At GraSPP
After completing the Economic Policy Course in 2016, I worked at a financial institution for two years, and since 2018 I have been working at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. I would like to describe the experiences from my two years at GraSPP that are particularly connected to what I do now, as well as my career after graduation.
What left a deep impression on me during my two years at GraSPP was its richly diverse environment. GraSPP has students with a wide range of specialties, including students with experience working in the governments, central banks, and international organizations of various countries, and I believe the experience of learning together with such students — conducting case studies with them, for example — was invaluable. Having spent my undergraduate years living a life centered on soccer in my club activities, I honestly had some challenges with English, but at GraSPP there were many courses taught in English that were close to my own interests, so I took a variety of courses and received a great deal of stimulation from the students around me. That has become a motivation for my subsequent career development. I believe that not only what you learn, but also who you learn with, is important.
LKY-Japan Trip 2015
I was also blessed with the opportunities to study abroad at HEC Paris and to intern at a think tank in Washington, D.C. Through studying abroad, I gained the experience of striving alongside those around me while placing myself in an environment where my own attributes made me a minority, as well as the experience of building networks. Being able to study at HEC, a business school, from a perspective and in an environment different from GraSPP, where one learns from the policy side, has also, I believe, led to my current career of experiencing both the private and public sectors. When preparing to study abroad, I honestly struggled to meet the TOEFL score requirement, but I am glad I somehow managed to push through with all my might. For the internship in Washington, D.C., the GraSPP faculty helped me enormously, and I was able to gain valuable experience. Also, during the internship, interacting with people from the public and private sectors, including international organizations, served as a reference when thinking about my subsequent career. In addition, through participating in the LKY Japan Trip, I had the opportunity to interact with students from the National University of Singapore. I am truly grateful to the people at GraSPP who gave me such opportunities for growth.
After completing the program, I entered the financial industry, drawn to the world of infrastructure development and development finance in emerging countries. What sparked my interest in that field was my involvement in a transportation project in Laos during a JICA internship in the summer of my first year of graduate school, a theme I also took up in my research paper. Later, through a secondment to a government ministry, I have been involved in promoting public-private partnerships (PPP/PFI) in the sewerage sector. Sewerage and PPP/PFI are extremely interesting and profound fields, and I often encounter again what I learned at GraSPP, so I hope to make the most of the growth I achieved there. With the role of the private sector in solving social issues drawing attention, I believe occasions for public-private collaboration will increase in various fields going forward, so there will likely be more opportunities than ever to make use of the growth and networks gained at GraSPP not only in the public sector but also in the private sector. While hoping that more people will go on to play active roles by making use of their experiences at GraSPP, I myself, as a GraSPP alumnus, intend to keep working hard, never neglecting my daily efforts to grow.
The HEC campus building
During my study abroad at HEC
