RSVP now!

Hint: The organiser of this Challenge has partnered with the people behind another challenge, where you can get a chance to win “The Ultimate Start-Up Space” at Clarke Quay! If you are joining the 24 Hour Biz Plan Challenge, be aware of this fact as you might need to integrate this 760 sq ft worth of space into your plan.

While registration just closed, remember that the deadline for the main competition closes on 1st Feb 2010! Get your shot at winning the grand prize of S$20,000 now! And even if you don’t, at least have a shot at the other prizes and have the exposure this national platform provides.

RSVP.

After 3 intense rounds of judging over a period of 8 months, the winners of Start-Up@Singapore 2009 were revealed at the Awards Ceremony on 30 May 2009.

Open Category winner, Zimplistic with their winning invention of the Rotimatic walked away with $40,000. Winner of the Youth Category, E-Thermnity won $10,000 with their baby milk bottle that changes colour according to the temperature of their content.

Open Category

Winner: Zimplistic
1st Runner-up: KAI Square
2nd Runner-up: DGI

Youth Category

Winner: E-Thermnity
Merit: Envite
Merit: Prozo

Team Profiles

Winner (Open): Zimplistic

Chapati or roti is a staple in Indian diet. Yet it can take over 30 minutes to prepare a simple meal of roti. Repeating this at least three times every day is a cumbersome process.

Zimplistic’s invention is an elegant automatic roti-maker set to be the rice cooker of India. With a push of a button, the roti-maker can mix, make and bake rotis from just the addition of water and flour to the machine.

Zimplistic’s founder Pranoti Nagarkar Israni is no stranger to product design. Only in her 20s, she left her job at a leading electronic manufacturer to start-up on her own. She graduated from NUS and majored in mechanical engineering. Zimplistic aims to go one step further by developing more innovations such as the roti-maker, to make every meal more convenient to make and consume.

1st Runner-up (Open): KAI Square
KAI Square has developed a video surveillance platform that leverages on the Teleco infrastructure to change the surveillance landscape, allowing live footages to be transmitted and received securely through 3G/4G networks. More interestingly, these surveillance cameras make use of intelligence analytics such as virtual fencing, intruder detection and face recognition that can instantly notify users upon an alert. This entire setup can be employed using battery or solar cells making them highly mobile, thus enabling users to deploy surveillance systems in any location effectively.

KAI Square’s founders Neo Shi Yong and Victor Goh Hai Kiat are no strangers to innovation. They have won the Tan Kah Kee Young inventor award and were part of the champion team of the Star Challenge Search 2008.

2nd Runner-up (Open): DGI
Chronic liver disease such as hepatitis is a problem globally and liver cancer is Singapore’s 3rd most prevalent cancer. Two A*STAR technopreneurs have come forward with their latest development – a revolutionary biophotonic and computer-assisted diagnosis technology, Histo-Index™ that will significantly improve the efficiency and reduce the cost and time needed for pathological diagnosis, clinical research and drug development.

DGI is founded by Dr. Dean Tai, a postdoctoral in IBN and who has extensive R&D experience developing many biomedical imaging equipments and also co-founded StudentShop Ltd in New Zealand, and Dr. Gideon Ho, currently Assistant Vice President in the biomedical sciences division of Exploit Technologies

Winner (Youth): E-Thermnity
Team E-Thermnity takes baby-care to the next level with their product Chromi – a series of non-toxic, light-weight and durable baby milk bottles that incorporate several special features to aid caregivers and parents as well as to keep the infant safe.

With a strong background in engineering, marketing and research, NTU undergraduate students Brendan Goh, Tsang You Jun and graduate Fan Shufen have identified a practical problem faced by parents and formulated an interesting and innovative solution that addresses this immediate need.

Merit Prize (Youth): Envite
The youthful team of 16 to 18 year-olds from Raffles Institution aims to make buying and selling eTickets easy for both event attendees and organizers. Envite identifies that eTickets are now the preferred means of ticket sales with paper tickets becoming more obsolete. The team hopes to bring convenience, accessibility and cost-effectiveness to the process of ticketing. Envite also provides value-added services such as providing organizers real-time statistical reports on their ticket sales and even an online community for users to network within the portal.

