Banking on music to improve lives

Meet Kasper Hansen from Group Customer Analytics & Decisioning (GCAD), who has been with OCBC Bank for 12 years. Hear what Kasper does in and out of OCBC Bank!

“Hi, I’m Kasper. I’m with the GCAD team. Our job is to analyse data and roll out insights across the OCBC Group. There is a lot I do outside of my job, however, which has influenced how I work in the Bank.”

Let’s Play music foundation—Philippines

“Two years ago, I started a foundation called Let’s Play to deliver music education to school children in the Philippines. I’m Danish but my wife is from the Philippines so, I’m obviously very close to the country. I started this foundation because the kids there are so musically talented but many of the families can’t afford to buy an instrument or pay for lessons. The idea is quite simple. We donate instruments and a laptop with YouTube video tutorials to public schools. The school will then assign a room for the instruments and a teacher in charge of running the programme.”

“Our programme started at a high school in Malabon on the outskirts of Metro Manila. We picked 20 students, gave them 10 guitars and a laptop with video tutorials, and left them to explore. When we returned two months later, they could play songs on their own! More importantly, they loved the programme. Now, we have rolled it out to 22 schools in Manila and Cebu and we’re growing! To keep the financials tight, we leverage existing teachers to manage the programme and all funds raised go towards purchasing more instruments.”

“However, getting started was not easy. We needed to sell the idea to the schools, principals, teachers and even the students. Today, some companies in Manila have adopted this programme as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, so it helps to have people on the ground to support with practical issues.”

Malabon City Hall, Dec 2017

“I thought about starting this foundation for a long time before biting the bullet and making it happen. Having kids of my own gave me the motivation to get started. Rather than just telling my sons what I wanted to do or merely sharing ideas, I wanted to show them that helping others is fulfilling, music is fun, and it is possible to bring your ideas to life.”

“A lot of people said that this couldn’t be done in the Philippines. There are too many obstacles, bureaucracy, nobody wants to change the status quo and stuff like that. I knew that most likely it wouldn’t work, but I still wanted to give it a try. The key lesson I learned, which I have brought to the Bank, is that it’s ok to challenge the status quo and it’s ok to innovate as long as we keep the objective clear. It also taught me the importance of being very focused and ruthlessly efficient.”

Leading the team

“I believe that people are people and not machines. It’s important to really know my team and what motivates them. So, I don’t only talk to them about the job they are doing, but also their long-term career goals.”

“We have a diverse team, and occasions such as Chinese New Year, Hari Raya or Deepavali are great opportunities for celebrations, and a reminder for us to remain mindful of the people we work with.”

“Perhaps it’s because I’m an adrenalin junkie – when I look for talent, those who gel well with the team are often adventurous, curious, willing to try new things and not afraid to fail. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!”