Platform to exchange study materials
THE BooksMart.my emerged as the winning team in the first OSKVI-HELP Ideation Competition, beating theother shortlisted six contenders.
In the competition, OSK Ventures International (OSKVI) enlisted teams of students from HELP University to develop creative solutions to improve the way we live and work and generate ideas that could meet the demands of an ever-changing environment.
The BooksMart.my team, comprises two students from HELP University’s Faculty of Business, Economics and Accounting, Ivan Ten and Moo Shuk Mun.
The team proposed an innovative peer-to-peer platform that allows students to exchange educational materials and lends a refreshing new twist to the book buying ballgame.
“One of our main challenges was perfecting our presentation on the whole idea of our business in a comprehensive manner,” said Ten.
He said the experiences gained at HELP through taking part in extracurricular activities have set
them apart from their studies. “We cultivated an attitude to learn more and to develop ourselves,” he said.
The team made an impressive social networking platform model that validated the demand and price increase concept.
Two other top winners, Help Squad and Team Novelty, focused on transportation technology.
They developed road safety awareness and a ride sharing platform.
This leveraged on promoting convenience and safe travelling.
All seven finalists each proposed completely different and unique ideas to a panel of judges in their final pitching review at Plaza OSK.
Teams were judged based on their capabilities to solve problems, value creation and market opportunity. Launched in April, many ideas were received.
These ranged from mobile applications to artificial intelligence and social enterprises, all catered towards innovation and better living.
“OSKVI is proud to work with HELP University in our first Ideation Competition.
“This has brought some fresh and exciting ideas from the students.
“It was also refreshing to see how engaged the students were,” said OSKVI executive director Amelia Ong.
The judges, OSKVI and HELP may continue to work with a selection of the teams to perfect their proposals and business models and prepare them for further capital raising sessions,” said HELP International Corporation executive director Adam Chan.
“All teams will have access to the HELP Business Analytics and Innovation Hub, which will be located at Wisma ELM and our Subang campus.
“The hub will provide students from HELP and other tertiary institutions, with the opportunities to be mentored by techno-entrepreneurs, private equity providers and angel investors from Asia and world-wide,” he said.
The HELP Business Analytics and Innovation Hub, Chan added, will be the largest such facility in Malaysia. “Our mission for the hub is to nurture innovation and entrepreneurship talents to contribute to the new Asian renaissance,” he added.
As part of the competition, the participants attended a two-day workshop where they were exposed to the basic fundamentals of entrepreneurship and starting a business/startup through sessions with professionals.
“I hope that this is the start, a small start, but a very significant start in our culture to encourage techno-entrepreneurship and to train people to incubate you.
“It may be a long process and a challenging one,” said HELP University president and vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Paul Chan in his opening speech to the students.