Dreamzland, Voila!, Cup Chatter, Greenergy and SYCo in the Maybank MoneyTree Young Entrepreneur Startup (YES 2) Challenge - BIG PITCH

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, May 19, 2010 --(PR.com)-- MoneyTree organized the Maybank MoneyTree Young Entrepreneur Startup (YES) 2 Big Pitch recently at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian Club, Bukit Kiara. The Big Pitch is another climb up the ladder where the Top 5 teams who had made it through the Judging session in March pitch for start up capital to launch their business ideas into the market by soliciting funds from investors.

The "BIG PITCH" is the final stage of the YES Challenge, where the TOP 5 teams are required to present their ideas to a group of "investors" and pitch for start-up funds amounting to a maximum of RM 15,000 per team to allow their business ideas to take off. These funds would come from different sources, which include Corporate Sponsorships, Fund Raising Events, Internal Funds, BIG PITCH, and the MIX events.

Mr. UV Wong, Organizing Chairman of the YES Challenge stated, "Over the past few months, these young aspiring entrepreneurs have gone through major transformation. Seeing them work until the wee hours of the morning, and pushing themselves to continuously improve and strive towards perfection convinced us that there is Great potential in our youths if we provide them with the right platform, guidance and mentorship. In fact, YES was started based on this belief, and today we are proud to say that these youths have once again proven this to be true."

Investors invest in the teams by buying shares of the new start-ups. The minimum investment in a particular team is RM 250 and the maximum is RM 5,000. Investors were exceedingly enthusiastic about investing in these new, promising start ups, as they now have the opportunity to play the role of Mini - Venture Capitalists.

The Top 5 teams that pitched for funds during the "BIG PITCH" event are Dreamzland, Voila!, Cup Chatter, Greenergy and SYCo. Collectively, these teams managed to secure close to 80% of the total funds required during the Big Pitch. The top pitching team was Dreamzland, which managed to secure in excess of RM 11,000 of funds.

Unlike conventional business challenges, the nature of 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.

These teams will now implement their business ideas in the following 12 weeks. Ultimately, the aim is to assist these teams in obtaining Pre-Seed Grants offered by Government agencies such as Cradle Fund who are working closely with MoneyTree on the YES Challenge.

Over the next 2 months, these teams would also be brought on road shows to participating Universities and Colleges to share their experiences in YES 2, and to inspire the next generation of aspiring entrepreneurs who may want to consider looking at Entrepreneurship as a possible career pathway.

To mark the end of YES 2, MoneyTree will be organizing the "YES Red Carpet" party to recognize and celebrate the commendable efforts of the YES teams during YES season 2 in July. The YES Challenge Grand Prize winner will walk away with RM 20,000 in Cash and Prizes.

About the Maybank MoneyTree YES Challenge:

The Maybank MoneyTree YES challenge is a business challenge organized by MoneyTree to help Young, Vibrant Entrepreneur Aspirants launch their business ideas into the market and ultimately turn those ideas into profitable ventures. The challenge not only allows young Entrepreneurs / aspiring Entrepreneurs 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 acquired through the MoneyTree Entrepreneur Fast Track program. Ultimately, YES teams who have proven their worth would be channelled to government pre-seed grants for full commercialization of their ideas.

The MoneyTree Programme is a unique programme designed to educate and create financial savvyness in today's young generation so as to prepare them for the financial challenges they will meet in their future.

###