About || Vihan's Portfolio

Designing for Impact

I am a Commerce/Information Systems Graduate from the University of New South Wales passionate about all things tech, entrepreneurship and design.

I am obsessed with creating and building things, whether that be beautiful, elegant solutions and products, my own body (I’m an avid gym-goer), my wardrobe (I’m a huge fashionista) or digital art (I love sketching on my drawing pad!).

During my time in the workforce and at university, I’ve been exposed to all facets of product development, from building databases to designing the interface of web and mobile applications. I’m seeking to apply my design and leadership skills to build impactful products.

Entrepreneur & Co-Founder

At the beginning of 2021, I was entering my final year of university and I felt lost and confused. As a university student, I had no idea whether the stuff I was learning in the classroom was actually going to help me in the real world. Many of the assignments I undertook were focused solely on theory. I didn’t know where to start to apply my knowledge in a practical way.

I decided to take matters into my own hands and with the help of some friends and UNSW Academics, I Co-Founded UNSW Sandbox Society. The society aims to provide bite-sized Sandbox Contests for all students to undertake. The Sandbox Contests aim to foster a career-focused experience for students from a variety of degree backgrounds to experiment, innovate and develop transferable skills that will prepare them for the professional workforce. Our vision is to bridge the skill gap between university and the professional world by making sandbox challenges accessible to students from all disciplines.

Building a Team

As a final year student who had their degree extended, many of my friends had already graduated so I had to build a team from scratch, gain their trust in me as a leader, communicate my vision, and inspire the team to work towards this vision. We now have 27 team members in total.

Designing a Program

As the Co-Founder, I worked closely with Students, Academics and Industry to design our flagship ‘Sandbox Contest’, a 6-8 week problem-solving program and competition, bringing together multi-disciplinary teams to build a solution to an industry challenge. We had over 40 students participating in our first intake.

Growing an Organisation

I’ve been part of a wild journey, growing our team from 0 to 27 people in less than 3 months, growing our membership base from 0 to 450 in less than a month, and growing our social media presence from 0 to over 700 Facebook page likes in 3 months by analysing the market and developing and implementing strategies.

UNSW Sandbox Society