Kolsum Begam has spent more than 12 years in customer service and front-line operations in the service and hospitality sector. With her wealth of experience in these areas, Kolsum has helped many frontline staff upgrade their communication and customer service skills, telephone techniques and personal grooming standards. Besides conducting such training, Kolsum also provides consultancy services to organisations that want to improve their customer service experience and work flow. Kolsum holds a Dip. in Training & Development, Coaching Skills, Instructional Skills and is also a NSRS certified Assessor.

John Bounaparte, a premier CREST training provider is one of the founding members of FTC Kaplan (formerly International Business Performance). He is currently the Director of Learning & Development of FTC Kaplan. John has been in the business of training and consulting for more than 25 years and focuses his energy on organisational development. John believes change and improvement in organisations must start with the individual. He has received numerous compliments for being a trainer who encourages self-directed learning to unleash the potential of human capital. John’s professional experience spans across the public sector and private sector. He holds a Masters in Leadership and Training and Development.

John Chia has a wide experience in organisational complexity and effectiveness. He is a training specialist in the areas of problem solving, creativity and project management. Prior to being a fulltime training consultant, John spent almost 9 years in a non-profit organisation developing training, motivating and leading voluntary leaders. John’s practical approach towards training has helped him connect with many of the operational and front-line staff who may not see the value of lifelong learning and development. Through the vast experience he has amassed from his professional career as a senior manager of a local shipyard, he has been instrumental in initiating change at all levels of organisations. Besides being a certified practitioner of MBTI and DISC, John holds an Honours Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Leeds University.

Geoffrey Goh has extensive exposure in adult education and training. For over 10 years, he has conducted and worked extensively with organisations across the private sector as well as government agencies with the focus on improving their organisational performance. Geoffrey’s interactive and experiential training methods have seen him successfully change the mindset and behaviours of employees from all levels — managers, executives and operational staff. Geoffrey has also travelled widely around the region, in particular to China, to conduct training across cultural boundaries. Besides being a training consultant, Geoffrey is also a qualified Accountant.

Shirley Goh has over 10 years extensive experience in training and consulting with organisations in the area of customer service, communication, teambuilding, leadership and personal development. As a trainer, Shirley has consistently received very positive feedback and evaluations from participants because of her firm belief in using a wide variety of methods to enable practical application of learning. Shirley has trained in regional countries such as China, Hong Kong, Japan and New Zealand in English and Mandarin. She holds a Masters in Education and Human Development from George Washington University.

Lee Huang brings with her over twenty years of teaching experience in English Language both with working adults and foreign students. She holds a professional LCCI Private Secretary Certificate and is also a Certified Industry Trainer in Instructional Skills (Institute of Technical Education). Lee Huang is also an accredited trainer for the ESS programme and has experience designing and developing the Workplace Literacy and Numeracy modules. Being an effectively bilingual trainer gives her an added advantage in reaching out to her participants, in enhancing their interest and their literacy skills. Some of her training includes BEST, WISE, Core Skills for Effectiveness and Change (COSEC), Certificate in Office Skills, Certificate in Business Skills and Workplace Communication. An interactive and vibrant trainer with a wealth of experiences, Lee Huang will be an asset in making the lessons in literacy and numeracy enjoyable.

Halim has been an English Language teaching specialist since 1986. During his career, he has taught English language at secondary and tertiary levels in Britain, Spain, The Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. He has trained senior diplomats, civil servants and academics from the ASEAN region, China and Japan. Halim is an experienced teacher-trainer, having conducted many successful courses for the Ministry of Education in Singapore. His qualifications include a B.A (Hons) in Politics, a Diploma in TEFL and an M.A in Applied Linguistics and TESOL. Halim is currently teaching English programmes at The Financial Training Company (Singapore) as a full-time lecturer.

As the bestselling author of books like “So What If You Don’t Have a Degree” & “No Job No Problem”, Han has helped many organisations and individuals achieve superior performance through his training and coaching programmes. As the youngest winner of the National HR Professional of the Year Award, Han is driven by his mission to help people and organisations change their mindsets and behaviours to achieve the results they desire. He is a Certified Career Coach and Master Trainer in accelerated learning, career transition and entrepreneurship. He teaches business strategy, organisational behavior & HRM up to MBA level at UK universities. Han holds the WDA-accredited ACTA qualification and an MBA (Distinction) from the University of Hull in UK.

