Si Hui was a Marketplace Intern at Pomelo Fashion in Bangkok, Thailand in 2019. Read on to find out about her GII experience!

What are some important skills/mindsets that are important for an overseas internship?

Personally, I think it is important to be open-minded, adaptable, and flexible for an overseas internship. The open-mindedness to recognise differences. The adaptability to understand differences. The flexibility to accept differences. After all, you are in a foreign country! 

Tell us about the country you went to. Was it difficult navigating through your internship?

I went to Bangkok, Thailand for my internship. It was relatively easy navigating through my internship. Notably, it is due to its culture. People there are generally friendly and very willing and patient to share and teach.

Tell us about your company and the industry it is in. What was it like working in a start-up and what was your job scope on a day-to-day basis? 

Pomelo is a digitally native vertical, fast fashion brand. Though it first started off as an online brand, Pomelo has since then extended into retail stores (omni-channel) to provide better customer experience – one of its main goals. My experience working in a start-up like Pomelo was great. Other than getting involved in most of the tasks, everyone’s opinions, including the interns’ were valued. 

My job scope was on a rotational basis, revolving around marketing, business development, and operations. Business development tasks include researching on marketplaces from various countries and analysing the possibility of venturing or acquiring, presenting key insights to the key stakeholders, and etc. Marketing tasks consist of planning and executing campaigns on marketplaces and more. While operations tasks, include checking whether new arrivals were properly synced to the marketplaces and so on. 
 

Tell us about your GII experience. 

My GII experience was eye-opening and it has given me the chance to gain more industry knowledge. In addition to our daily job tasks, all interns in Pomelo were divided into two teams and assigned a different capstone project. Of which, we had to compete and present to the whole company at the end of our internship programme. It was relatively tough as the project was given in the last month of the programme, where job responsibilities were heavier since we had more work knowledge and experience. That is to say, time had to be managed well and sacrifices have to be made.  

In my opinion, this project was really useful in facilitating better cross-departmental communications and enhancing the sense of synergy in working together. However, if given another opportunity, I would have spoken to colleagues from even more departments to have a more holistic understanding of how Pomelo operates.   
 

Tell us about a key takeaway you had from GII.

I actually had my first internship through GII. Initially, I had many concerns and doubts due to my lack of relevant experience. However, after going through GII, my advice would be to be daring and confident to step out of your comfort zone and try something new and that you are interested in. It is alright to have doubts and concerns initially, it is perfectly normal. Nevertheless, you should not give in to them and instead, carry on because you will never know what you will get out of it until you try it!