2nd Young Entrepreneur Awards – The Judges Pick the Winners
Canon kicked off the judging phase of its 2nd Young Entrepreneur Awards (YEA) on 6 Feb 2012. All the finalists were given the exclusive opportunity to present their business ideas to a panel of judges that included some of Singapore’s most renowned entrepreneurs.
This distinguished group included Ms. Foong Ming Lee-Ng (Vice President of Programming, Mediacorp), Mr. Andrew Koh (Senior Director and General Manager, Canon Singapore), Ms. Elim Chew (President and Founder, 77th Street), Dr. Low Lee Yong (CEO and Founder, MHC Asia Group), Ms. Goh Yiping (Co-Founder, AllDealsAsia.com) and Mr. Michel Birnbaum (Partner, iGlobe Partners).
Meeting the finalists for the first time, the judges were able to get up close and personal with the young entrepreneurs – to know more not only about their proposals but also to find out what inspired them, the challenges they faced, and what they needed to help them succeed.
Judges explaining the goal of YEA and the ‘Think Big, Think Canon’ campaign, Mr Andrew Koh said, “When we first conceived this campaign, what we wanted to achieve was to inspire businesses about growing their business.” But the campaign has grown to be more than that, also becoming a platform for young entrepreneurs to turn their business dreams into reality.
“I think our future is about dreams, it’s about new ideas and innovations, and it (the YEA) is a little way to get youngsters to put their dreams into some form of action. Hopefully, they can raise some funds and awareness through this little programme,” said Dr. Low Lee Yong.
Echoing Dr. Low’s thoughts, Ms. Elim Chew spoke about the soft spot she holds for young entrepreneurs. “I love young entrepreneurs. I’m very inspired by many of them because I think they are our future generations, they have a lot of ideas, explore many things but they lack experience. And what we need to give them as a panel of judges is to make them think, give them depth in terms of experience and maybe sometimes offer them networking opportunities so that they’re able to turn their ideas from vision to reality.”
It’s no surprise then that the YEA finalists found the face-to-face session with seasoned entrepreneurs to be highly beneficial as well.
Committed to the advancement of local entrepreneurship, Canon will continue to spearhead programs to help empower businesses and entrepreneurs alike. The 2nd Young Entrepreneur Awards was recently held on 24 Feb 2012, so be sure to check back with us to catch the highlights of the night, the big winners, videos, and photos. Don’t miss it!
About the ‘Think Big, Think Canon’ Campaign & the YEA
Introduced in 2010 by Canon, the goal of the ‘Think Big, Think Canon’ campaign is to reach out to entrepreneurs, particularly in the Small and Medium Enterprise segment (SME). In addition to advancing businesses with cutting-edge Canon innovations, Canon aspires to go beyond technology and empower entrepreneurs to take their business from start-up to success.
The YEA, jointly organised by Canon and MediaCorp, is designed to help budding entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 to 40 turn their start-up idea into a real business with cash and technological solutions, courtesy of Canon.