MoneyTree Young Entrepreneur Startup (YES) Challenge

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, June 27, 2009 --(PR.com)-- MoneyTree recently did a soft launch for their Young Entrepreneur Startup (YES) Challenge at the Sime Darby Convention Centre. The YES Challenge, which kicks off at the end of this month, is aimed at helping aspiring Entrepreneurs between ages 17 and 24 launch their business ideas into profitable ventures.

Unlike conventional business challenges, the nature YES is to provide participants with an experience that is as close as it can get to the real world of Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneur aspirants would be required to not only generate business ideas that would attract investors, but to also follow through with the implementation of a pilot / prototype version of their idea.

MoneyTree Asia Pacific CEO, Mr. Michael Reyes stated, “We believe the YES challenge would not only provide the young aspiring Entrepreneurs the opportunity to learn skills that would sharpen their Entrepreneurial mindsets, but to also provide them with the opportunity to experience the practical applications of the Entrepreneurial skills they have acquired through the 1-Day MoneyTree Entrepreneur Fast Track Program”.

The YES challenge would span over a 15-week period whereby teams (consisting of 3 – 4 members) are to come up with a commercially viable and scalable business idea and then present their business idea to a panel of judges and advisors.

If the teams’ ideas are judged to be commercially viable and scalable, the teams are then given approval by the judges to solicit funding from a group of investors made up of cross section of pre-selected members from private equity, industrialists and venture capitalists. Each team may only solicit a maximum of RM 25,000 for the pilot through the sales of shares of their business projects. Teams would be assigned mentors to ensure the success of their businesses. At the end of the 15-week period, if their business makes profit or is poised to make profits in the near future, the teams would then be taken to the next level of funding.

Incidentally, the MoneyTree Young Entrepreneur Startup (YES) Challenge is the First and Only business challenge in Malaysia that requires the teams to not only come up with a business idea, but to also implement those ideas and turn them into profitable ventures. In the YES Challenge, the teams are dealing with real money, real investors, and ultimately, participants of the YES Challenge could walk away with a Full-Fledged business before they graduate from University or College.

While the Grand Prize Winner would walk away with RM 20,000 in cash and prizes, selected finalists of the YES Challenge would also be brought on road shows to participating Universities and Colleges to speak to, and inspire their peers. This is in line with the government’s efforts to promote Entrepreneurialism in the country and MoneyTree’s bid to encourage Entrepreneurship amongst the younger generation as a career path they could consider. The winning teams would also enjoy a good level of basking in the limelight, as plans have been made for them to be featured in the press and other media.

The MoneyTree YES Challenge Advisory Panel consists of experienced Industry Experts, Heads of Multinational Corporations, Academicians and representatives from Government agencies, from both the local and international arena. Among the Advisors and Judges sitting on board their Advisory Panel are respective industry experts like Mr. Nazrin Hassan (CEO of Cradle Investment Program), Tan Sri Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr. Augustine S.H. Ong (Academician and President of MINDS), Mr. Roslan Bakri Zakaria (Director of Technopreneur Development Division, MDeC), Dr. Sivapalan Vivekarajah (Special Advisor to TeAM), Mr Bob Chua (CEO of PULSE Group), Mr Patrick Grove (CEO of Catcha Media Group), and many others. The Advisory Panel also consists of an International Panel with advisors from the United States and Singapore.

MoneyTree is working with esteemed organizations like Cradle Investment Program (CIP), Malaysian Development Corporation (MDeC), Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), Business FM (BFM), Voize.my, GEW and many other organizations to make all this possible.

Participants of the MoneyTree YES Challenge consist of 26 teams of students from more than 10 Universities / Colleges nationwide, which includes, among others, Taylor’s University College, Open University Malaysia (OUM), Nilai University College, Kolej IKIP, Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University College, Tunku Abdul Rahman College, University Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Malaya (UM) and many others. To date, the response from the Universities and Colleges has been overwhelming as registration of teams are still being sent in.

The closing date for registration for the MoneyTree YES Challenge is on the 30th of June 2009. For further information regarding the YES Challenge, and to obtain the YES Challenge registration forms you can either contact uV at uvwong@moneytree.my or call Ms Evelyn at 03 – 7954 4514.

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