Chandran Nair, CEO and Founder of GIFT was invited as the Chief Judge of the challenge and described the event as ‘…an ideal channel for the young to project their entrepreneurial skills by suggesting ideas that would contribute to social development.’

The challenge is part of Bank Simpanan Nasional’s (Public Savings Bank of Malaysia) corporate social responsibility programme role of looking after the needs of the community, irrespective of race, age or beliefs. Previously, executives from BSN have participated in GIFT's Global Young Leaders Programmes in China, which inspired the organization to create the competition.
The aim of competitions like this in Asia is to provide a platform for young people to showcase their entrepreneurial skills whilst at the same time providing a platform for banks and investors to get involved in social investments.

The winning team competed with 37 budding social entrepreneurs from universities across Malaysia to win the coveted cash prize of SSP RM25,000.00. Eight were shortlisted and picked to attend a two-day workshop run by GIFT to work on their business plans, with the specific intention of outlining not only profit margins, but to evidence the social impact on local communities.
GIFT played an advisory role in the competition by sharing ideas and designing the key elements of the competition. The standard of this competition was extremely high and the three finalists presented innovative, profitable and socially relevant business ideas.

The three finalists were:

Winner
Nira Profits; using raw materials to produce healthier versions of popular foods from the University of Malaysia Terrenggau
Runner up
Universiti Teknologi Petronas; a team from this institute developed an Organic Fertilizer Commercialisation project
Third place
Let’s Play KIDDO: a model to provide services for children with specific learning difficulties.

If you would like to know more about the competition, the winning team or the other candidates please contact Ms Arida Ariffin on