Students create plans to promote Macao
Teams from Zhuhai, Macao and Malaysia compete to put on best English business presentations as APCEA competition marks eighth year
The contest is a very good exchange program.”
Eric Shaun Seaton,
Macao could launch a number of innovative schemes to promote “Boa Vida Macao” (the good life of Macao) if the city takes up young people’s bright ideas which were professionally introduced at the city’s English presentation competition last weekend.
Six student teams presented their promotional ideas for the city at the Grand Final of an annual business presentation contest held on March 18 at Macau University’s Hengqin campus.
The APCEA Business Presentation Contest has been held by the Asia-Pacific Communication Exchange Association (APCEA) since 2010. The event is organized in collaboration with University of Macau China Mainland Student Association.
The Divas team from the Zhuhai College of Jilin University bagged the first prize in the Grand Final. Team member Jasmine Chen Chuyao said they were attracted to this competition by its challenging and creative nature.
“With a background of English degree, our challenge lies in the business side as we have no idea what elements are needed for a commercial project. After preparing for around six months and acquiring business knowledge with assistance from the teachers, we actually ‘go into the business’.”
In their project, named “One fest, one love”, the team proposed holding a charity music festival annually to echo to the “Boa Vida” theme of this year’s contest as they believed music had a healing effect.
Organizers themed this year’s contest “Boa Vida Macao” in memory of the devastation wrought in Macao by Typhoon Hato in August last year.
A Malaysian team made a first-time appearance in the contest which mainly featured teams from Macao and Zhuhai. Speaking at the award ceremony held on the same day as the Grand Final, Eric Shaun Seaton from the ZEES team, based in Penang, hoped more Malaysian teams would join in future.
“The contest is a very good exchange program, which encourages more communication between and among universities. We improved our communication skills through the contest and developed better understanding of different countries,” Seaton said.
ZEES team members were mass-communication majors and suggested promoting Macao by shooting short videos about the city seasonally in partnership with Nas Daily, a popular video channel that publishes a one-minute clip every day.
In the eighth edition of the contest, more than 200 university students from Macao, Zhuhai and Malaysia teamed up to land the grand prize. Only six teams with excellent English presentation skills and practical business plans made it to the Grand Final, after several rounds of screening in the region.
“Introducing participants from different cities spices up the competition. Contestants’ English levels have advanced and more diverse presentation skills have been shown in the contest,” said Ocean Leong Hoi-fung, organizer from APCEA.
Business plans were evaluated on the basis of creativity, practicality and feasibility, and each team of between two and five members needed to present the project in English.
Ola team, drawn from the University of Macau and Macao Polytechnic Institute, clinched the Best Business Plan award in the contest with their project “Macao on four wheels”. They envisioned introducing trucks that travel around the city, selling local handicrafts, special candy bites, books, etc., to further promote the uniqueness of Macao.
“A truck provides amazing space for young entrepreneurs to start up their business. The room it gives is limited, but tiny is not a weakness. We can use this chance to develop a truck business in Macao by renting the truck at a very low price,” said Erin U Sio-Ian from the University of Macau.
“Ideas like ‘four wheels’ are very feasible and inventive, they can try to find someone to invest in their projects,” commented Javier Calero Cuervo, assistant professor in management and program coordinator of Global Business Management at the University of Macau.
He noticed that the quality of the projects and presentation skills were improving, after being a judge at the event for the past seven years. “Projects proposed by the students are very creative and practical. Their plans will help to encourage local entrepreneurship, give life and color to Macao,” said Cuervo.
The team of Direction from the University of Macau won the Prize for Visual Creativity; the award for the most popular speaker went to their teammate Huang Xiaowei.
Judges attending the Grand Final also included Peter Jakubowicz, senior college tutor of Chung Chi College at Chinese University of Hong Kong, Lydia Yang, Asia business development manager from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and Edward Collis, an editor from the China Daily Hong Kong Edition.
APCEA is a non-profit organization registered in Macao, which seeks to accelerate the development of communication in the Asia Pacific and attract more academic activities to Macao.
This year’s event is supported by media including China Daily Hong Kong, TDM-Teledifusao de Macau, Zhuhai TV (ZHTV) and China News Agency Photo Network Center.