Maud Zeller-Tillai

MSc in Management, 2010

Programming manager, OneSight

The Alumni Network Ambassador in Singapore

The emlyon forever community in Singapore gathers about 120 alumni.

Maud Zeller-Tillai joined the emlyon forever ambassadors’ team in Singapore last spring in order to reinforce the activities of the local community, as more and more alumni are settling in this area.

Singapore is also an attractive city for students from emlyon business school, who are regularly pursuing internships there. The number of internship agreements has been growing over the past few years. For example in 2017-2018 academic year, 45 students pursued an internship in Singapore.

What kind of advice would you give to a newcomer?

Singapore is more than The Singapore Sling, Recent Crazy Rich Asian movie, Marina Bay Sands or Formula 1! It's also a garden city, the culture of "food court" where you can eat for less than 10 SGD, beautiful nature reserves such as Macrithie reservoir park, and you can even do your own tour of Singapore in 1 day and 120KM, discover Dragon Boat, fall in love with pepper crab! It's a country full of nationalities, with 4 main languages spoken (Mandarin, Tamil, Malay and English) where you will be welcomed by a strong French community but also work and build friendships with multiple nationalities!

Something that should not be done…

Not trying to learn one or 2 words in Hokkien

Not following the rules; Criticizing the country; Sticking only with French people when you can be surrounded by so many different nationalities

What are the main areas of development in Singapore?

Smart city, Startup, fintech, Financial sector

Any other ideas?

The beauty of Singapore is not just its strategic geographic location that enables you to travel and work or develop business in South Asia easily, but its efficiency and speed make it a great place to start or set-up a business if you have the ambition to grow in the region. It's a smart city, a great model of urbanization and also a great place to raise a family! Working with multiple nationalities, we learn here to be less direct and not complain too much.

One final word?

Not sure if this city is made for you? Jump on a flight, contact your Singapore emlyon forever alumni network! We will be happy to meet you and share any additional information!