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To Singapore and Back – Internship in Asia

21-year old, 3^rd phase student Ben Visser recently returned from his internship in Singapore. Working as a sales engineer for the Singapore subsidiary of Econosto, a company producing valves and pipe systems for the maritime industry, Ben experienced an unforgettable time during which he got a chance to apply the business skills he developed during his studies at Wittenborg so far.

The internship was not his first time working for Econosto. In 2008, Ben started working as an administrative officer / sales engineer. About 1,5 year ago, a sales manager from the Singapore subsidiary came to the Netherlands. During his stay, Ben functioned as his guide, showing the manager the country. Just before leaving, the manager told Ben he should really visit Singapore some time, perhaps for work.

Ben, doing the economics and management specialisation of the Wittenborg bachelor programme International Business Administration, agreed but did not think this would actually happen in the future. However it did. Halfway through 2010, Ben moved to Singapore and started his internship as a sales engineer, managing his own clients and communicating with the sister office in Vietnam. With help of the director of Econosto in the Netherlands, Ben got to stay at a Singaporean family for his first three months, after which he moved to the apartment of a colleague, who had a spare room available.

The link with his studies was clearly visible: in the fields of communication, logistics, managing, planning, presenting, and marketing, all of the useful theory he picked up (and experience he gained) during his studies could be put into practice. Ben felt confident during his internship, mainly because of the fact it was proven to him that his studies at Wittenborg were aimed at preparation for the ‘real business world’ extremely well. Although Ben enjoyed his time at the other side of the world, he prefers to stay in the Netherlands, or at least Europe, during his future career.