The interns we never thought we’d have, and the impact they made

^{Lendingpot Internship Class of 2022, Celine Yeow, Joanne Lim, Zhou Qiren (Left to right)}

As a young start-up, we were excited to receive our first batch of interns in the summer of 2022. This is aligned with the group’s commitment to be part of an educational member in the finance industry. We believe that experiential learning is one of driving tool for students to reinforce concepts and enable a transfer of learning and application. Prior to graduation, internships also seem to offer a win-win situation for the student and the organisation, the student receives benefits in the shape of practical, hands-on learning while the organisation stands to gain unique resourcing for a certain project. On top of that, internships allow employees to hone their leadership and mentorship skills that can prepare them for future managerial roles. 

Supported by the Global Ready Talent (GRT) program by Enterprise Singapore, we were proud to have brought in three interns for our developing areas in data analytics, UI/UX design and corporate strategy. They are Zhou Qiren (Data Analytics), Celine Yeow (UI/UX Design) and Joanne Lim (Corporate Strategy) and they each took up a problem statement identified by the company. 

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Data Analytics

The first was a project that was worked on by Qiren to enhance our loan matching algorithm. The problem statement was that clients were too broadly matched to our alternative lenders which resulted in wearing the applicant and the team thin with follow ups. As such, Qiren worked alongside our management and data team to work on a project that studied more than 400 past customer applications and their resulting offers received. From his academic training in Business Analytics from NTU, Qiren was able to identify the right tools to map out the data on a multi-plane which will be used as reference points for future applications. This means that when a business makes an SME loan application on Lendingpot, one can identify five most similar customer applications to produce a recommended list of lenders. His contributions have helped formed strong a foundation for the development team who will be taking his code further to integrate self-learning capabilities. 

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UI/UX Design

The second project was led by Celine with a problem statement of making personal loans friendlier and more personable. With Lendingpot making our foray into personal loans, we needed a shift from the more stoic appearance that our business site had. Celine first established key stigmatization that people had on private licensed money lenders worked on UI components including colours, shapes and fonts to help alleviate these tied emotions. The result was the use of rounder and softer shapes and colour like gradient pink and purple with a glassmorphism finish, mimicking the design of a Mac OS compared to Microsoft. The use of clay images also helped accentuate the softer look the site was going for. The second step she took was to understand our user journey and making sure that the experience showcased our values. This involves building a user flow that allowed our applicants to be educated in what Lendingpot was doing before rushing into an application. Her 12 weeks with Lendingpot not only involved her wireframe but an actual production site supported by a developer resulting in an actual live site that was launched on the 12^th Oct 2022. You can check it out at here. This is a remarkable feat from an electrical engineering major and a self-taught web designer, and we are privileged to have availed her the opportunity. 

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Corporate Strategy

Joanne led our third key internship project alongside our senior management to initiate our approach for our ESOP program. The problem statement she worked on involved a validation of the company’s internal valuation. This is a project that requires high level modelling and market sizing research which allows her to put her academic practice and experiences in case competition to the test. Modelling a start-up can also be a very niche process as it involves multiple methodology and deep understanding of the company’s operations and growth drivers. Despite her short 3 months, she has displayed significant resourcefulness using key reliable proxies for non-public data in determining our market share and built 3 valuation models to arrive at a well-backed valuation. The result was a well-pitched project that broke grounds for corporate finance here in Lendingpot and IFS Capital. Her contributions will add significantly to our employee retention and talent recruitment program.

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^{(Appreciation from both Group and Country CEO, Randy Sim and Zeng Renchun.to Celine (left) and Qiren (right)}

We are proud to have hosted Qiren, Celine and Joanne as our first batch of interns and to provide them the chance to develop valuable business networks, as well as personal exposures to real-world experiences in the workplace and real-world insights that will help them make informed career decisions. We thank them for their contributions that were instrumental in our success. 

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If you are keen to learn about the GRT program that we mentioned, we included it in our quick list of hiring support programs in our top 3 business grants you should tap for hiring in Singapore. Also check out our recommendations for websites for SMEs to hire Interns in Singapore.