Merit Prize (Youth): ProZo
Eric Hu, Alexander Chan, Jensen Tan and Sylvanus Quek, four highly enthusiastic research-oriented students from Hwa Chong Institution, have developed an advanced and breakthrough technology known as ProZo, that effectively eliminates frequent use of cleaning agents in homes and hospitals.

This technology utilizes nano zinc oxide to create a coating that can be used to give medical healthcare appliances, surgical tools and even the floor, a long lasting anti-bacterial layer.

SGEntrepreneurs.com is the official blog of Start-Up@Singapore, the premier national business plan competition.

Out of 940 teams, 12 remain. These final 12 will battle it out during the finals this Saturday in the General and Youth categories for S$40,000 and S$10,000 respectively.

If you’re keen to monitor your heartbeat through your mobile phone or want a automated roti-maker to rival your rice cooker, check out the upcoming Start-Up@Singapore 2009 Finals and Awards Ceremony.

These are the 12 finalists, 6 each under the General and Youth categories.

One of these teams will win S$40,000.

DGI

Chronic liver disease such as hepatitis is a problem globally and liver cancer is Singapore’s 3rd most prevalent cancer. Two A*STAR technopreneurs have come forward with their latest development – a revolutionary biophotonic and computer-assisted diagnosis technology, Histo-Index™ that will significantly improve the efficiency and reduce the cost and time needed for pathological diagnosis, clinical research and drug development.

DGI is founded by Dr. Dean Tai, a postdoctoral in IBN and who has extensive R&D experience developing many biomedical imaging equipments and also co-founded StudentShop Ltd in New Zealand, and Dr. Gideon Ho, currently Assistant Vice President in the biomedical sciences division of Exploit Technologies

MINT

Membranes are increasingly used for water treatment, and the lack of specialized instrumentation for this industry provides an opportunity for a company with the right technology. MINT’s core business is to provide the hardware and software to improve the design and operation of membrane processes. With a range of technology solutions, MINT is able to provide companies with technological know-how to optimize water and waste water treatment plants.

MINT is the third company founded by Dr Adrian Yeo Piah Song who has a wealth of experience in the field. He was previously technical director of Blue Ocean Envirotech Pte Ltd, where he designed water treatment systems for factories in Asia. The team also consists of two engineers, both experienced in chemical engineering and process technology.

MyAdEngine

Small enterprises or start-ups out there on a tight budget will be glad to know that customized advertising will no longer equate to a hefty price tag. MyAdEngine seeks to create web advertising solutions for the SMEs with an engine to allow ongoing customization of their advertisements at a low cost. At the same time, the company can monitor the impact of their marketing efforts through statistical data and charts.

The team behind this innovation consists of entrepreneurial individuals equipped with an extensive skill set of marketing, product development and creative design, to complement each other.

vCareTechnologies

vCare Technologies seeks to become the leading provider of remote health monitoring solutions by supplying safe, affordable, wearable medical devices and software for real-time health monitoring. vCare’s product mCord will continuously monitor the user’s vital body signals remotely via a smartphone over 3G/WiFi network, and will save lives by taking pro-active measures like, alerting ambulance services, in case of a medical emergency.

The team is led by CEO Toh Yew Hong who has been leading multi million dollars project, CTO Deepu Chacko John who is an NUS researcher with extensive expertise in wireless and semiconductor technologies, COO Imran Arshad who has extensive knowledge in research and development, semi conductors and electronics, CFO Lie Lina Violita who has years of experience in financial services and holds an NUS MBA, Sales and Marketing Director Mee Kim who has years of experience in engineering field and marketing products.

Zimplistic

Chapati or roti is a staple in Indian diet. Yet it can take over 30 minutes to prepare a simple meal of roti. Repeating this at least three times every day is a cumbersome process. Zimplistic’s invention is an elegant automatic roti-maker set to be the rice cooker of India. With a push of a button, the roti-maker can mix, make and bake rotis from just the addition of water and flour to the machine.

Zimplistic’s founder Pranoti Nagarkar Israni is no stranger to product design. Only in her 20s, she left her job at a leading electronic manufacturer to start-up on her own. She graduated from NUS and majored in mechanical engineering. Zimplistic aims to go one step further by developing more innovations such as the roti-maker, to make every meal more convenient to make and consume.

