VU Business Challenge 2017

It was a much-anticipated day for the Chinese Independent Schools as they walked into Sunway College on July 1, 2017. The VU Business Challenge, organised by the Victoria University Undergraduate Programme (VUUP) and supported by Sunway College, is an annual competition held to encourage budding entrepreneurs to showcase their creative innovations that can solve common day-to-day problems and meet customer needs. As the challenge rewards lucrative prizes for winners, the competition had high stakes and required the high school students to undergo a series of presentation rounds before being selected for the final pitch in front of invited adjudicators from the industry.

As per entry requirements, the schools will first need to submit a written proposal and a 3-minute video pitch. This year, 18 schools participated with 64 teams sending in their proposals. Twenty teams from ten schools were shortlisted and these teams then had to produce and send in a short commercial. The commercials were published on VU@Sunway FB for public viewing and to win the “The Best Advertisement Award”, the commercials would need to get the most ‘likes’ from their viewers. These 20 teams also presented at their respective booths at the Sunway Campus. The 20 semi-finalists were:

	Name of School	No. of Teams (20 teams )
1.	Chong Hwa Independent High School KL	1. TouDel 2. One-Run Go 3. Dreamsky 4. The Specsetters
2.	Chung Hua Middle School, Port Dickson	1. Bagz4U 2. ET Studio
3.	Foon Yew High School, JB	1. Utmost Buses Training Enterprise
4.	Foon Yew High School, Kulai, Johor	1. Old-Street Café
5.	Hin Hua High School, Klang	1. WonderDrain 2. Everitt Enterprise 3. Toothie
6.	Jit Sin Independent High School, Bukit Mertajam	1. Parkiee Sdn Bhd 2. MedInTime 3. Bum Bum 4. HappyHelpers Company
7.	Kuen Cheng High School, KL	1. unIce 2. Interspace
8.	Sabah Tshung Tsin Secondary School, Kota Kinabalu	1. Roar the Gym
9.	Tsun Jin High School, KL	1. Sleeve It Enterprise
10.	Yong Peng High School, Johor	1. SnC Parasol

On the challenge day, the 383 attendees of teachers, participants, student supporters and even parents made the whole event a jubilant and successful one with their dynamic participation, inquisitive questioning and supportive cheers for each presentation. Once the judges had completed their rounds at each booth, the students anxiously waited for the announcement of the top five teams. The selected five teams then did their final pitch on stage to the judges; Ms Wong Lei Lei, Director of Marketing, Sunway College, Mr Lee Thye Chong, Director of MUFY and Mr Leong Hoo Yin from Expressolab. The finalists received valuable feedback from these industry experts as the judges fairly presented to them the harsh realities faced by entrepreneurs during their product presentations. The students realised the importance of each minute they have during their pitch to sell their ideas to potential clients and why perfect delivery of relevant content is needed from them.

Finally, after the judges’ deliberation, the much-awaited results of the winners were announced. Due to their outstanding teams, Jit Sin Independent High School, Bukit Mertajam, bagged all three top prizes. Their team, Parkiee Sdn Bhd emerged as champion of the VU Business Challenge. The students each received a study bursary of RM180, 000. The 1^st and 2^nd runner ups received each a study bursary of RM 120, 000 and RM 96,000 respectively. The Consolation prizes went to Kuen Cheng High School, KL with each participant receiving a study bursary of RM 20, 000 and Chung Hwa Middle School, Port Dickson, took home the Best Advertisement Award. The final results:

Award	School Name	Team Name
Best Advertisement Award	Chung Hwa Middle School, PD	ET Studio
Most Innovative Idea	Jit Sin Independent High School, Bukit Mertajam	MedInTime
Consolation Prize	1. Kuen Cheng High School, KL 2. Kuen Cheng High School, KL	Interspace unIce
2nd Runner-up	Jit Sin Independent High School, Bukit Mertajam	MedInTime
1st Runner-up	Jit Sin Independent High School, Bukit Mertajam	Bum Bum
Champion	Jit Sin Independent High School, Bukit Mertajam	Parkiee

It was a rewarding experience for all the students who participated in the VU Business Challenge. The students put on a show of amazing presentation skills, taking on tough questions from the judges and displaying immense creativity and critical thinking skills through their innovations.