Filipino students won at the recently concluded FedEx Express/Junior Achievement International Trade Challenge (ITC) regional finals in Singapore, a three-day competition designed to educate and build entrepreneurship and business skills in young people from Asia-Pacific.
Germaine Kaw and Sharmaine Yap, who represented the Philippines at the regional competition, bagged third place with their outstanding and innovative business idea in response to this year’s challenge.
Competing among 23 other teams from 7 other Asian countries, Kaw and Yap designed a vuvuzela MP4 music player as their market entry strategy for exporting vuvuzelas, a horn, to South Africa.
Meantime, Anchisa Pongmanaruth and Natharee Krabuantat of Thailand won the top prize with their ‘Vuvuseika’, a vuvuzela made from bamboo that can produce sounds of different musical notes with adjustable volume, targeting tourists and sports fans in South Africa.
The second place went to the team from Malaysia represented by Thiruvinothini Thiruvenggadarr and Sofea A. Ghani. They created a vuvuzela travel kit for tourists in South Africa. Named ‘Avontuur’, which means adventure in Dutch, the vuvuzela is a musical instrument that also functions as a telescope.
This year, forty-six students between 16-19 years of age from Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand were selected to represent their markets at the regional finals in Singapore after competing at the local challenge in their respective home markets.
Jointly organized by FedEx Express and U.S.-based JA Worldwide®, the world’s largest organisation dedicated to preparing youths for the working world, the ITC was launched in 2007 and is supported by a US$1.2million grant from FedEx Express over a four-year period involving major markets in the Asia Pacific region.
The panel of judges comprising successful entrepreneurs and esteemed business leaders evaluated the teams on their business acumen, concept and presentation. The students were measured on their thoroughness, creativity and professionalism in developing and executing their business entry strategy.
“We are very impressed with the quality of the market entry strategies presented this year. The finalists displayed tremendous ingenuity, creativity, teamwork and communication skills. We hope that this experience will help these students prepare for the challenges of the business world in the future,” said Clifton Chua, Managing Director, FedEx Express Singapore.
Sean C. Rush, president and chief executive officer of JA Worldwide, added, “These students epitomize how the next generation of business leaders will collaborate to solve problems and create value for their organizations. JA Worldwide is proud to partner with FedEx to create access for students to experiences like the ITC where they can apply entrepreneurial thought and action.”
Now in its fourth year, the ITC has provided more than 4300 students in Asia Pacific a firsthand experience of world trade; enhanced their knowledge of product distribution, promotion, and sales; and developed traits of competition, teamwork, risk-taking, and self-confidence. FedEx employees volunteered as mentors or to help students understand the concept of international trade and guide them in the development of their plans.
So To all Filipino's,let us be proud of our country because we have a say in being the best and always be best.
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