Reflecting on Growth and Learning during my UAESBC Internship

While researching for companies to do my internship, I came across the UAE Singapore Business Council (UAESBC) website. I saw a functional but obviously outdated design. I spotted errors here and there. Their corporate video was last uploaded in 2020 and looked out of place. Their social media pages also had very few posts. I thought as I scrolled through their website... 

“These are some areas where I could probably add value…” 

Eventually, I would meet Mr. Solyh, director of UAESBC, for an interview. During which, Mr. Solyh explained how the UAESBC is one of the most active business councils in Singapore. This surprised me as the website did not reflect anything close to what he described. The interview eventually concluded and I continued my scheduled interviews with other companies. 

In the end, I was fortunate to receive 3 internship offers but eventually chose to work at UAESBC because an internship is an opportunity to simulate a real world working environment, and I felt that my contributions there would matter more. As a lean unit, I would also be forced to learn things quickly and adjust accordingly. That and the fact that Mr. Solyh was very sincere during the interview. Fast forward 6 months and my internship with UAESBC has come to an end. I can confidently say that I made the right choice in doing my internship at UAESBC. Here’s a recap of my fruitful past 6 months there.

Brand Guidelines

The impression someone has on a company is largely impacted by its brand image. From their design collateral, their corporate videos and even their logo, all of these reflect the company's professionalism. One of the first things I did was to find out about UAESBC’s corporate brand guidelines. This would allow me to create materials that are consistent with the current branding. However, I realised that there were no such guidelines in place. So, I quickly set up a document based on what I could find from within company resources. I added some new elements to it, such as the typography and colour scheme, and sought inputs from my supervisor. This initiative was well received and henceforth, it was used as a training document as well as a guide to ensure that all our design collaterals stay consistent.

Figure 1: Standardising the fonts, colours and logos for UAESBC

Outreach materials

Having established a set of brand guidelines, I immediately applied it to all of UAESBC’s new outreach materials, from mission booklets, to our weekly newsletters, and even creating shortform content on our Linkedin. I also created slide templates for the council to use for their flagship events. During our 7^th Annual Gala Cum Charity Dinner, the slides I created received positive feedback. Some of our members commented that they liked the new look, citing that it now feels more modern and professional.

Figure 2: Outreach materials that aligned with the UAESBC brand guidelines

Improving processes

With so many outreach efforts being rolled out, I also needed to improve my efficiency of creating content. First, I identified Canva as a suitable software that could handle most, if not all of our design needs. Next, I incorporated the brand kit directly into Canva. From then on, whenever I work on a design, I do not have to waste time hunting for files related to our branding collateral. It can all now be accessed via the brand kit located at the side panel, within this same Canva software. This new approach shaved my production time by half!

Materials inside our brand kit includes:

• Brand Colours 

• Logos & Favicons 

• UAESBC Corporate Sponsor Logos 

• UAESBC Leadership Team’s Profile Photos 

Figure 3.1: All staff can access the UAESBC brand kit when creating designs in Canva

Another project I worked on was revamping our weekly newsletter / EDM. Initially, it was built manually on Mailchimp. The design looked very blocky but the biggest thing that bothered me was that I had to keep reuploading the designs into Mailchimp whenever a change needs to be reflected. Such a waste of time and effort! So, I researched and found a way to craft an EDM by directly syncing MailChimp with Canva (Yes, I am a big Canva fan). This not only reduced the time taken to create these EDMs, but also removed the design limitations of MailChimp’s EDM builder. 

Figure 3.2: EDMs created on Canva are now synced directly to Mailchimp

Website revamp

My biggest project was to work with our vendor (Ms. Luenne) in revamping the UAESBC website. To start things off, I discussed with Luenne on how we could go about improving the website. We agreed to focus on the following components: 

• Replace outdated images

• Identify and fix all dead links

• Adopt a refreshed and modern look & feel for the website

• Ensure that the new webpage is mobile responsive

To ensure that we complete this project before the deadline, I created a timeline & gantt chart. From it, I was able to track the targets & milestones and it helped us stay on track and complete it within the contractual period. Simple project management 101.

Figure 4.1: Gantt chart for me to track the targets and milestones for the website revamp.

Along the way, Luenne and I had different ideas on how the revamped website should look. Both of us showed our ideas to Mr. Solyh and my design was preferred. Since my design was chosen, I decided to take on the design portion and have Luenne follow-up with the rest of the build. I applied the skills taught in User Experience Design & Research (MD0003) to create the wireframe. Using Figma, I created a high-fidelity prototype and used it to show my supervisors how the new website could look. Compared to sketches using papers & pencils, having a wireframe helped my supervisors better visualise the navigation between pages, how the interactivity of elements and the photos will look. 

Figure 4.2: With a high-fidelity prototype, it was easy to explain the layout and navigation of the website

UAESBC prides itself as the nexus between SG & UAE businesses. So, our website must also perform like a “nexus” - holding together all the important information of the council. To avoid building from scratch, I researched other SG-centric business councils’ websites and positioned them into a perception map, including UAESBC’s then current state (as of March 2025). 

