Bangkok--26 Jan--SET
Sasin and the Market for Alternative Investment (mai) to host global venture plan competition, the mai Bangkok Business Challenge® @ Sasin 2015, with the theme of “Seeds of Success for a Sustainable Future”
Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn University, in collaboration with the Market for Alternative Investment (mai), will hold a global venture plan competition, the 13th mai Bangkok Business Challenge® @ Sasin 2015, from February 12-14, 2015 at Sasin Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn University. This year’s theme is “Seeds of Success for a Sustainable Future”, which continues to receive significant attention and feedback from leading universities from around the world.
The purpose of this venture plan competition is to encourage graduate students to learn new business skills, realize their capabilities, become more entrepreneurial, and help them to build a network among business school students from around the world. The competition also offers these young entrepreneurs the opportunity to meet with, and get valuable feedback from real investors, as they prepare to start their new businesses. The competition can become a catalyst for securing actual venture capital investments for these potential startups.
This year, for the first round of the competition, a total of 48 business plans from 18 countries across 4 continents, were submitted. The 16 teams which qualified for the semi-final round are from some of the world’s leading business schools and include teams from the following institutions: the Kellogg School of Management, Cornell University, University of Oregon, and University of Arkansas from the U.S.A., Queensland University and Griffith University from Australia, Nanyang Technological University from Singapore, National Chiao Tung University from Taiwan; Chinese University of Hong Kong from Hong Kong SAR, Sejong University from South Korea, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode from India; Asian Institute of Management from Philippines, Prasetiya Mulya Business School from Indonesia, Putra Business School from Malaysia, Lahore University of Management Sciences from Pakistan, and the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration from Thailand.
For the 2015 awards, the competition’s winning team will receive the H.M. The King’s Award and an automatic berth in the Global Venture Labs Investment Competition (GVLIC) at The University of Texas at Austin, U.S.A., the “Super Bowl” of business plan competitions. Sasin also made a request to offer the H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's Sustainability Award, kindly bestowed by Her Royal Highness and in commemoration of HRH Princess Sirindhorn's 60th Birthday. The Award will be given to the team that demonstrates a strong commitment to sustainable development. Teams in this year’s competition will also compete for the Houston Technology Center Asia Innovation Award, given to the team with the most remarkable innovation, and otherprizes worth over US$128,000.
Official sponsors for this year’s competition include: The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET); Houston Technology Center Asia; and Kiatnakin Bank Public Company Limited. The Money Channel and The Venture Labs Investment Competition are co-sponsoring partners.
The Origins of the mai Bangkok Business Challenge® @ Sasin
The mai Bangkok Business Challenge® @ Sasin began in 2002 as the Bangkok Business Challenge® (BBC). Sasin launched this business plan competition, the first in Thailand to be conducted in English, to celebrate Sasin’s 20thanniversary and to encourage post-graduate students in business administration programs around the country to present their business plans and compete for His Majesty The King’s Award. It has been held every year since then. For the fifth year of the competition in 2007, the Market for Alternative Investment (mai) became a co-host, and since then the competition has been called The mai Bangkok Business Challenge® @ Sasin. This event is the only global business plan competition in Thailand.
To celebrate the occasion of HRH Princess Sirindhorn's 60th Birthday on April 2, 2015, Chulalongkorn University will host this auspicious celebration by inviting faculties, including Sasin, to participate in various activities. Therefore, Sasin made a request to offer a Royal Award, H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's Sustainability Award, from the 2015 competition onwards, in addition to the current awards, for the team with a strong commitment to sustainable development.
The mai Bangkok Business Challenge® @ Sasin 2015 will be held from February 12-14, 2015. Entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, students and members of the general public are invited to attend free of charge. The competition will be held at the Sasa Patasala Building, Sasin, Chula Soi 12. For further information, please contact 0-2218-4001-9 ext.181-182 or visit http://bbc.sasin.edu.