Foo Jun Chow

I come from a poor family background where I live from hand to mouth. At the age of 12, I had to work as a waiter in a restaurant in order to lighten my parents’ burden. Due to this, I started secondary school with the plan to drop out after PMR in order to find a job. I was already planning to leave for Singapore where I could get a job as education was not my main priority while my family was suffering to make ends meet. However, my parents forced me to finish my SPM and told me that I would suffer if I did not have an SPM certificate. This made me realise that education was one of the ways in which I could afford to give my family a better life in the future. After finishing my SPM, I pursued STPM because I believed that it could provide me with a strong foundation and that it was the most economical way to finish my foundation. Thankfully, I managed to score with flying colors and secured a CGPA of 4.00 in my overall STPM results. However, I was worried that I might not be able to secure my preferred course in public universities and therefore, I decided to apply for the SEG-Elena Cooke Education Fund (ECEF) scholarship to study Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in Sunway.
 
During my SEG-ECEF scholarship interview, there was a long list of interviewees and I doubted myself on whether I was able to obtain the scholarship. I was extremely nervous during the interview session as I had to speak in English during the interview which I was really weak at. Fortunately, I was awarded the scholarship offer from SEG-ECEF. The scholarship allowed me to fully focus on my studies and I did not have to worry about working part-time. When I first entered Sunway, I was amazed by its big scale and also its convenience as there were multiple amenities accessible within a walking distance. Besides, the reason I chose to study ACCA in Sunway was that Sunway is one of the ACCA platinum training providers. The lecturers not only taught theories from the textbook but also shared their personal experiences that enlightened me. Sunway also has multiple employment programs such as the mentor-mentee program, leadership conferences, audit simulations etc. that prepared me for the employment world. Other than that, Sunway has state-of-the-art facilities and experienced lecturers that enhanced the effectiveness of my study. I finished my ACCA accordingly and even won the Malaysia Prize for my last two optional papers.
 
Fast forward to where I am today, I am currently working as a business advisor in one of the Big 4 accounting firms and I am a member of ACCA as well. If it wasn't for the SEG-ECEF scholarship, I would have just accepted whichever course was offered by the public university. Most importantly, this scholarship has created my awareness of the importance of contributing back to society. “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” - Albert Einstein.
 
Foo Jun Chow
SEG-Elena Cooke Education Fund
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants