Start-Up@Singapore 2008 Official Launch

“Don’t stop where you are… grow over each other.” – Mr. Michael Yap. Start –Up@Singapore 2008, a highly-coveted business plan competition is heading into its 9th year with a blast. The Official Launch was held at Singtel hello! Comcentre near Somerset MRT. This officially marks the start of a new year with new goals and peaks to be met for both the organizing committee, as well as the many budding entrepreneurs who will be participating this year. Gracing the Official Launch was Mr. Michael Yap, Deputy CEO of the Media Development Authority (MDA) and Executive Director of the Interactive Digital Media (IDM) R&D Programme Office.

Despite a heavy downpour around town, VIPs and guests started arriving as early as 2.30p.m. It was not long before the theatrette was filled to the brim. Upon arrival of the Guest of Honour, Mr. Michael Yap, the event started off with a presentation by the leads, Mr. Veerappan Swaminathan, Ms. Lee Minxuan and Mr. Vikram Parsani. It was indeed “A new year, a new experience”. With 234 teams and 902 participants last year, the Start-Up@Singapore committee foresees more budding entrepreneurs to participate in this year’s S@S and with that, more newly-formed start-up companies to be added on to the 60 companies that have already been formed through S@S.

After the presentation by the leads, Mr. Michael Yap gave his opening address. Commenting on the maturing entrepreneur scene in Singapore, he was impressed that 80% of the participants are below 18 years old, and felt that entrepreneurship should not be restricted to adults. Hence, from this year onwards, S@S will be having its Youth Category where all team members have to be under 25 years of age. With that, S@S will also be having its first Youth Bootcamp on the 14th and 15th December 2007. In his address, Mr. Michael Yap also mentioned plans of MDA to promote Interactive Digital Media (IDM) in Singapore. About S$500 million will be channelled into IDM projects over the next 5 years. He also went on to say that IDM efforts will too benefit startups as technology is a basic prerequisite for any startups. As quoted from Mr. Michael Yap, “Nothing beats the fact that you need IT to keep going.”

Following the address, it was time for the Face-Off, which is one of the main highlights of the Official Launch. Three brave entrepreneurs, Mr. Nishith Prabhakar, Mr. Ong Kok Choong and Mr. Stanley Han, pitched their entrepreneurship plans to experienced venture capitalists. The product ‘Koobits’ from Personal E-Motion Pte Ltd attracted Mr. Michael Yap, Mr. Bill Liu and Mr. Douglas Abrams very much. Mr. Stanley Han, Founder and Managing Director of Personal E-Motion Pte Ltd told us his plans of having a market share of 6% in 3 years’ time, which is US$17 million dollars and stressed that it will only be possible with the presence of a strong infrastructure, word of mouth and human capital. During the Question and Answer session, questions from the floor prompted the three venture capitalists to state what they would look out when investing in a startup. All three of them agreed that it will be how well a startup can cost recover, whether the product will be in a ‘niche’ market and how successful the product will be in the future. Having heard from the experienced entrepreneurs, participants and budding entrepreneurs would have to look out for these when coming up with their business plans for S@S.

The Official Launch was indeed a resounding success. Since its inception in 1999, it has seen more than 1100 teams and 3600 participants. This year, would be no different from any other years. Associate Professor Quek Ser Aik, Vice Dean of NUS Business School said, “S@S provides a correct blend of technical support and business expertise to budding entrepreneurs”. Indeed so, and as of always, the Start-Up@Singapore committee holds the vision “to be the beacon for start-ups on their road to success”.

In addition, the Start-Up@Singapore 2008 committee has organised yet another enterprising event for all budding entrepreneurs. Known as ‘CEO Unplugged’, present CEOs will talk about their secret(s) to success and answer questions about the challenges they faced in the process of starting their own business. This inspiring event will be held on the 18th October 2007, Thursday at the Hon Sui Sen Auditorium in NUS Business School.

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