As part of its efforts to nurture and develop young talents, HSBC in Singapore today launched a $100,000 Youth Enterprise Fund to help aspiring young entrepreneurs bring their business ideas to life.

The fund will be made available to the winning or best performing local team in the finals of the 2006 Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition, which is organised by the Singapore Management University (SMU) and supported by HSBC. The Competition is open to all undergraduates from universities, colleges and polytechnics around the world.

HSBC is supporting the Competition as part of its Youth Excellence Initiative to nurture and develop young talent across various sectors for the benefit of the community in Singapore.

Mr Paul Lawrence, General Manager and CEO of HSBC in Singapore said, "Through the Competition, we hope to provide the opportunity for Singapore's young undergraduate tertiary students to pitch their best against their peers at the international level. It also provides the very platform for HSBC to promote Youth Excellence in Enterprise."

The $100,000 HSBC Youth Excellence Fund is an extension of HSBC's efforts to promote youth enterprise, and will provide much-needed financial support for entrepreneurial youths to test the viability of their business ideas.

Mr Lawrence added, "We hope that the fund will provide the impetus for more Singapore youth to act on their business ideas, aspirations and creativity and ignite their passion for entrepreneurship. By enabling local youth to gain exposure to the dynamics of the real business world, we hope to sharpen their entrepreneurial instincts and equip them with the confidence, business savvy and hands on experience to realise their potential as budding young entrepreneurs."

The fund will be managed by the Singapore Management University Business Innovations Generator Committee (SMU BIG), which is the body responsible for promoting entrepreneurial initiatives in SMU. The winning local team will receive full or partial investment depending on the viability of their business plan. Any unutilised funds or revenue generated from the business start-up will be ploughed back to the fund to support the business needs of more enterprising young entrepreneurs.

To help the local teams attain the $100,000 prize, HSBC GM and CEO Paul Lawrence hosted a hot-housing session and roped in senior business leaders from its corporate customers and business associates to share their vast business experience and acumen with the young aspiring entrepreneurs.

The panel of business leaders, which included prominent businessmen like Mr Cheung Wai Keung, Chairman and Managing Director of Wing Tai Holdings Limited; Mr Philip Ng, CEO of Far East Organisation and Mr Sat Pal Khattar, Senior Partner of Khatter Holdings Pte Ltd, took time off from their busy schedules to spend the morning listening to the business ideas of the local teams and in turn provided useful comments and advice to help these aspiring young entrepreneurs hone and improve on their business plans.

Commenting on the hot-housing session, Mr Lawrence said, "We certainly hope that the hot-housing session will enable our local teams to benefit from the wisdom and experience of these business leaders and enhance their prospects of progressing into the final stages of this very prestigious global competition."

Expressing his appreciation to the business leaders for sharing their time and experience to help the hot-housing participants, Mr Lawrence said, " We are very heartened by the generosity of our business partners in joining our efforts to nurture youth enterprise and enrich young minds with their vast business experience, and would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their tremendous support. Beyond the invaluable advice, our young participants would no doubt have benefited from the exemplary leadership that these senior leaders have shown in their readiness to help nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs, which is a virtue which our aspiring young entrepreneurs here today would do well to emulate."

Commenting on HSBC's initiative to conduct the hot-housing session and establish the $100,000 Youth Enterprise Fund, Professor Howard Hunter, President of SMU said " SMU will be looking out for business plans that can show real sustainability and business viability in the third run of our Lee Kuan Yew Global Plan Competition. With a line up of respected business leaders giving tips on how to sharpen their business plans, our Singapore teams will now have the chance to incorporate the astute insights of industry experts and refine the creativity and innovations that they have put into their respective drawing boards. HSBC's generous $100,000 investment will be a major boost to the youth entrepreneurship movement in Singapore. SMU is happy to manage this fund as well as provide mentorship to the winning local team."

About the HSBC Youth Excellence Initiative

Launched in 2000, the HSBC Youth Excellence Initiative aims to recognise, support and nurture outstanding young Singaporeans to achieve international recognition for themselves and more importantly, for Singapore. It is also designed to enable our young talents to in turn contribute to the Singapore community through their involvement in community outreach programmes.

About the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition

The Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition provides an opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to test their business ideas on a global platform and pit their business acumen against students from other renowned international institutions. Organised by the Singapore Management University, the biennial competition has reached its third run and is open to all university undergraduates, college and polytechnic students from around the world. Students are required to submit business plans for a start-up or early stage venture and compete for a total of US$69,000 worth of cash prizes. The winning team will take home a cash prize of US$20,000. Prize money for the 2nd and 3rd positions is US$15,000 and US$10,000 respectively. Cerebos Pacific Limited is the presenting sponsor and HSBC is the supporting sponsor.

About HSBC in Singapore

The HSBC Group's history in Singapore dates back to 1877 when its founding member, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, opened its first branch. Today, HSBC has 9 branches incorporating 4 Premier centres, 29 automated teller machines in Singapore. A qualifying full bank, HSBC in Singapore offers a comprehensive range of services including personal and commercial banking, investment and private banking, insurance, forfaiting and trustee services, securities and capital markets services.