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Impact Startup Challenge 2019: 4 ASEAN Startup Cities, 126 Participants, and 12 Winning Ideas

It was an eventful first half of 2019 for the participants of the SUSS overseas Impact Startup Challenge (ISC)! A programme dedicated to aspiring entrepreneurs, students were given six days to test the validity of their ideas using the lean strategy, speak to real customers and finally, pitch to distinguished investors abroad.

SUSS partnered with Wilmar Bisnis Indonesia Politeknik (WBI) for Medan, Indonesia, TRIVE Ventures for Vietnam, American University of Phnom Penh (AUPP) for Cambodia and Formosa for Taiwan. These partners, along with SUSS Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Bryan Long, played a critical role inducting our students into the overseas startup landscape.

Some notable ideas were Gobble from Taiwan ISC and Space Solutions from Cambodia ISC. Gobble is a food sharing app that connects people through meals with an aim to avoid food waste. Space Solutions, on the other hand, hopes to create a fun space for advertisers to reach out to their customers in a more cost-effective manner, one coffee cup at a time.

Being exposed to diverse problem statements enabled participants to separate themselves from personal biases, encouraging them to intuitively delve deeper into the issues that matter. Furthermore, the participants had the opportunity to immerse in the different cultures, work meaningfully with a dynamic team of foreign students, attend learning journeys and have full access to strategic locations to test out their potential solutions.

Are you an aspiring entrepreneur or have an idea to test out? Join our upcoming Impact Startup Challenges! SUSS students are able to take this as a credit-bearing course while pre-tertiary participants will have a chance at a conditional offer from SUSS.

Here's what our participants had to say about ISC:

“The SUSS Impact Startup Programme was really beneficial as an aspiring startup. I've been telling myself before this trip that this is a great opportunity for me, and I would have "six days to change my life", if I worked hard during this trip. And it was indeed a life-changing experience. Thank you Bryan, Amrit, and Ena for being such awesome mentors. It wouldn't be possible without all your hard work. Thanks for pushing us through!”

– Tan Jin Xuan, Bachelor of Science Marketing (Part-Time), Phnom Penh, Cambodia ISC


“I highly recommend joining the startup challenge. It will greatly benefit you even if you are not looking to start a startup. The methods and learnings will provide a different perspective in your approach to formulate a solution.”

– Ong Zhen Chen, Bachelor of Science in Business Analytics (Full-Time), Kaohsiung, Taiwan ISC

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