Mohan Belani is the President of the National University of Singapore Entrepreneurs Association (NUSEA). People say Singapore is the Silicon Valley of Asia. If you want to find out one of the ways Singapore is living up to that reputation read all about them in their blog.

What is NUSEA all about? Who are you guys? What is your vision?

We are students from the National University of Singapore who are part of an overseas college program. During our 1 year stint here, each member, works full time in a high tech startup and takes Entrepreneurial courses in Stanford University. In addition, we immerse ourselves in the Entrepreneurial lifestyle here in the Valley. Through NUSEA and the overseas college program, we hope to facilitate the promotion of Entrepreneurship between Silicon Valley and Singapore.
Our vision is to be the leading student organization that facilitates Entrepreneurial and intellectual exchanges between Singapore and Silicon Valley.

I understand that you guys have a flagship event you use to promote Entrepreneurship called Rainmakers Live. What is that all about?

Rainmakers Live is NUSEA’s flagship biannual event. We wanted to do something different this time round. We wanted to promote the spirit of Entrepreneurship and not just show Silicon Valley that we’re “capable of organizing events.” Rainmakers is our way of giving back to the community and we wanted to do that in a unique and captivating way.

What is your team's desired outcome of this year's Rainmakers' that you hope to accomplish that previous "Rainmakers" could not?

We hope to step out of our comfort zone and do something different from conventional panel discussions and mixers. We want to promote active learning and collaboration in the spirit of Entrepreneurship. So by coming up with this year’s Rainmakers, we hope to actively engage the participants and put them in an environment whereby they get to brainstorm and collaborate on ideas just like in any high tech startup. Ultimately, we want the participants and their ideas to be THE FOCUS of this event.

I understand that Mint will be presenting the Entrepreneurial challenges to the crowd and judging the teams for this year’s Rainmakers. Why Mint?

We wanted to get a very young startup that was not well known in the community because we wanted the challenges to be based on the kinds of problems young startups face. We felt that MINT was a very cool, young startup with a unique target market of students and young professionals. Rainmakers is comprised of students and young internet Entrepreneurs so they clearly resonated with us as the ideal startup of choice.

What were some of the challenges your team faced throughout your journey to promote the spirit of Entrepreneurship and what words of advice can you share with others?

The biggest challenge we faced was in convincing ourselves not to take the conventional route and to try something different. Many organizations fall into the pit of wanting to have a successful event and not taking as much risk as they should. We believe in trying out new things, just like how Entrepreneurs would at the end of the day. Its just a matter of how unique the event is and how willing the members believe in their event. I would advise organizations/people to focus on the process. There are lots of wonderful lessons to be learned and friendships to be made in that process. No matter what the outcome is, if the process is great, it will be a great event!

Message to leave with:

In the spirit of Entrepreneurship and thinking out of the box, we're coming up with an event that is sort of like an Entrepreneurship game for this years Rainmakers Live! On the day of the event, participants will be given a challenge by MINT and they are encouraged to form teams and collaborate with people they meet at the event. In a short amount of time, participants will have to come up with creative ideas and the top few teams will get a chance to present to the crowd.
The best idea based on the panel of judges from MINT will walk away with a $500 cash prize
Its gonna be an evening of great fun, food (compliments of the Singaporean/Malaysian rest., Red Kwali), and an opportunity to meet really bright and interesting people so do join us!