Lucy has more than 20 years training and teaching experience in the areas of personal effectiveness, leadership, teambuilding, stress management and communication skills. Lucy’s articulate and interactive training style makes her a well sought-after trainer by many organisations from the public and private sectors. Her facilitative and open-style of training has given her the ability to reach out to different audiences, from senior executives to ground staff. Before turning full-time to training, Lucy was the Training & Development Manager of a statutory board, conducting training needs analyses as well as designing road maps for learning and develoment. Lucy’s professional and academic qualifications are Master of Arts in Instructional Design & Technology (NTU, Singapore) and Master in Business Administration (University of Western Australia), an accredited MBTI administrator and a certified EQ 6-Sec facilitator. She’s also a certified CREST trainer by DOOR Training International.

Christin Tan has delivered programmes related to Customer Service, Communication and Teambuilding in the past 10 years for the IT industry and the community services sectors. Her experience in counselling and training individuals from various backgrounds and industries has enabled her to bring to her courses workable practices that can bring about positive changes both to the individual and the organisation. Besides the ESS programme, Christin also conducts numerous CREST programmes in both English and Mandarin. Her key programmes are Personal Effectiveness and Communication and Relationship Management. Christin has a Bachelor of Business (Information Systems) from Curtin University and is certified in Competency Based Assessments.

Michael has more than 20 years working experience in Administration, Human Resource Training & Development and Training Consultancy. Michael has a reputation for having the ability to make theoretical topics come alive and carries with him broad experience in programmes such as supervisory and managerial skills, mentoring, coaching and facilitation skills as well as communication skills. Besides training with FTC Kaplan, Michael is also an external trainer with a number of training organisations like the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) and SIM University (UniSIM). Michael holds a Master of Arts Degree in Tertiary, Adult & Continuing Education from the University of Hull (UK) and is certified in various profiling tools like the MBTI, DISC, Relationship Awareness Profile (SDI), Facet 5 Profile, the Harrison Inner View Profile and BENCH MARKS Developmental Reference Points from Centre for Creative Leadership, USA.

Puay Ching is FTC Kaplan’s Principal Mandarin ESS trainer. Effectively bilingual in Mandarin and English, Puay Ching has worked very closely with the mandarin-speaking staff of many leading local enterprises. Puay Ching’s friendly and open approach in his training has proven effective, backed by the numerous compliments from his participants. Besides encouraging them to put what has been learnt in the classroom to practice, Puay Ching has motivated a lot of his trainees to continuously upgrade their skills to prepare them for the challenges in this competitive market. After working several years in a statutory board, organising programmes at regional and national levels, Puay Ching worked as HR and Productivity Manager of a huge local enterprise which gave him a comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by this segment of the market. Puay Ching holds a MBA from NUS and an Honours Degree from Nanyang University.

Ben brings with him a strong foundation in Business Excellence — conceptualising and implementing organisational excellence solutions in various industries. He is a quality specialist and focuses on training in the areas of system improvement, quality, problem solving and work improvement. Ben’s experience in these areas stems from his career as a consultant with a leading quality consulting firm in Singapore. He has helped numerous organisations win business excellence awards administered by SPRING Singapore. Ben’s downto- earth disposition also allows him to engage staff from all levels when he conducts training. Ben is able to conduct training in English, Mandarin and Malay. Ben holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree (NUS, Singapore)

Chet Choon started his career as a senior human resource strategy consultant at Hewitt Associates in Connecticutt and Singapore focusing on
employee listening and engagement. After leaving Hewitt, he broadened his scope of consulting to include technology consulting, where he specialises in translating business strategy into the design of sustainable business systems. Chet Choon is a master trainer specialising in HR strategy, creativity and entrepreneurship and has conducted training for SIM, the Asia Business Forum, and various organisations across industries. As President of the Screenwriters Association of Singapore, he conceived and launched Project A.M.I.S.S. (A made in Singapore Story) to refine local stories into visual treatments for effective marketing to a global market. He is a consultant for local producers including Jack Neo. He also enjoys teaching creativity and screenwriting skills.