Entrepreneurship Unlimited: the Different Routes, the Winning Ways

The 4th Startup@Singapore business plan forums and competition, jointly organised by NUS Entrepreneurship Centre and NUS Business School Alumni Association, is reaching out to budding entrepreneurs and successful business leaders in different fields.

A total of nine Startup@Singapore business plan road shows and forums were organised in January 2003; where prominent entrepreneurs, industry and business leaders, venture capitalists and consultants were invited to share the different aspects of entrepreneurship.

Each of the road shows and business plan forums had been deliberately planned with a special theme in mind, targeting at the different needs of the diverse groups of budding entrepreneurs.

As with any new venture, continued innovation is key and there were quite a few new endeavours in this year's events.

First, the Startup@Singapore business plan forum was organised jointly with NUS Bizad Club and held during its academic week to encourage student participation. The audience, many with a heightened expectation after the previous week's road shows, was treated to a more in-depth and wide-ranging discussion on issues of importance in starting up a business.

Next, the two most innovative highlights were the CEO Unplugged talk show and the Business Team Building session on finding the right partner.

At CEO Unplugged, three CEOs - two entrepreneurs, Michael Yap of Commerce Exchange and Ufinity and Kik Teng Guan of Pentex-Schweizer Electronics, as well as James Chia, managing director of Cisco Singapore - shared up close and personal with audience in a 'David Letterman' style talk show about their inner feelings, passions and thoughts as they recounted the journey of their success.

But nothing matches the thrill and excitement of finding the right partner and forming a team, especially with the purpose of entering the Startup@Singapore competition. This event attracted significant interest among the competition participants, some of whom took the opportunity to make a pitch about their business ideas and invite team members to join them.

To cap it all, the finale - Startup@Singapore heartland forum - was a first to be organised in the heartland to bring across the message that "entrepreneurship is for everyone and anyone, whether you are a 15- or a 50-year-old!" The four well-known entrepreneurs at the forum were Kannappan Chettiar from The Stansfield Group, Seah Liang Chiang from DSC Holdings, Larry Lam from Portek International, and Ron Sim from Osim International.

The forums and road shows attracted over 1,500 participants altogether. The organisers were pleased to note the active involvement and strong interest of entrepreneurship among tertiary students, working professionals, research scientists and engineers, heartlanders and even secondary school students.

To find out more about Start-up@Singapore business plan competition and its upcoming events, visit www.startup.org.sg or contact Jolia Tan at 6874 8461 or jolia@nus.edu.sg.