Community Service Festival 2025 - Symposium

Community Service Festival 2025 – Symposium

Community Service Festival Symposium

The Community Service Festival Symposium brings together NUS students, community service practitioners, social service agencies and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL) to build connections and enrich perspectives and skills through sharings on topics relating to community engagement!

Panel Topics

Moderator

Vincent Ng

Executive Director

TNL Global Pte. Ltd.

Vincent Ng (BBA ’17) believes that citizens are Singapore’s greatest untapped asset in addressing complex social challenges. After graduation, he spent six years as a founding member of A Good Space, where he brought together diverse changemakers to create collective impact. His work included mobilizing multi-sector stakeholders to address challenges faced by migrant workers, and organising a national forum for Polytechnic student leaders to explore social issues more deeply.

Today, Vincent supports non-profits in Singapore and New York through grant writing, strategic facilitation, and coaching, while also leading business development at a local hardware trading firm. In his free time, he serves as the Secretariat of the CritiCare Fund for Migrant Workers, a volunteer-led initiative that supports critically ill migrant workers who cannot afford treatment.

Panel 1: Beyond Good Intentions

This panel is a reflective discussion on each panellist’s community engagement journey, highlighting their growth and adaptability across changing landscapes.

Introducing the speakers for the topic:

Bavani Pillai

Centre Head

Kampong Kapor Family Service Centre

Bavani is the Centre Head at Kampong Kapor Family Service Centre. With an undergraduate degree from the National University of Singapore and a Master’s degree in Social Work from New York University, she has been committed to advocating for the needs of marginalised communities through her work and engagements for the past decade. Over the years, she has amassed experience in crisis management, working with families who have experienced abuse and family therapy modalities.

In 2020, she ventured out of social work and co-founded a restaurant in Dubai where she managed a team and ran support groups for expat moms from the restaurant. Her love for the low-income community and her family brought her back to Singapore where she rejoined the FSC sector in 2023. She strongly believes in ground up efforts, communities taking ownership of their growth, and telling their stories.

Cheong Ming Fang

Manager

The Majurity Trust

Ming Fang is a social worker with deep experience in community development and leadership, committed to fostering inclusive and connected communities. She is currently a Manager at The Majurity Trust, where she leads the organisation’s place-based philanthropic efforts - working with ground-up initiatives and community partners to strengthen local ecosystems and enable thriving communities.

Additionally, Ming Fang teaches part-time at the Department of Social Work in National University of Singapore, serves as a Grassroots Leader in her neighbourhood, and co-hosts the podcast Social Work Made Accessible. Her practice is rooted in asset-based principles and participatory approaches, shaped by ongoing reflection and engagement with diverse communities.

Lim Wei Jie

Co-founder

Foreword Coffee

With a bachelor's degree in Psychology from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and foundational startup experience from the NUS Overseas Colleges programme, Wei Jie established Foreword Coffee in 2017 as his first entrepreneurial endeavour.

Wei Jie received the NUS Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 2021 and earned a place on Tatler’s Gen.T Leader of Tomorrow list in 2023 in recognition of his socially impactful entrepreneurial work and leadership. He is currently pursuing a Master’s of Psychology (Organisational) programme at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, with a vision of contributing fresh insights to enhance inclusive hiring and organisational development.

Panel 2: Cultivating Connections

This panel explores how connecting with various collaborators has evolved, from changing interests and motivations to different engagement methods to connect with stakeholders.

Introducing the speakers for the topic:

Esther Cheng

Consultant

Empact

Esther is a Consultant at Empact. She brings with her 10 years of experience in people engagement across the healthcare, maritime and social services sector. At Empact, Esther looks forward to co-curating solutions with social organisations and corporate partners to develop their capabilities in volunteer management, where she taps on past experience designing and implementing Volunteer Management assets as a volunteer manager in a multi-service Social Service Agency.

Grace Ann Chua

Co-Founder

Friendzone

Grace Ann Chua is a community builder and relationship expert with a career spanning the public, nonprofit, and private sectors. She is the CEO of Friendzone, a social enterprise that fosters friendships among young adults, and the founder of HTHT (heart-to-heart talks). She is also programme lead at BAGUS Together at NVPC where she organises programmes for changemakers who have started their own ground-up initiative. Drawing from her experience as a member and leader in various communities, Grace has developed a deep understanding of how people connect and thrive.

Her work includes leading marketing strategies, developing community initiatives, and facilitating workshops on essential social skills like communication and leadership. Passionate about fostering strong social connections, Grace is committed to creating spaces where people feel seen, heard, and empowered to build relationships that enrich their lives.

Dewi Murni

President (AY24/25)

NUS Students' Community Service Club

Dewi is a recent Bachelor of Science graduate from National University of Singapore. This year marks the 7th year of her community service journey. Over these years, she has interacted with diverse communities and collaborated with various stakeholders, both locally and internationally. Her desire to serve stems from a simple reason - to make someone else's day brighter.

She began as a general volunteer at the National Day Parade, progressed to leading a planning committee for a nationwide tuition program for underprivileged students, and now serve as the President of the NUS Students' Community Service Club. She continuously seeks out opportunities to contribute positively to the communities and causes she is passionate about, dedicating her time to creating positive experiences for others. Moving forward, she is hoping to build her own social impact enterprises of national and international scale.

Audience

For Public

Organised By

NUS Office of Student Affairs