KAI Square

KAI Square has developed a video surveillance platform that leverages on the Teleco infrastructure to change the surveillance landscape, allowing live footages to be transmitted and received securely through 3G/4G networks. More interestingly, these surveillance cameras make use of intelligence analytics such as virtual fencing, intruder detection and face recognition that can instantly notify users upon an alert. This entire setup can be employed using battery or solar cells making them highly mobile, thus enabling users to deploy surveillance systems in any location effectively.

KAI Square’s founders Neo Shi Yong and Victor Goh Hai Kiat are no strangers to innovation. They have won the Tan Kah Kee Young inventor award and were part of the champion team of the Star Challenge Search 2008.

One of these teams will win S$10,000.

Envite

The youthful team of 16 to 18 year-olds from Raffles Institution aims to make buying and selling eTickets easy for both event attendees and organizers. Envite identifies that eTickets are now the preferred means of ticket sales with paper tickets becoming more obsolete. The team hopes to bring convenience, accessibility and cost-effectiveness to the process of ticketing. Envite also provides value-added services such as providing organizers real-time statistical reports on their ticket sales and even an online community for users to network within the portal.

E-Thermnity

Team E-Thermnity takes baby-care to the next level with their product Chromi – a series of non-toxic, light-weight and durable baby milk bottles that incorporate several special features to aid caregivers and parents as well as to keep the infant safe.

With a strong background in engineering, marketing and research, NTU undergraduate students Brendan Goh, Tsang You Jun and graduate Fan Shufen have identified a practical problem faced by parents and formulated an interesting and innovative solution that addresses this immediate need.

MPigeon

Mpigeon’s unique two-way mobile marketing platform allows businesses to push their message to the handphones of consumers. In turn, consumers can request information regarding the product through their phones.

The team behind this idea consists of Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) undergraduates from India, all of whom are specialists in a specific field. The team members have been inspired to dabble in the field of entrepreneurship, having assisted their parents in their business ventures.

Proleaf

Proleaf is an agro-tech company dedicated to produce plant virus detectors, targeting Orchid producers. A plant can be infected with a virus although no visible damages can be seen. The product uses the OCT tomograms system to show the structural damages on plant leaves due to virus attacks.

The team consists of 19 and 20 year olds from Hwa Chong Institution.

ProZo

Eric Hu, Alexander Chan, Jensen Tan and Sylvanus Quek, four highly enthusiastic research-oriented students from Hwa Chong Institution, have developed an advanced and breakthrough technology known as ProZo, that effectively eliminates frequent use of cleaning agents in homes and hospitals.

This technology utilizes nano zinc oxide to create a coating that can be used to give medical healthcare appliances, surgical tools and even the floor, a long lasting anti-bacterial layer.

Social Rangers

SocialRangers aim to create more job opportunities for the intellectually disabled and equip them with skills and experiences that allow them to be independent. The two-member team from NUS seeks to work with the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS). SocialRangers’ plan is to transform one of MINDS’ current business arms, the drive-in car wash services at SPC Telok Blangah to a mobile car grooming service provider.

As a social entrepreneurship and welfare based team, SocialRangers focuses on operating and growing the business through sound economic decisions to create long term sustainability.

RSVP for the Award Ceremony.

SGEntrepreneurs.com is the official blog of Start-Up@Singapore, the premier national business plan competition.

Join us at the culmination of Singapore’s most anticipated nationwide business plan competition on 30 May 2009, to catch a glimpse of some of the most innovative and promising business plans that made it to the Finals this year. Highlights include pitches by the winning teams and insights by our panel of distinguished judges from the entrepreneurship scene.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports will be gracing the Awards Ceremony as Guest-of-Honour. Judges, Mentors and Sponsors of Start-Up@Singapore 2009 will also be present at the Ceremony. Take this opportunity to mingle and interact with our esteemed guests and learn what it takes to create a winning business plan.

Click here to RSVP now!

