Friday, June 28, 2013

SME Bank nurtures students

SME Bank Bhd launched a corporate responsibility programme last year to promote entrepreneurship among secondary school students.

Source from (Business Times): http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/ADSMEB/Article/
Published: Jun 28, 2013



"Program Inovasi Usahawan Muda - SME Bank Y-Biz Challenge 2013" has received good response from schools nationwide.

SME Bank managing director Datuk Mohd Radzif Yunus said of the 110 schools invited, 82 participated, with the winners using their winning money to enter a competition in Romania and winning the Gold Medal in the Young Inventor category.

"This year, we have plans to provide some form of support to the winner keen on competing in the international arena," he said.

The first prize winner of this year's SME Bank Y-Biz challenge will receive RM20,000 in cash, first runner-up RM15,000 and RM10,000 for the third spot.

Mohd Radzif said this is SME Bank's signature corporate responsibility event that it is partnering with the Malaysian Design Council and supported by the Education Ministry.

"This is part of our initiative to nurture the youth to be future entrepreneurs and being our second time organising this, we discovered there are a lot of them out there with creative ideas."

He added that last year, the competition was open to only invited schools but this year it is open to all secondary school students, to allow them to explore and expand their creativity by innovating and proposing great ideas.

Mohd Radzif said for this programme, it is SME Bank's objective to develop and stir entrepreneurship interest among students and to build a better generation for the country's future economy.

Y-Biz challenge, he noted will allow students to think outside the box and at the same time enhance leadership skills.

It also serves the Education Ministry's aspirations to encourage students to be active in extra-curricular activities in school and at the national level, producing highly motivated students with interest in science, technology and entrepreneurship.

Mohd Radzif said as for the SME Bank, apart from inculcating entrepreneurship among students, teachers will also be exposed to new teaching techniques which can produce creative and innovative students.

The criteria for projects to be submitted, said Mohd Radzif, must be with original ideas, value-added, innovative, environmental-friendly and with commercial value.

Preliminary screening will be done in all states to select 20 schools and to move on to the semi-final round.

"In the semi-final round, they will present proposals and then visit our factory complex where they will experience firsthand the mechanics of production and meet entrepreneurs," said Mohd Radzif.

Ten schools will then be selected into the final round and each finalist will be provided with a seed capital of RM2,000 each to produce prototype of the projects.

The final presentation to the jury will be done at the national level and juries will comprise experts in their respective fields and also representatives from the SME Bank, Education Ministry and Malaysian Design Council.

The competition started on May 2 and will close on July 19. Entry forms and proposal guidelines can be downloaded from www.smebank.com.my

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