The Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition at the Singapore Management University (SMU) is back to support the entrepreneurial dreams of students globally. Launched in 2001 as the first global business plan competition for undergraduates around the world, the competition encourages students to showcase their business ideas in an international arena, network with potential investors and attract seed funding for their projects.

Since 2001, the Competition has grown from strength to strength with more than 1000 business plan entries received from more than 75 institutions around the world.

For the first time, SMU's Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (IIE) is organising the 2010 Competition together with SMU students. “The Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan competition has been a marquee event for the undergraduates from around the globe. It is heartening to see that one of the previous finalists is generating over a million dollars in revenue and has acquired a following from more than 3.5 million customers,” says Professor Desai Narasimhalu, Director of the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at SMU.

Shortlisted local teams in the preliminary round will have the chance to pick the brains of senior business leaders in a Tips from the Top session hosted by HSBC, which is again partnering this competition as a presenting sponsor. The Bank will be roping in its senior executives and business partners to share their vast business experience and acumen as well as to provide comments and advice on the business plans submitted by the local teams through one-on-one sessions with the team members.

Highlights of this year’s competition also include an Entrepreneurship Study Mission in Singapore for the finalists to understand the local innovation and entrepreneurship eco-system. They will visit incubators and network with early stage VCs and Technology Incubation Managers.

The Experience
The teams that have won in the past had winning business plans for fields covering data management, energy, gaming, medical, marketing and manufacturing.

Romel Dhalla, who represented the University of Manitoba, Canada, in the 2001 inaugural competition, says the lessons from the Competition have stayed with him. “In my present occupation, I use all of the skills and training that the Competition made available to me. It not only affects my work ethic and how I approach building my business, but also how I view the world from a philosophical level with respect to my appreciation of the global political economy and how we are all tied together,” he explains.

Another alumnus of the Competition is SMU Information Systems graduate Leonard Lin’s team TYLER Projects which came in as second runner-up in the 2005/2006 Competition with their mobile multiplayer game proposal. Today, TYLER generates more than S$1m in annual revenue as a social network game developer and consultant. One of its creations, Battle Stations, is Singapore’s first Facebook multiplayer game and has 3.5 million registered users.

How to Qualify?
With a greater emphasis on the team’s ability and commitment to execute the business plans, the participants are required to submit a 1000-word business plan summary online for a start-up or early stage venture. Proposals for merger/acquisitions of an existing company, consulting projects or licensing arrangements are not eligible. An existing business is only eligible if it has received less than US$50,000 in funding and has less than US$100,000 in gross revenue as at 31 March 2010 (the international closing date of the preliminary round).

The top 15 teams from the preliminary round will proceed to the semi-finals. Six of the semi-finalists will be invited to present at the finals on 8 July 2010. Teams from overseas invited for the finals will be supported with two round-trip tickets to Singapore and a five nights’ stay in a hotel.

Awards
Finalists stand to win a share of US$60,000 in cash, prizes and business development opportunities. The best performing local team in the finals will also be eligible to tap into a S$100,000 HSBC Investment Grant to give life to their business idea. For the first time, an individual award will be presented to the Most Promising Young Entrepreneur.

Submissions
All submitted materials must be the original work of the participating team. The closing date for local submissions is 1 March 2010 and 31 March 2010 for overseas submissions

Visit www.smu.edu.sg/lky to register and submit your business plans.