Start-Up@Singapore 2009 – Awards Ceremony
Date:     30 May 2009 (Saturday)
Time:     3.30pm – 5.00pm
                 (Registration starts at 2.30pm. All guests to be seated by 3.15pm)
Attire:   Business Casual
Venue:  Shaw Foundation Alumni House Auditorium, National University of Singapore 

Click here to RSVP now!

For enquiries, email: info@startup.org.sg 

See you there!
 
Warmest Regards,
Start-Up@Singapore 2009
Make Ideas Happen!

SGEntrepreneurs.com is the official blog of Start-Up@Singapore, the premier national business plan competition.

By SRUTHY KUMAR (email)

19 MAY 2009— Held in the engineering auditorium of the NUS Faculty of Engineering, this focused event was the first of its kind among the series of educational events held by Start-Up@Singapore.

Aligned as an awareness-based and fun approach to entrepreneurial thinking, participants were given the challenge of finding or taking a photograph of a social problem and submitting a one-page business proposal that would serve as a sustainable solution to the problem.

The winning entries were then discussed by our distinguished panelists Ms. Elim Chew and Mr. Alvin Lim.

Ms. Chew, better known as the founder of young people’s streetwear label 77th Street, is also part of many other youth organizations such as Singapore Street Festival and PaTH (Pop and Talent Hub), advocating social entrepreneurship through the youth community in Singapore.

Mr. Alvin Lim is CEO of Bizlink Centre, which aims to give financial independence and dignity to the disabled and needy community by providing various employment opportunities.

The panel discussion was moderated by yet another gentleman knowledgeable and active in the field of social enterprise, Associate Professor Albert Teo from the University Scholars Programme at the National University of Singapore.

After having established the three components that are at the core of most social enterprises, namely innovation, social mission and market orientation, the speakers were grilled on the challenges and problems the speakers faced when raising their respective social enterprises.

“It’s not easy to run a business while helping other people at the same time. When you step into the field of social enterprise, you need to remember that you’re stepping into new ground,” said Ms. Chew about the uncertainty that budding entrepreneurs can expect when thinking of starting a social enterprise.

Speakers also shared real life stories about people they have met and empowered, who have gone on to start various social enterprises to help people and the larger society. Examples included the winners of the Social Entrepreneur of the Year award such as Jack Sim founder of the World Toilet Organisation and Kenny Low of O-School, a dance school that makes professional dancers of school dropouts, and equips them with the finances to go back and complete school.

Questions from the floor included how the social impacts of a social enterprise are measured, where entrepreneurs can look for incubation and what the panelists think about the stigma that surrounds social enterprises about being profit driven.

The discussion finally wrapped up with one interesting thought that was shared by Ms Chew about inculcating an enterprising spirit. “You don’t have to be an entrepreneur to engage in social enterprise. If you’re good at management, you can link up with another social entrepreneur to bring the organization to the next level. What’s important is that you cultivate the entrepreneurial mindset and challenge yourself in coming up with new ideas to tackle new problems.”

The day wound up with the prize presentation to the winning entries of the challenge. The first placed entry was awarded $400 and the second and third placed entries were each awarded $200 and $100 respectively.

Panelists and attendees then engaged in a dinner cum networking session during which all the speakers were able to share more of their insights on being in the industry and were able to advise the attendees on how they can involve themselves in the local social enterprise scene.

SGEntrepreneurs.com is the official blog of Start-Up@Singapore, the premier national business plan competition.

Always wanted to help society or contribute in some way but didn’t know how? Learn from the leaders themselves at the S@S Social Enterprise Challenge Panel Discussion!

The Social Enterprise Challenge Panel Discussion is an excellent opportunity to learn about social enterprise from stalwarts in the field. The panelists will discuss the social enterprise scene in Singapore especially in light of the current financial environment. They will also share their personal experiences, discuss the top entries of the Social Enterprise Challenge and answer any questions you wish to ask them!

The Social Enterprise Challenge is a mini business plan competition where you get to find a photograph of any social problem and design a mini business plan that can provide a sustainable solution to the problem. The top entries will be discussed by our panel of experts on social enterprises and the top three entries will be awarded $400, $200 and $100 respectively.

