2011: A Walkthrough

The year is considered to be a year of Cataclysmic proportions. In Singapore, politicians threw housing, transport and living standard issues like gambling chips into the political game. In Asia, natural calamities caused untold misery to tens of thousands and doubling the trouble was the Fukushima nuclear leak. In Europe, the Euro crisis. In America, the battering of Wall Street. 2011 also announced the demise of significant contributors in many arenas.

Whatever that we can manage and control, we will continue to do our best. But there were many things that were beyond our control. We are living in radical times and as they say, radical times need radical measures.

I had many challenges myself. Changes, like challenges, are meant to be treated as a time for trying new things. And yes I certainly did. Quit my full-time lecturing job to teach part-time. I registered PEAK PARADIGM as a Sole Proprietorship, managing my training business with a social perspective.

Things were not smooth-sailing. The Social Enterprise Association was a letdown. Totally demotivating to the aspiring social entrepreneur. I give it a 'C+' for its strategy but a 'D' for its leadership and execution. No mentoring programmes, no matching of comparable business or even business-to-business mentoring, just words, ad-hoc workshops.

Getting funds for social enterprises? You need to have a proven business model. HELLO? A Startup with a proven model? Is it like saying that you need to be a millionaire to borrow money? Hello? Does not

make any sense to me.
Anyway, i have digressed.





The following are pictures that helped me to summarise 2011.
(Numbering with pictures: Top-down)

1. Logo of my company
2. Penguin with a nice top-hat for Christmas
3. The clay piece which I made to remember the victims of the Japan Tsunami
4. The cutest boy whom i taught clay to in 2011!
5. Me facilitating clay to corporations with the newly designed PEAK PARADIGM polo-T
6. My first Christmas Clay set incorporating lights
7. Venturing into woodcraft for the first time!
8. The significant logos in my life in the last few years
9. The Japanese geisha: My favourite geisha
10. My biggest project turned golden
10

11. Home-studio set up this year
12. Exhibition at Temasek Poly library
13. Exhibition and Talk at Tampines Regional Library
8

. Participants