CHAMPION (From left): UCSI student Peter William Peverill receiving a mock cheque on behalf of team Explorer from FoBIS Head of Department (Management Studies) Dr Chaw Lee Yen after the UCSI University Business Plan Competition.

CHAMPION (From right): UCSI students William Young, Ng Mun Yee and Christine Kuan, members of the team Discoverme, receiving a mock cheque from FoBIS Head of Department (Management Studies) Dr Chaw Lee Yen after the UCSI University Business Plan Competit

UCSI University’s Faculty of Business and Information Science (FoBIS) recently organised its annual Business Plan Competition, which saw the participation of 18 teams comprising UCSI students from various faculties. 

Themed, ‘Turning Ideas into Cash’, the competition aimed to not only provide the ideal platform for students to mingle with industry practitioners but to also grow their technopreneurial skills. 

Segregated into two categories, namely, Business Idea and Business Plan, the competition necessitated the participants to submit executive summaries of business proposals for a product or service. 

For Business Idea category champion team Discoverme, their enthusiastic and passionate approach to recycling won the hearts of the judges. 

Notably, the students - namely, Christine Kuan, Ng Mun Yee and William Young - came up with a proposal for an application that encourages people to recycle. 

Ecstatic about their win, Ng – who is currently reading the BA (Hons) Accounting at UCSI – explains the inspiration behind their project. 

“We feel that recycling efforts, in Malaysia, are not effective enough. We wanted to do something along the lines of the ‘go green’ approach and connect our planet, people and profits together.” 

Kuan and Young are pursuing the BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance and BEng (Hons) Communication & Electronic Engineering, respectively. 

Team Explorer, champion of the Business Plan category and IT diploma students, decided to contribute to society differently: By designing an app that helps people reduce their queuing time. 

To use the app, all a user needs to do is go to a counter, take a number and key it into the app, which will then automatically synchronise the number at the counter with the user’s mobile phone and app. 

According to Explorer team member Peter William Peverill, the rationale behind the app is “there doesn’t seem to be enough time for us to do the things we want in today’s society, what’s more the things we don’t like such as queuing up.” 

The students’ innovative presentations have drawn effusive praise from the panel of judges comprising top industry leaders like UCSI Blue Ocean Strategy Regional Centre Vice-President Mr Peter Tan, Multimedia Development Corporation representatives and Mother Goose Venture Developers (MGVD) Founder Mr Adam Hirsch. MGVD is a new venture development fund that helps entrepreneurs build successful companies across Southeast Asia. 

Heaping praise on the entries he has seen, Hirsch highlights that “the presentations were quite strong overall as far as delivery and approach” and goes on to give constructive advice to the participants. 

“At the end of the day, a general challenge for entrepreneurs is the mindset,” he points out. 

“The journey to build a company is extremely difficult so if you’re preparing to take that leap, make sure you are ready to ‘push forward’ no matter how many brick walls get in your way.” 

It is worthy to note that the champions of this competition will move on to the MSC Malaysia-Institutions of Higher Learning Business Plan Competition (MIBPC) - an initiative by the Malaysian government to foster technopreneurship and an innovative culture among institutions of higher learning in the country. 

Other prominent academics who were present include UCSI Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Affairs) Professor Dr Teoh Kok Soo; FoBIS Head of Department (Management Studies) Dr Chaw Lee Yen; Competition Chairperson Assistant Professor Dr Ummu Kolsome Binti Farouk; and Competition Advisor Ms Eva Lim. 

Special thanks also go to FoBIS Acting Dean Ms Melissa Migin for her strong support throughout the event.