Calling all budding entrepreneurs – the moment you have all been waiting for is finally here! The 13th S@S business plan competition has been declared open, and in spectacular fashion at that.
On the 6th of October, the Hon Sui Sen auditorium was abuzz with excitement as a full-house audience comprising students and members of the public eagerly awaited the opening of the 13th S@S business plan competition. Despite the rainy weather, the evening’s programme did not disappoint.
Why entrepreneurship? What’s the right time to launch a product? What if a potential entrepeneur lacks funds? The star-studded panel, comprising Mr Teo Ser Luck, Mr Karl Chong, Mr Edward Chia, and Mr Alan Phua (see speaker profiles below), deftly fielded these questions and more, in what was arguably the highlight of the opening ceremony. Each panelist shared personal yet relevant anecdotes and gave the audience invaluable advice on what it takes to successfully launch a start-up company. The evening’s discourse continued over a networking session, where a sumptuous spread of food awaited our guests.
“I thought the panel discussion had many learning points for the participants”, said a member of the audience. “Just do it”, said another when asked what the main take-away for the night was. Overall, The launch of the 13th S@S was well received and left a firm impression on its audience with its many learning points.
In their keynote addresses, Dr Lily Chan, CEO NUS enterprise and Mr Vivek, lead of the 13th S@S, affirmed that the key focus of S@S was to help its participants along their entrepreneurial journey. With the 13th S@S business plan competition off to a flying start, S@S looks set to groom yet another generation of budding entrepreneurs. So what are you waiting for? Sign up and take part in the entrepreneurial experience of a lifetime!
Mr Teo Ser Luck – Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry
Mr Karl Chong – Founder of Beeconomic and Groupon Singapore CEO
Mr Edward Chia – Founder, Timbre Group
Mr Alan Phua – Founder, Soyato and 11th S@S winner
 “If you’re working on something you’re passionate about, it gives you extra energy to do it.”
This energy is what keeps Vincent Lauria going in his entrepreneurial endeavours.
Vincent Lauria was a co-founder of Lefora.com, a forum hosting service for communities on the web, in San Francisco. The success of Lefora was obvious in less than 3 years and was later acquired by CrowdGather Inc. Vinnie also started the Silicon Valley NewTech meet-up and helped shape how IBM was approaching social software as an emerging and disruptive technology earlier in his career. He is now a mentor for start-ups.
On 15th September 2011, Start-Up@Singapore (S@S) had the pleasure to invite Start-up geek Vincent Lauria for a conversation with their internal members. The unforgettable evening began with Vincent sharing about his own entrepreneurIal experience–of how he bravely quit his stable job to jump into the unknown and get his first start-up running.
The panel later proceeded on with enthusiastic audience throwing out series of questions at Vincent, through which they earned valuabe advice on getting started and what it truly means to have an entrepreneurial mindset. When asked to comment on the Singpore’s local startup scene, Vincent’s eyes lit up, claiming it to be the most vibrant in Asia, and even one of the fastest growing in the world!
So what are you start-up wannabes waiting for? Go out there and take your first step now!
Extraordinary Welcome Tea for NES and S@S
100 goodie bags, 350 seats and a booth for registration outside Lecture theatre 16 –a meticulously and tirelessly planned welcome tea by NES and S@S was no match for the overwhelming turnout rate that took the burgeoning society by utter surprise.
Long queues that were only witnessed when Liverpool came down to have a friendly football game with Team Singapore showed up at the registration counter, leaving the management team, for the first time, frantic and ecstatic.
Several of NES’s partners and sponsors from Spirit of Enterprise, Small and Medium Business Association as well as Nus Overseas College readily graced this event and shared precious information about entrepreneurship as well as many inspiring stories.
It was a mind-blowing event that left hundreds of students inspired with a new found enthusiasm and perspective towards entrepreneurship. An amazing start for the new batch of NES and S@S committee, and might I add, this is only the beginning.
Open Category
Winner: Aqualnnova
First Runners Up: Silver Solutions
Second Runners Up: Milaap.org
Youth Category
Winner: Ms DeeDee
First Runners Up: yPower6
Second Runners Up: Vision
Co-operative Category
Winner: X-Change
Joint Runners Up: DINC & Shrooms in bloom
Youth Category:
Vision
yPower6
Ms_DeeDee
Thursday_Tales
RAFBLOOD
Open Category:
X-Change
MINDSTRAT
BioSyn
Milaap.org
Capsule
Zwinger
DeepScan
Giivee
Lobanz
AquaInnova
Silver Solutions
CO-OP Category
1. Shrooms_in_Bloom
2. dINC
3. SocialChic
4. Zipz
5. Rentella
6. X-CHANGE
7. A.LIFE
Open Category
1. DeepScan
2. Relief_Marketplace
3. BioSyn
4. MINDSTRAT
5. Digital_Th3rdVoice
6. Away_and_Beyond
7. Boring_Go_Where
8. AquaInnova
9. Knead
10. Lobangz
11. Alphabets
12. Ambuyart_Storby
13. Airlens
14. giivee
15. Learnemy
16. GPLassets
17. Augmented_Sports_Group
18. MilaapDotOrg
19. Capsule
20. Vanguard_Technologies
21. SIMz
22. SGEye
23. Interactive_eXperience
24. Evoga
25. Zwinger
26. Peeps like me
27. Micro/Macro
28. Rural MicroElectric
29. 2012
30. VBK
31. the_dna_walker (Adopt-A-Tech)
32. VivaMod (Adopt-A-Tech)
Youth Category
1.ypower6
2.Advertisers
3.Thursday_Tales
4.PhotoLife
5.Ms_DeeDee
6. Vision
7. Lauratina
8. Solame_Solars
9. RAFBLOOD
10. FRINGE
By John Osborne at BSI Training: John Osborne encourages organisations to think of energy management as business critical for cost reasons, but equally important as a means to embed sustainability and change across a workforce.
 Improving energy efficiency within a business can provide a number of real benefits. Not only will it help to reduce impact on the environment, but it will also save money.
Why then, do so many companies fail to put sufficient energy management policies in place to improve their effectiveness?
A BSI study revealed that 80% of respondents rated energy management as “very important”, with the key driver being to reduce or control cost, yet 60% didn’t have an energy management policy in place.
Organisations are clearly talking the talk when it comes to energy consumption, but simply making the right noises isn’t enough. If businesses are to truly cut costs and offset this against less attractive cost cutting exercises then they need to put a clear system in place to manage this.
Continue Reading…
 McAfee, Inc., a security technology company, is all set to expand their mobile platform portfolio through their acquisition of tenCube.
tenCube is the company behind the mobile security service, WaveSecure. Key features of WaveSecure include remotely locking your lost phone, tracking your lost phone (location, use, and even if a new SIM is inserted), auto-backup all of your mobile data, and remote wiping of all your data.
“Mobile devices have become an extension of our lives,” said Darius
Cheung, chief executive officer, tenCube. “Through this acquisition, McAfee
can broaden its security capabilities and offer users protection and remote
control of the phone whether it is in their possession or not. This means no
more worries about the whereabouts of your phone or losing personal
contacts, photos or messages.”
“Mobile devices have become an extension of our lives,” said Darius Cheung, chief executive officer, tenCube. “Through this acquisition, McAfee can broaden its security capabilities and offer users protection and remote control of the phone whether it is in their possession or not. This means no more worries about the whereabouts of your phone or losing personal contacts, photos or messages.”
Continue Reading…
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