Situated in the heart of Singapore — the gateway to the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia, Singapore Management University (SMU) is a melting pot of the region’s future leaders of innovation and business. It has been making a global impact through its expertise in Asian-centric knowledge — its programmes are geared towards nurturing future leaders with the competencies to thrive in the Asian Century. Part of its ability to achieve such deep expertise is a world-class faculty and diverse student body, hailing from all parts of Asia.
SMU has, for example, embraced its strong links to burgeoning economic powerhouse Vietnam, having forged partnerships to enhance innovation in the country. More recently, as part of its efforts to discover and nurture the next generation of Vietnamese talent, the Vingroup Young Talent Scholarship was launched in 2020. It is the first scholarship established at SMU and in Singapore that provides full financial support for Vietnamese students pursuing a postgraduate programme in the areas of science and technology.
Mai Thi Hoai Thu, Master of IT in Business (MITB), Artificial Intelligence track, from the Class of 2021, is one of the scholarship's illustrious recipients and is now working as a Senior Data Scientist (Analytics) at Grab. She had also completed her undergraduate studies at SMU, with a Bachelor of Business Management (Finance and Economics) in 2013.
“I am interested in learning about machine learning algorithms, and applying them to solve real life problems,” says Thu.
“My goal is to apply machine learning algorithms and data analytics to my domain of finance. It is such a great honour to be a recipient of this scholarship.”
We chatted with Thu about her MITB journey and how the scholarship has accelerated her career towards being an AI specialist in today's digital economy.
Back to familiar territory
When asked if it was an easy decision to return to SMU and Singapore, Thu admits that the city-state was definitely on her shortlist as she had completed her undergrad studies at SMU.
The fact that the MITB programme is ranked among the top two in Asia for four consecutive years by QS Masters in Business Analytics Rankings also spurred Thu to apply for the Vingroup Young Talent Scholarship. Funded by Vietnam's largest private conglomerate, the programme aims to discover and develop talents in the areas of science and technology, and provide them with opportunities so that they may lead and contribute to the development of STEM sectors in Vietnam in the future.
"My undergrad experience in SMU was very enjoyable and a lot of focus during that time was on building up my confidence. Apart from gaining knowledge in finance and economics, I got to practice my skills at teamwork and managing group projects, which helped a lot in my career," explains Thu, who also assists fellow Vietnamese students with settling into the local community through a group chat on Facebook.
Unleashing the power of data
Data is the lifeblood of all industries — the ability to make sound decisions based on data sets successful companies apart from those that fail. In finance, possessing the ability to analyse and harness data is essential in deriving accurate projections and driving positive business outcomes.
"In my previous job, I was underwriting credit risk, but I observed a potential for data analytics and data science to be applied into credit risk underwriting as it can dramatically improve efficiency," shares Thu, a certified financial risk manager.
"I needed to learn more about data science to keep up."
Instead of individually and manually examining cases, Thu discovered that data science models could be employed within the decision-making framework. Financial institutions can now turn to machine learning and data analytics engines to power credit underwriting to drive efficiency and accuracy, which reduces the number of steps required to process loans.
As Thu delved deeper into the power of data analytics, she realised she had an interest in the subject — but lacked information technology (IT) expertise as she was previously a finance student.
To prepare herself for the programme, she picked up some basics in programming languages, such as SQL and Python through online courses. Nonetheless, she admitted that the first term of the MITB programme was a challenge, as she had been in the workforce for seven years before returning to her studies at SMU.
"Further, IT is completely different from my undergrad studies, so it was a very big change for me," says Thu, who notes that there are, fortunately, modules in the MITB programme with varying levels of coding difficulty to cater to students of diverse backgrounds.
"But I was fortunate to have received a lot of help from my professors and teammates. I would still encourage prospective students who do not have a background in IT to give the programme a shot; as long as they have enough drive, it is definitely doable."
Opening up new career pathways
And while Thu first gained insights into data analytics as a credit risk underwriter for a trade credit insurance company in Vietnam, she has since made a career switch by exploring opportunities in tech. Thu has leveraged her new expertise in working with large datasets gained through MITB alongside her financial acumen to generate insights on business strategy for Southeast Asian superapp, Grab.
"What I do now is completely different from underwriting! The MITB programme has helped me with my tech knowledge in data analytics as well as coding, which has contributed to my current role," reveals Thu.
"It also equipped me with soft skills in terms of working with stakeholders and team members, as I have to communicate with both Singaporean and international stakeholders in my line of work."
The MITB experience has also highlighted the importance of lifelong learning for Thu, who met students hailing from diverse academic and professional backgrounds — some of whom had experience in computer science while others had none. The common denominator underscoring the students, however, is an insatiable drive to keep on learning.
"A passion for continuous education is a very important trait to have in this field, as certain things I learn today can become obsolete two years later. I’m pursuing a career in data science in the Financial Services industry, specifically in risk management as aligned with my educational background and long-term career goal. Fintech is an exciting field and there are a lot of opportunities for me to explore," says Thu.
"I would encourage prospective students to apply for the programme. Singapore, in terms of the lifestyle, is not too different from Vietnam, and the MITB programme is unparalleled for data analytics. My MITB journey has been nothing short of amazing. I am looking forward to what the future brings."
For more information on the MITB programme, please visit https://masters.smu.edu.sg/programme/master-of-it-in-business.
