In March 2016, Deloitte organised the inter-university Risk Intelligence Challenge for the fourth year running.  Taking a fresh direction, the 2016 competition focused on business expansion, innovation (start-ups) and strategic risk management.  The aim was to nurture entrepreneurial efforts in combination with risk intelligence, and to encourage students to deliver new insights on risk management.

Among the 34 participating teams (a record for the competition!), three were SMU’s very own.  One of them, Team Eidein Holdings, comprising first year students Lee Song En (Economics & Business Management double degree), Javan Lee Zheng Yang (Business Management & Economics double degree), Nicholas Putra (Information Systems & Business Management double degree) and Dorothy Ong (Business Management) went on to win the Championship title!  Song En also clinched the Best Speaker award.

[Photo: SMU's Team Eidein Holdings emerged winners, out of a total of 34 participating teams this year.  (Photo courtesy of Deloitte)]

Team Eidein Holdings proved that they have what it takes to manage risk through two rigorous rounds comprising written essays and case presentations.  In the first, they were to submit a business proposal on any business idea; eight top business proposals were then shortlisted for the final round held on 5 March at the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants.  The top eight teams not only benefitted from a workshop on Enterprise Risk Management by Deloitte, but also received mentorship from 20 Deloitte personnel.

In describing their winning business idea ‘FindFund’, Dorothy shared, “Eidein means knowledge in Greek and it’s the root word for idea.  We wanted an idea that could value-add to various stakeholders and which has growth potential.  Our idea is fairly simple: to provide alternative educational funding by using an online platform to link private investors to students who are seeking funding for university tuition.  The model taps on investors who want something different besides the standard stock investment and unit trust funds, and also caters to students who need alternative funding besides using family savings or taking up a bank loan.”

[Photo: Song En presenting the team’s winning business idea, ‘Find Fund’. (Photo courtesy of Deloitte)]

On the team’s victory, Dorothy added, “While we are all quite excited about presenting at the ASEAN round, we are really humbled by our win as the other teams had really great ideas and rigorous risk analysis.  As some of us have personally experienced difficulties in funding our own education journey, it was really about designing the business idea around compliance, financial and technology risk such that it can address real needs and hopefully, we can bring this idea to life and see it make a difference for students,” she added.

Dr Janson Yap, Regional Managing Partner, Deloitte SEA Risk Advisory, who was one of the competition judges, said, “The ASEAN Risk Intelligent Challenge is clearly our differentiator in the market.  We wanted to stay relevant to the student community and decided to change our format to a theme titled “Start-up, Risk and You” this year… What stood out for Team Eidein Holdings, on top of their business proposal, was their sound risk analysis and mitigation plan.  There were many outstanding ideas presented, but the importance of risk management is what many young entrepreneurs fail to address.  This is especially crucial for start-ups.”

Besides the champion trophy, Team Eidein Holdings, which first met as Co-Curricular Activity mates in the SMU Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF) club, also took home the grand prize of $3000.

We wish the team all the best as they prepare for the ASEAN Risk Intelligence Finals in July.  Well done!

[Featured photo: (L-R) Deloitte’s Dr. Janson Yap; freshmen Dorothy Ong, Nicholas Putra Franslay, Lee Song En and Javan Lee; and SMU Asst Prof Shirley Huang (Photo courtesy of Deloitte).]