A small local business owner publicly called out the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Temasek Hall for requesting free sponsorship of her products. Josephine, the owner of The Good Cupcakes, took to Instagram on Dec 18 to express her frustration after she received a 'sponsorship invitation' from Temasek Hall.
Josephine shared a screenshot of an email to NUS Temasek Hall on The Good Cupcakes' Instagram Stories and accompanied it with a pointed message: 'As a small local business, we get this a lot. Large companies and organisations asking for freebies. Including Essec, a private MBA school who made £700m profit previous year. Please. Stop.' Her email response to the NUS representative highlighted her personal connection to the university and her stance on entitlement. She wrote:'I have really fond memories of my Alma Mater and still live the values the school taught me today. Hard work. Perseverance. Non-entitlement. 'As such, I'm declining your 'invitation to sponsor,' which is basically asking for about $2k worth of products for free from a small local business. 'As the next generation of Singaporeans, it would have been my wish to see you guys step up and earn this. Use your creativity. Use your entrepreneurship skills. These are the skills you do need to survive and compete in a global economy. Asking for handouts really is not how Singapore went from third to first world in just 30 years.' , who alerted Stomp to the post, said:'Profit-making large companies asking small local businesses for freebies.