Inspiring Change One Step at a Time

Just as epic journeys start with one small step, inspiring change too can come from simple gestures. That was how Yuvan Mohan, Co-Chair of the Young ChangeMakers (YCM) Program under the National Youth Council (NYC) first became involved in the programme.

“I believe in active citizenry. I always find opportunities to give back to the community,” says Yuvan who started volunteering at a young age.

“After graduating from Singapore Management University (SMU), I wanted to continue volunteering in a capacity that allowed me to use my expertise in event management, volunteer management and doing needs analysis. I came across YCM online and felt that it was aligned with what I wanted from a volunteer experience,” he says. 

YCM provided Yuvan with the perfect platform to practise and further develop his management and creative skills that led him down a successful career path. A programme under the National Youth Council, YCM supports a wide range of projects that are youth-led, and Yuvan currently oversees the recruitment, training and development of more than 30 volunteers under the programme.

YCM was also ideal for Yuvan because of the freedom and the flexibility provided by the programme. He explains: “For instance, my volunteers and I were able to strategise and execute recruitment, training and marketing initiatives. My hope is for more organisations to empower their volunteers similarly, this motivates me to see my initiatives through.”

Having gone through several community projects in the YCM Program, two projects – Friendzone and Project Harmony Heals – stood out to him, in particular, as eye-openers.

The former is an initiative that connects young adults in their neighbourhoods over fun and meaningful conversations while the latter involves a charity music single and music video, led by a group of volunteers from Star Pals - an organisation catering to children with life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses.

Apart from giving back to the community through his volunteering work, Yuvan has always aspired to attain his masters.

“My original thought was to do a Master’s in Public Policy. However, my undergraduate professor from SMU advised that I should take a Master’s that will add breadth as opposed to depth of knowledge early in my career. He said such a degree would allow me to have access to careers from multiple industries,” Yuvan shares.

That’s how he ended up pursuing the Master of Science in Management (MIM) programme. “[Another one] of the good things about SMU is the support given to students in their career search. I was focused on changing my career trajectory and I knew I needed all the support I could get. I [also] believe that the holistic SMU curriculum helps prepare you for the working world,” Yuvan adds.

Another advantage of the programme was the diversity in his classroom. Having more international students, as well as students from various disciplines and stages of their career, all contributed towards richer classroom discussions and knowledge sharing, explains Yuvan.

In 2015 after having completed his MIM, Yuvan joined a bank as a Management Associate. Currently, Yuvan not only balances full-time work with volunteering at YCM, he also makes it a point to support other organisations such as the SINDA Youth Club (SYC), Conjunct Consulting and Enactus Singapore.

How does he juggle so much at the same time? In fact, he doesn’t. His advice is to always weigh your responsibilities accordingly and be disciplined with your time in order to keep yourself accountable. As such, he limits volunteer activities to three times a week on weekdays. He explains: “I prioritise. For me, my family and work always come before my volunteering commitment. This helps me to volunteer without compromising family time.”