SMU’s Team Otaku emerged Champions at the finals of the first-ever ACTS (Association of Corporate Treasurers Singapore) Treasurers Asia Summit Business Case competition held last month.  The competition was organised by ACTS to engage undergraduates, evaluate real-life challenges faced by corporations that are related and relevant to Corporate Treasury matters, and evolve practical solutions that are recognised by different players in the financial eco-system.

SMU was the knowledge partner for the competition, which was based on a case study of InstaRem, written by the SMU International Trading Institute, Sim Kee Boon Institute and SMU Centre for Management Practice.

The team, which comprised Kevin Chin Kai Wen (Year 3, Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB)); Caleb Phua Rui Xuan (Year 2, LKCSB) and Slevin Chua (Year 2, School of Law), had triumphed over 29 other teams comprising students from NUS, NTU, SIM, SUSS and SUTD, to reach the top.

The three teams which made it to the final round were given one week to tackle this challenging question: Instarem’s institutional clients, comprising SMEs and other corporates, make up about 60 per cent of Instarem’s customer base. Considering the company’s aim to reach the target of US$5 billion to US$7 billion worth of transactions by the year 2022, devise a marketing strategy aimed at on-boarding new SMEs to position Instarem as not only one of the best FX providers for cross border remittance, but also for providing them with a platform to collect and manage payments in overseas markets, and provide back-end payment infrastructural services.

The trio stood out with their four ideas – InstaBuild, InstaGuard, InstaEquip and InstaStrike – and their memorable tagline ‘InstaRem makes Instant Sense’, and eventually won the judges over with their creativity, convincing presentation as well as marketing strategy.

“The case problem was no doubt challenging and required us to look at issues from multiple perspectives. We had to consider the regulatory framework governing the Fintech industry-at-large, and account for the risks while evaluating the overall feasibility of our solutions.  We stepped up to the challenge and eventually gained many insights into the Fintech industry,” reflected Team Otaku.

“We would like to thank the organisers, as well as all the professors and industry experts who gave us invaluable feedback at the various stages of the competition.  We also wish to thank SMU for training us to be critical thinkers!” they added.  Further to award money of $3,000, the team also won themselves the exceptional opportunity to take on an internship programme with InstaRem.

Another SMU team, Team Clingy Chopsticks, which comprised Jo-Adam Saiful Mizra (Year 1, LKCSB); Tan Qi Zhong (Year 1, LKCSB) and Lee Xin Yi (Year 1, LKCSB) also picked up the Most Innovative Presentation team award.

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