HSBC Young Entrepreneurs Awards 2006-2007

The HSBC Young Entrepreneur Awards encourages and rewards brilliant entrepreneurial thinking from the youth. It is open to all full time Filipino university students (aged 25 or below as of 31 March 2007) from public and private colleges and universities in the Philippines.

The following, however, are not eligible:

• Post-graduate students
• Self-study students
• Students studying abroad
• Students of a different nationality (i.e. foreign exchange students)
• Individuals (not in a team of two or three)

Competition Details
The local competition runs from October 2006 to March 2007 and will be divided into four rounds.

Round 1

Participating teams must submit an outline of an innovative business idea. This can be a product, a service or something that could create value or income, increase sales, or reduce costs. It may consist of entirely new things or it could be a new way to do old things.
The deadline for submissions is 24 November 2006.

Proposals are limited to 1,000 words and must be in English only. The Advisory Committee will select 30 qualified teams for Round 2.

Round 2

Qualified teams will be invited to attend a training workshop on Successful Entrepreneurship and Business Plan Writing on 16 December 2006. They will then be asked to submit a full business plan (maximum ten pages on A4 size paper excluding appendices such as charts, tables, diagrams and spreadsheets, standard font is Times New Roman size 12) for assessment by a panel of judges.

The deadline for submitting the business plan is 17 January 2007. Ten teams will be selected to proceed to Round 3.

Round 3

Teams who qualify for Round 3 will be invited to meet the panel of judges on a designated date in mid-February 2007 to answer questions related to their business plan. Each panel interview will last around 10-15 minutes.

The top five teams will be short listed and will be required to attend a presentation skills workshop on 23 February 2007 in which different presentation tools and techniques will be introduced.

Philippine Grand Finals

The five finalist teams will make a formal presentation to the Board of Judges on 8 March 2007 to compete for the championship. The Board of Judges will be composed of a mix of leading figures in local business and enterprise, government and the academe.

Regional Grand Finals

The Gold Award winner from the Philippines will compete with other Gold Award winners from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand and Bangladesh in the Regional Grand Finals, which will be held in Hong Kong in June 2007.

Awards and Prizes 

The Awards Presentation ceremony will follow the final presentation on 8 March 2007. Winners will receive:

Gold Award

• An HSBC trophy for each team member
• Php300,000 self-development funds for the team
• A study tour to Hong Kong and a chance to compete in the Regional Grand Finals where the prize will be a Business development fund of HK$100,000

Silver Award

• An HSBC trophy for each team member
• Php200,000 self-development funds for the team
• A study tour to Hong Kong

Bronze Award

• An HSBC trophy for each team member
• Php150,000 self-development funds for the team
• A study tour to Hong Kong

The Gold, Silver and Bronze Award winners will receive a 7-day visit to Hong Kong in June 2007, joining the other winning teams from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Thailand. The Gold Award winners from each country will participate in the regional grand finals, while the Silver and Bronze winners attend as observers.

How to join

Register and submit your business idea in the online registration form in the official HSBC Young Entrepreneurs Awards 2006-2007 site at www.asiayea.com.

[tags]young entrepreneurs, Filipinos, Philippines, entrepeneur awards, contest, business plan competition, start your own business[/tags]