Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition returns

[20 January 2010]
Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition returns

The 5th Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition returns to hothouse young entrepreneurs from around the world to launch new business ideas.

Singapore, 20 January 2010 – The Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition at the Singapore Management University (SMU) is back to support the entrepreneurial dreams of students globally. Launched in 2001 as the first global business plan competition for undergraduates, college and polytechnic students around the world, the competition encourages young people to showcase their business ideas in an international arena, network with potential investors and attract seed funding for their projects.

Since 2001, the Competition has grown from strength to strength with more than 1000 business plan entries from more than 75 institutions around the world.

“We want to encourage undergraduates around the world to develop their entrepreneurial inclinations by providing this opportunity for them to share their business plans, and possibly win for themselves funding not just from the competition, but also from angel investors and venture capitalists,” says Professor Howard Hunter, SMU President.

For the first time, SMU's Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (IIE) is organising the 2010 Competition. “The Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan competition has been a marquee event for the undergraduates from around the globe. It is heartening to see that one of the previous finalists is generating over a million dollars in revenue and has acquired a following from more than 3.5 million customers,” says Professor Desai Narasimhalu, Director of the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at SMU.

Shortlisted local teams in the preliminary round will have the chance to pick the brains of senior business leaders in a Tips from the Top session hosted by HSBC, which is again partnering this competition as a presenting sponsor. The Bank will be roping in its senior executives and business partners to share their vast business experience and acumen as well as to provide comments and advice on the business plans submitted by the local teams through one-on-one sessions with the team members.

“HSBC is delighted once again to support the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition as part of our Youth Excellence Initiative to nurture and develop outstanding young talent for the benefit of the community,” says Mr Guy Harvey-Samuel, CEO of HSBC Singapore. “We see the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition at SMU as a useful platform to help develop youth excellence in enterprise and an opportunity for Singapore's young undergraduates to pitch their best against their peers at an international level,” he adds.

Highlights of this year's competition also include an Entrepreneurship Study Mission in Singapore for the finalists to understand the local innovation and entrepreneurship eco-system. They will visit incubators and network with early stage VCs and Technology Incubation Managers.

The teams that have won in the past had winning business plans covering data management, energy, gaming, medical, marketing and manufacturing.

Romel Dhalla, who represented the University of Manitoba, Canada, in the 2001 inaugural competition, says the lessons from the Competition have stayed with him. “In my present occupation, I use all of the skills and training that the Competition made available to me. It not only affects my work ethic and how I approach building my business, but also how I view the world from a philosophical level with respect to my appreciation of the global political economy and how we are all tied together,” he explains. The investment advisor says the Competition has also motivated him to take his business international.

Another alumnus of the Competition is SMU Information Systems graduate Leonard Lin. His team TYLER Projects came in as second runner-up in the 2005/2006 Competition with their mobile multiplayer game proposal. Today, TYLER generates more than S$1m in annual revenue as a social network game developer and consultant. One of its creations, Battle Stations, is Singapore's first Facebook multiplayer game and has 3.5 million registered users.

This year, participants will stand to win up to US$60,000 in cash, prizes and business development opportunities. Apart from the top six teams, for the first time there will also be an individual Most Promising Young Entrepreneur award. The best performing local team in the finals can tap into a S$100,000 HSBC Investment Grant to give life to their business idea.

The Competition opens for entries on 20 January 2010 and ends on 8 July 2010. There will be three rounds: preliminary, semi-finals and finals. The top six teams will be shortlisted through an anonymous judging system.

See Annex for details.

Key Dates

Visit http://lky.smu.edu.sg for submission and full details.

About the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition

Named after Singapore's Minister Mentor, who developed the defining business plan for the country, the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Competition provides an opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to test their business Ideas and pit their business acumen against students from other renowned international institutions. Organised by the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Singapore Management University, the biennial competition is into its fifth run and is open to all undergraduates, college and polytechnic students from around the world. The inaugural competition saw 203 business plans from 74 universities representing 30 countries. Students are required to submit business plans for a start-up or early-stage venture and compete for a total of US$60,000 worth of cash prizes. The winning team will take home US$36,000, the first runner-up, US$12,000 and the third runner-up, US$3,000. The other finalists will get US$500 per team. HSBC is the presenting sponsor of the Competition.

About the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at SMU

The Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE) at SMU has been set up to nurture and grow the innovation and entrepreneurial culture amongst students, staff and faculty of SMU through collaboration with the community. IIE is committed to help innovators commercialise their ideas and aspires to build high quality and robust start-ups within SMU and the larger community through research, strategy, training, R&D, business incubation and knowledge sharing. IIE will play the role of a strategic innovation partner, working closely with SMEs, large enterprises, early stage venture capitalists, academic institutions and individual researchers.

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 Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited is the founding and a principal member of the HSBC Group which, with around 8,500 offices in 86 countries and territories and assets of US$2,422 billion at 30 June 2009, is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations.

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 10 branches incorporating 6 HSBC Premier centres and 27 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.