MoneyTree Young Entrepreneur Start-up (YES) Challenge Judging Session

Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia, July 29, 2009 --(PR.com)-- MoneyTree held its Judging Session for the Young Entrepreneur Startup (YES) Challenge last Saturday at Taylor’s University College, Sri Hartamas Campus. The Judging Session saw the top 7 teams of YES battling it out for only 5 spots which would enable them to solicit funding from private investors to take their business ideas off the ground while the remaining 2 teams would join the MoneyTree Understudy Program.

Of the 24 teams that participated in the YES Challenge, 15 teams were shortlisted to have their Executive Summaries evaluated by a panel of judges comprising CEOs of Major Corporations, Heads of Government Agencies, Industry Experts and representatives from the Academia. Out of the 15, the TOP 7 teams were required to present their business ideas and defend them in front of a panel of Judges. Out of the 7 teams, only 5 teams will advance to the next stage, where they would solicit funding of up to RM 25,000 from a group of private investors.

Among the Judges who were present during the Judging Session are Mr Nazrin Hassan (CEO, Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd), Mr Patrick Grove (CEO, Catcha Group), Dr. Sivapalan (Special Advisor, TeAM), Mr Ahmad Razmy (MD, Ikatan Arhaz Sdn Bhd), Mr Bugs Tan (Co-Founder, MACRI), Ms Christy Lee (Investment Manager, MAVCAP) and Mr Michael Reyes (CEO, MoneyTree Asia Pacific Ltd).

CEO of Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd, Mr Nazrin Hassan stated, ”I think one of the things that MoneyTree’s YES Challenge has done well is that it has extracted the potential from our student population – in terms of their entrepreneurial capabilities and the way they think about business models.”

The 5 teams that would be advancing to the “MoneyTree Pitching Session” to obtain the funding required to take their business ideas off the ground are “Entrée Sdn Bhd”, “TryThisOut!”, “Student Media”, “ButteredToast” and “Fitness In Training”. During the Pitching Session, which will happen on August 8th, the teams will present their business ideas to a group of 150 – 200 private investors (whom would be invited on an invitation basis). Investors would buy shares of these new start-ups to raise funds for teams to take their business ideas off the ground.

Participants of the MoneyTree YES Challenge consist of students from more than 10 Universities / Colleges nationwide, which include, 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), Nottingham University and many others.

Mr. Loy Teik Inn, Vice President of Institutional Marketing, Taylor’s University College added, “We are pleased with our partnership with MoneyTree on this program as we see this as a great opportunity for students to expose themselves to entrepreneurship at a young age.”

For more information regarding the YES Challenge Pitching Session, please write to uV at uvwong@moneytree.my or call him at +6012 293 5116.

About the MONEYTREE™ YES Challenge:

The MoneyTree YES Challenge is the First and Only Business challenge in Malaysia that requires participants to not only come up with a business idea, submit their executive summaries to a panel of judges, get judged by a group of judges, but to also Implement those business ideas by soliciting funds from private investors. Ultimately, if the teams’ business ideas are commercially viable and scalable, they would be channeled to Government Funding to help bring their business to the next level.

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