Figure 4.2: After the revamp, UAESBC’s website has become a more modern and active organisation

Each of the different business councils’ websites had different strengths, and I took note of those which had nice designs that we could follow. 

Figure 4.3: Analysing the strengths of the Singapore-Centric Business Councils

I came across websites from different spectrums. In particular, the Swiss-Cham Council gave a modern, yet clean and slick appearance. It also gave viewers an impression that it is a very active association. 

After 3 months, the website revamp was completed.  The public can now easily find info about the UAESBC leadership team, view our membership plans, and what are the upcoming events. I monitored the new UAESBC website for a month after it launched and saw an improvement in our website’s traffic and interactivity. 

Corporate Video

In my first month (March 2025) at UAESBC, I supported their Bi-Annual Gala Cum Charity dinner. During which, our company's corporate video looked outdated in comparison with the corporate video shown by Extraordinary People Pte Ltd (beneficiary of event), which had nice visuals and graphics. I firmly believed that I could do a much better job given the opportunity. 

Fast forward 3 months, the opportunity to refresh our corporate video arrived. I jumped on it and started the preparation work. I did a site recce, prepared a storyboard and script, borrowed proper filming equipment, booked a venue and recruited talent for the shoot. 

Figure 5: Used my network to borrow equipment for the corporate video shoot

I decided to cast Dr. Brian Shegar, Emeritus Chairman and Senior Advisor of UAESBC, as he has the best understanding of the council and also appears confident in front of a camera. The shoot went smoothly, capturing Dr Brian confidently giving his candid take on the council. I selected the best takes and compiled them together with the help of ChatGPT.

With some touchup on the audio and visuals via Adobe Podcast, Adobe Premiere Pro and Capcut, I managed to complete the corporate video within 4 working days, and launched it on our website on the 5^th day. Not a bad turnaround time for an intern juggling other duties.

Watch the UAESBC Corporate Video above

With better visuals accompanied with a smooth narration, the revamped video retains public viewers checking out our website, improving engagement rate. 

Handover Guide

During my 6 months with the council, I was responsible for UAESBC'S communication and media efforts. To ensure the council is able to continue creating new communication collaterals of the same quality, with the same speed and efficiency, I spent the last 2 weeks of my internship creating a detailed handover guide. 

The guide serves as an online knowledge repository for the council. All UAESBC staff / interns can refer to it when they are unsure about any processes. Additionally, they can continue to update the guide whenever there is a new process created, adding to the guide’s knowledge base. This also allows UAESBC staff to leverage and build upon each other’s strengths. 

The guides include 5 main criteria: 

• Admin (Emails, Handing Over Documents)

• Website (WiX)

• Social Media (Linkedin, Linktree) 

• Design (Canva)

• Customer Relationship Management (Carddio, Wild Apricot)

Figure 6: Created an online knowledge repository for UAESBC staff to refer

Each criteria is further broken down into sub-components. Each with step-by-step instructions and templates to guide even newbies on how to follow the processes. 

Lastly, I created a handover checklist, customised for interns. This was to ensure the next intern, Atticus, had the necessary knowledge to support the council. By the time I off boarded, I had taught him everything indicated in the checklist. It was signed and acknowledged by Atticus and Mr Solyh. In time to come, I hope this checklist together with the handover guide will continue to serve UAESBC well. 

Conclusion

This internship with UAESBC has shown me that when everyone does their role well, it does not require a large team to accomplish amazing things. I'm grateful to UAESBC for the opportunity to apply my skills and knowledge in a real world setting. They were supportive with the new changes I proposed and gave me space to experiment. 

The whole 6 months was not all smooth sailing of course. At some point, I had too many side projects on my plate and compromised my responsibilities as an intern. I am grateful that my supervisor did not sugar coat and gave me firm but constructive feedback. It was disappointing to have let down my employers, but I turned that set back into an opportunity to test how fast I can bounce back from failure. I came up with an after action review (AAR) plan and managed to implement it fully before my internship ended. The AAR put me back on track allowing me to finish my internship strong. That AAR experience warrants its own blog post in the near future... 

It's exactly a month since my internship journey ended. Since then, I have shared my internship experience with SP’s liaison officers and received favourable feedback. I took a longer time than usual to write this blog post. Mainly because I enjoyed reflecting on this meaningful journey as I wrote. I hope you enjoyed reading it too and found something useful to your own internship experience in future. 

Special thanks to Dr Brian, Mr Solyh and Ms Christine on this journey, as well as my teachers at SP, and seniors (thanks Melody!) who guided me on how to identify a good internship opportunity and maximise the time while we are there. 

Chia Howie

15 September 2025

TLDR

Revamped UAESBC’s brand guidelines, introduced new workflows, revamped existing website & corporate video, and drove process improvements during my internship.