Panelists:

Ms Elim Chew, Founder and president, 77th Street (S) Pte Ltd
Mr. Alvin Lim, CEO, Bizlink Centre Singapore Ltd

Moderator:

Associate Professor Albert Teo, NUS Business School

Event Details:

Day/Date: Thursday, 14th May 2009
Time: 5.45pm to 8 pm (Registration starts at 5pm)
Venue: NUS Engineering Auditorium (NUS)

Dress Code: Smart Casual

Panelists:
Ms Elim Chew, Founder and president of 77th Street (S) Pte Ltd, Co- Founder of Singapore Street Festival and The Young Entrepreneur Mastery (TYEM), an non-profit academy which supports youth entrepreneurship; Ms Elim Chew is also a founding member and director of Singapore Innovation Park (SIP), a social enterprise incubator.

Mr. Alvin Lim, the CEO of Bizlink Centre Singapore Ltd, a leading voluntary welfare organization that provides employment for the disadvantaged and needy.

Moderator:

Associate Professor Albert Teo, an associate professor in the Department of Management and Organization, NUS Business School and Deputy Director of NUS’ University Scholars Programme.

For details about the Panel Discussion and to RSVP, click here
For details about the Social Enterprise Challenge, click here

You do not have to take part in the Challenge to attend this event! It is open to one and all!

EXTENSION: Executive Summary Deadline now 6 Feb 2009!

In the past few hours, our executive summary submissions have been rising exponentially and we have received many requests to extend the submission deadline. In the interests of creating more opportunities for everyone, we have decided to extend our submission deadline to midnight (2359 hrs) of 6th February 2009 (Friday).

Teams that have already submitted their executive summaries may continue to edit and improve on their submissions during this period.

Participate in this enriching nation-wide business plan competition by submitting your 3-page Executive Summary! The Executive Summary, simplistically speaking, covers all the aspects related to your team’s business idea and its implementation.

More than S$200,000 worth of cash prizes are up for grabs! Winners also stand a chance to take part in other international competitions like the Intel+UC Berkeley Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge and the Global Talentpreneur Innovation Competition. You will also have the opportunity to be among the 3 winners of the Media Development Authority-Interactive Digital Media (MDA-IDM) Special Category, standing the chance to win up to S$50,000 in grant money from MDA.

Take the first step today by visiting us at www.judging.startup.org.sg to register!

Can’t find team members? Make use of our team matching service!

For enquiries, please email us at info@startup.org.sg.

Best Regards,
The S@S’09 Team
Make Ideas Happen | www.startup.org.sg

About Start-Up@Singapore
Start-Up@Singapore is a nation-wide business plan competition organized by NUS Entrepreneurship Society and supported by the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre and NUS Business School Alumni Association. Over the past ten years, we have attracted over 6000 participants and 1700 teams to participate in the competition. Start-Up@Singapore has also evolved to be a beacon for start-ups on their road to success. Till date, we have spun off over 60 start-ups.

Start-Up@Singapore is actually more than just a competition. Because we believe that the process from idea to product is educational, we organize seminars, networking session and workshops to help aspiring entrepreneurs with anything and everything that they would need to write a good Business Plan.

Start-Up@Singapore happens in several phases. To take part in the first phase, participants would need to submit an Executive Summary, which should cover all aspects of the team’s business idea and implementation.

After the Executive Summaries are submitted, experienced judges are invited to evaluate them. If the judges collectively deem a team’s Executive Summary to be promising, the team will proceed to the 2nd phase of Start-Up@Singapore. In this phase, the team will be required to broaden the Executive Summary into a full-fledged Business Plan and pitch it to a panel of experienced judges.

The winning teams will get to take home a substantial cash prize that may help them to turn their winning ideas into a money-making reality. Wait no further, Join Us now!

Guidelines for format of Executive Summary
The competition recommends that you submit your executive summary according to the following guidelines, which can be found on Page 6 of the Official Contestant Kit:

* Up to 3 A4 pages
* 1 inch borders all round
* Times New Roman font
* Font size 12
* Single spacing
* Pictures optional
* No appendices
* Upload in PDF version
* The file name will be overwritten by the Online Judging System automatically.

On top of the 3 pages, you may also include an additional cover page indicating your team name.