SHE may be fresh out of school and only 22 years old, but Ms Lindy Han Xinyi has already set her sights on becoming a chief financial officer (CFO) in future.

A recipient of the Nanyang Scholarship from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Ms Han is an accountancy graduate with a double major in finance.

She has taken the first step towards realising her career aspiration by getting into the Financial Management Program (FMP) at General Electric (GE).

She had the flexibility to pick a company of her choice to start her career, as Nanyang Scholarship recipients need not serve a bond with NTU.

While interning at GE, she heard about the FMP, which grooms financial leaders for exciting positions. So she decided to go for it.

The Nanyang Girls' High School and Hwa Chong Junior College alumnus explains that as a management trainee for finance at GE, she gets to go on four job rotations in two years. This gives her excellent exposure in the company's
vast portfolio of businesses.

She is almost done with her first posting at GE Energy, where she does financial planning and analysis.

She is looking forward to her next stint at GE Commercial Finance, where she will get to work with the CFO for the region and apply the financial skill sets she acquired at NTU.

Going for the Nanyang Scholarship was an easy decision for her.

She explains: "The scholarship was attractive as it has no bond. In addition, I was interested in studying accounting and finance at NTU, and this scholarship covered my university fees."

She urges those who fulfil the criteria for the Nanyang Scholarship to go for it.

She says: "There are no strings attached, and NTU is a great place to obtain an excellent university education
and pursue your passions."

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Jan 19, 2008