SG student Shangyan Liu traveled to Amsterdam to pitch for US$30k

In the current international economic downturn, funding for student start-up ventures is hard to come by. In response, the Meltwater Group recently sponsored a global scholarship contest for students who submitted video-recorded business pitches online. The company is pleased to announce that Shangyan Liu, a final year Science student at NUS and alumni of the NUS Overseas College programme, received an all-expense paid trip to Amsterdam as one of eight international finalists selected to compete in the competition, which took place in Amsterdam on November 21, 2008.

Shangyan represented her team in pitching nDovo, an idea that involves developing an online social platform that educates users about managing their financial needs and provides them with targeted financial products and services that address these needs.

“The competition was tight,” says Shangyan Liu, “The Meltwater experience is truly global and inspirational. Not only have I learned a lot about pitching to investors and improving my business plan, I received valuable feedback from a private session with the judges after the competition. I am very happy that I got as far as I did and I will work harder to realize my dream of making the world a better place by doing good business. Meltwater definitely provided me a great platform to learn and build up confidence through this competition.”

“We started this competition to identify and reward the next generation of innovative business leaders,” says Meltwater’s Asia-Pacific Director of University Relations, Andrew Abraham. “Meltwater was started with just $15,000. We were built with an entrepreneurial spirit and we see this competition as an incredible opportunity to fuel that same drive among an international and academically diverse group of students.”

Founded in 2001, The Meltwater Group has grown from a small operation in Oslo, Norway, to a global organization with more than 600 employees on six continents. The company provides software solutions to over 13,000 clients worldwide and enters high-growth markets where innovative technologies challenge existing business models.

The winner of the final event was a student from U.C. Berkeley, who was awarded $30,000 in seed money to help get his venture off the ground. Additional information about the scholarship program can be found on Meltwater’s website at: www.meltwater.com/scholarship.

ABOUT MELTWATER GROUP: Founded in Norway in 2001, Meltwater Group provides software solutions to over 13,000 clients worldwide, from non-profit organizations to Fortune 500 organizations. Meltwater Group companies enter high growth markets where innovative technologies challenge existing business models. Meltwater Group maintains headquarters in San Francisco, California and has regional offices in 42 regions on six continents. To learn more about Meltwater Group, please visit www.meltwater.com.

Contact Information:
Andrew C Abraham
Meltwater Group Communications
+61410101361
andrew.abraham@meltwater.com

If you wish to contact Shangyan to ask her about her experience, you can visit her website. Or if you’re looking for a local business plan competition to participate in, you can check out Start-Up@Singapore where you can vie for a share of S$260,000 worth of cash and prizes (deadline for executive summary submissions is 3rd Feb 2009).

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1. What would you do with US$30k?
2. Meltwater technical teaching fellowship in Africa