Thirty-four foreign and twenty-five Taiwanese students competed with their original business ideas in the second “Be Young! Beyond! Startup Bootcamp” from July 21 to 28, the Central News Agency (CNA) reports.
The week-long summer camp was organized by the Youth Development Administration (YDA) to promote youth entrepreneurship and Taiwan's New Southbound Policy (NSP). In the camp, fifteen multinational teams each need to come up with a feasible idea for a startup and pitch their proposal in front of a jury, which will choose the best performing team based on the "innovation," "creativity," and "facilitation" of their business plans.
During the summer camp, participants were exposed to intensive business lessons in various areas, including marketing strategy, pitching, and product development. Students also got the chance to expand their network and share their talent with participants from ten different countries.
Liao Yu-hsuan (廖于萱) from Taiwan, Miles Iton from the U.S., Nguyen Khanh Vy from Vietnam, and Deborah Argayosa from the Philippines won the Distinguished Honor Award for a pitch titled “LOFI Language Learning.” They were favored by the jury for their teamwork and the thoroughness of their business plan, which involved integrating hip-hop music into English language learning.
Another three groups won Excellence awards. A team made up of Taiwanese Lou Yu-pei (羅渝珮) and Lee Tzu Hui (李慈慧) and Indonesians M. Rakhmat Setiawan and Devi Hendriyono received one of these for “Bravo,” an information-sharing platform that helps Muslims find Halal restaurants in Taiwan.
Meanwhile, Li Pei-ju (李佩儒) and Su Yang (蘇揚) from Taiwan, Vanshika Abbhi from India, and Chester Kenneth Andra from the Philippines won an Excellence Award for “Fungus Fighter,” a low-cost, harmless pesticide made from the biochemical defense system used by fungi. Finally, Taiwan natives Lin Chia-hsun (林佳勳) and Liao Ruei-yun (廖瑞雲) along with India's Chirag Juneja and Thailand's Punnapa Yoswaris won an award for “Foodie,” a sharing economy business plan that delivers provincial cuisine to migrant workers and immigrant communities.
