Business plan competitions for future Thai entrepreneurs
See "Turning plans into reality" (back page, business)
The "Bangkok Business Challenge" is a student business plan competition for students all over Asia. The competition "focuses on the creation of ventures with real market potential." The competition gives students practice working with real business problems before they graduate by simulating one of the problems that corporations face, creating new products and services. New and innovative business ideas are especially important for the success of SME's, an important part of Thailand's economy. Can you identify who is hosting the event? Three winning business plans this year are described in the article:
1. "My Car" from National University of Singapore.
2. "Bioshield" from Mahidol University.
3. "Gissco" from Sasin School of Management, Chulalongkorn.
Try matching the details from business plans listed below with the business plans above they belong to:
1. The target market is manufacturers of shrimp feed.
2. It could help Thai shrimp exports.
3. The automobile industry is the targeted market.
4. It is an agricultural product.
5. More money will be made from advertising than from customers.
6. A famous advertising agency has expressed interest in the idea.
7. It has a rental rate as low as 75 baht per hour.
8. It is a medical product.
9. It reduces the difficulty of having a car in Singapore.
10. The CP Group may be interested.
11. It could increase the durability of parts.
In the last paragraph, two additional benefits of the contest are noted, What are they? How could creating friends with business students from overseas be beneficial in the future?
Vocabulary (in article)
lucrative - profitable.foster - encourage the development and growth of
entrepreneurial spirit - the spirit of a business person who starts their own company with a new and therefore risky business idea.
city-state - a small country like Singapore that is only a city
duties - taxes on goods imported into a country from another country
empowering - giving a group of people the power they need to do something they need to do.
hassles - difficulties and troubles.
elitism - the feeling that you need to belong to a small group of very special people (here car owners)
intrigued - interested in something, usually because it is strange and unusual
seed money - the money needed to start a business (like planting a "seed")
venture capital - money invested in a new, small, and usually risky company
venture capital funds - provide venture capital to small and risky start-up companies (this is equity not a loan, the fund owns a lot of the company)
vaccine - an injection given to prevent people from getting a disease
Moot Corp competition - an competition that gives students real life practice by simulating how a real corporation works, in law schools "Moot court competitions" give future lawyers training in a simulated (not real) court
manufacturing hub - the central and main place for some kind of business activity like automobile manufacturing or air travel.
Article
Turning plans into reality
Business Challenge winners seek funding SRIWIPA SIRIPUNYAWITThe growing number of student business plan competitions has helped to foster an entrepreneurial spirit among young people and build up the potential of new small businesses. The latest examples are three new ventures set up by the winners of the Bangkok Business Challenge 2006.
For the past three years, the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn University has organised the annual Bangkok Business Challenge, which focuses on the creation of ventures with real market potential.
This year's fourth contest welcomed 18 teams from 11 leading universities across Asia. It was supported by Kiatnakin Bank, Bank of Ayudhya and the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI).
My Car, developed by a team from the National University of Singapore, won the contest, followed by first runner-up BioShield from Mahidol University's College of Management, and second runner-up Gissco from Sasin.
The winner received the HM the King Award and a prize of 200,000 baht while the second and third runners-up received 100,000 and 70,000 baht, respectively.
The members of My Car team began with a simple observation about consumer demand in Singapore. They cited a survey in which residents of the city-state listed a car as one of three necessities, after a credit card and a condominium.
But owning a car in Singapore is not easy. Prices are inflated by extremely high licensing and registration fees as the government wants to limit the number of cars on the streets. ``In Singapore, 60% of the car's cost is taxes and duties,'' said team member Anand Agarwal.
The key concept of My Car, he said, was to serve the low- to middle-income population. ``I felt there had to be a way in which the concept of budget airlines could be applied to road travel, empowering people to enhance the quality of their lives by fulfilling their needs.
``The chief driver of my thinking was that [personal] transport should be cheap enough to be comparable to public transport and secondly, it should provide a sense of ownership without the hassles of membership or elitism.''
The team decided rentals should be available even by the hour, since some customers might only need a car for a short time to run some errands. The rental rate would be as low as S$3 (75 baht) per hour, comparable to public transport.
Unlike other providers, My Car would not charge additional costs such as petrol, membership or registration. One reason is that the cars would be electric-powered.
Nevertheless, the low service fees would not affect the company's ability to generate revenue, the members said. The reason is that the main source of income would be advertising placed on the cars.
Visa International and the ad agency Ogilvy & Mather in Singapore were intrigued, and have agreed to join the group as business partners, the members said.
BioShield and Gissco, the two winners from Thailand, are now seeking seed money or venture capital to help turn their winning projects into reality.
Suteera Chulermkarnchana, the CEO of BioShield, said her team was seeking around 40 million baht to turn its concept into a business reality.
The four-member team set out to commercialise a vaccine discovered by Mahidol researchers to prevent white-spot virus in shrimp. The company has devised production, marketing, distribution and financial plans to help market the vaccine to the right users.
Ms Suteera, 26, who is studying for a master's degree in marketing at Mahidol's College of Management, expressed strong confidence in the product, given that shrimp exports are one of the country's most important industries.
``We believe there will be huge demand out there in the market, including overseas. The white-spot virus is considered a very serious disease for the shrimp business. It can wipe out all the shrimp in a pond within a week,'' she said.
The team's key marketing strategy is to target manufacturers of shrimp feed, with which the vaccine must be mixed. It is in talks with the CP Group, the country's largest agribusiness group with extensive shrimp operations in other countries as well. ``And they are willing to join if the product proves to be able to truly prevent the virus as we claim.''
Daraprai Nimkiertkajon, a 26 year-old marketer for the Gissco, said her group had spent five months on its project.
Gissco offers a new technological process for manufacturing aluminium vehicle parts. The Giss (Gas-Induced Semi-Solid) system can increase the durability of parts by 75% while reducing production costs by 18%. The team is also one of the 20 entering the second round of the Sasin Asian Moot Corp 2006 competition.
``We foresee a huge opportunity in the business since Thailand is now attempting to become the automobile manufacturing hub in Asia,'' Ms Daraprai said.
The five-member team's marketing plan involves approaching auto manufacturers as well as dealers. Currently they are in talks with the Sikor Group, a local manufacturer of auto parts. They are also seeking venture capital of around US$1.3 million.
"The contests are very beneficial to students to make use of what they learn in class,'' said Ms Daraprai. ``They also offer great opportunities to set up a real business and create networks with friends from other universities or even overseas.''
