I'm Leonardo Black and I will commence undergraduate studies at SP Jain School of Global Management in Singapore.
I first started researching on Singaporean schools when I read a Bloomberg article on Southeast Asian Fintech innovator, Kelvin Teo, whom created a peer-to-peer lending software in which he brought forward to the major banks in Southeast Asia, such as DBS. Ever since Kelvin's story, I've been sharing my aspiration to create and strive just the same. I found SP Jain and was totally insecure of me even having a chance of acceptance but I applied any way.
To my surprise, my application was successful and I got accepted into the BBA course for school year 2016. When I told my parents and friends about this, their facial expressions were confused but excited. Then they asked "Why Singapore?" And I shared my Kelvin Teo inspiration immediately.
I considered the conventional way for many Jamaicans to obtain a bachelor's degree - going to a US university. But I remember sharing my decision to go to Singapore with my Nigerian friend, and he relayed to me, 'Listen, I love the US university/school system. But they'll only prepare you to be independent. And that won't suffice. Asia teaches you how to be creative. And based on what I've surmised of you, Asia is where you need to go."
So I'll see you in September, S P Jain!