Over 100 outstanding students inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma HKU Chapter
Coming to its 8th year, the Beta Gamma Sigma (BGS) HKU Chapter has inducted 105 undergraduate and postgraduate students at the ceremony held on 26 April 2019. Two esteemed business leaders, Dr. Anna YIP, Chief Executive Officer of SmarTone, and Mr. Henri ARSLANIAN, FinTech & Crypto Leader in Asia of PwC, were conferred the BGS HKU Chapter Honorees.
Professor Zhigang TAO, Acting Dean of Faculty of Business and Economics, welcomed the guests and expressed his congratulations to students inducted into the Beta Gama Sigma, “This prestigious life-time membership serves as an extensive global networking platform, where you can connect with a lot of intelligent and high calibre individuals just like you, and enjoy meaningful exchange on academic, professional and personal development”.
At the ceremony, the two Chapter Honorees shared their interesting stories to the students. With extensive experience in consulting and management, Dr. Anna Yip summarised her experiences in three different stages: Experiment, Grit and Radiation. In her early years of career, Dr. Yip was not very certain of what her direction was but kept experimenting with exciting ideas and tasks, “When looking back, it is sometimes how the dots connected them years later, about what you experimented turns out to be relevant experience some years later”.
Dr. Yip also mentioned that during her 13 years work in a consulting firm, she realised the importance of having the power of grit — a blend of passion, resilience and physical endurance in a sustained basis. The stage of radiation came when she became the leader in a telecom company. In the highly competitive and volatile industry, Dr. Yip emphasised on practicing leading innovations and collective genius, “My success is built on other people’s success. It is the collective effort of my teams.”
She strongly believed that effective intrapreneurship — cultivating a start-up culture within an organisation — would be very useful for business growth and talent management.
Mr. Henri Arslanian, a pioneer and prominent figure in the FinTech sector, inspired the audience with the “10-S” principles he lives by. He started with asking students to “Sit on the edge of your seat”. The constantly changing landscape and tremendous use of technology in different sectors make the job market more competing now, and in the future. Mr. Arslanian told students his career changes along the years and how these changes led to where he was, “Never sit comfortably, but sit on the edge. Making the big decisions that will impact your careers.”
He further advised students to always seize the opportunities around, capture the shifts happening in society, and to set straight goals in life, “If you don’t put very straight-setting goals, you will be like driving around the desert and never knowing what the road is.” Encouraging students to treasure the school of life, Mr. Arslanian ended his speech affirming the importance of staying healthy, grateful and humble, be selective in life, and to serve the community.
For the video of the Honorees’ speeches and event highlights, please click here.
About Beta Gamma Sigma
Established in 1907 in the U.S., Beta Gamma Sigma is the international honor society serving business programmes accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Membership in Beta Gamma Sigma is the highest recognition a business student anywhere in the world can receive. Since 1913, Beta Gamma Sigma has inducted more than 700,000 outstanding students in more than 160 countries around the world.
About BGS HKU Chapter
The BGS HKU Chapter was installed in 2012. Since its inception, over 400 students were inducted. The lifelong membership conveys academic excellence, a commitment to high principle and superior achievement. Eligible students must attain CGPA of at least 3.60 and simultaneously be on the Dean’s Honour List and be on the top 10% of their respective undergraduate or postgraduate programme.
Dr. Anna Yip is conferred the BGS HKU Chapter Honoree.
Mr. Henri Arslanian is presented the BGS HKU Chapter Honoree by Professor Zhigang Tao.