individual fundraising pages, spreading the word via various social media platforms and inviting others to donate or create their own fundraising pages.

Aided by GIVE.sg, our mentor Prof Albert Teo and fellow NUS Business School contacts, we secured sponsorships and obtained publicity for our campaign. An offline event took place at Heeren on 22 January 2011 to increase awareness about “Style for a Cause”, as well as to reward fundraisers by giving them a free hair makeover.

Despite having to juggle schoolwork and ‘Style for a Cause, working together as a team to overcome challenges and gaining new insights in the process definitely made it a worthwhile experience. We are grateful to be granted this social entrepreneurship opportunity – what a meaningful and memorable way to mark an end to our student lives in NUS!

31 January 2011