{"id":612,"date":"2023-05-18T07:11:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T07:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"urn:uuid:fc3f5b7f-9b32-45cc-9b1c-5ad9a9fbd1b8"},"modified":"2025-02-22T03:55:58","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T03:55:58","slug":"mapletree-supports-aspiring-entrepreneurs-to-bring-ideas-to-real-life-at-singapores-largest-student-led-startathon-ground-zero-2023","status":"publish","type":"newsroom","link":"https:\/\/www.mapletree.com.sg\/jp\/newsroom\/mapletree-supports-aspiring-entrepreneurs-to-bring-ideas-to-real-life-at-singapores-largest-student-led-startathon-ground-zero-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapletree supports aspiring entrepreneurs to bring ideas to real life at Singapore\u2019s largest student-led startathon, Ground Zero 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

SINGAPORE <\/strong>\u2013 Reinforcing its corporate social responsibility\u2019s education pillar, Mapletree Investments (\u201cMapletree\u201d or \u201cthe Group\u201d) is pleased to support Ground Zero 2023, the largest student-led startathon held annually in Singapore. Organised by the National University of Singapore (\u201cNUS\u201d) Entrepreneurship Society (\u201cNES\u201d), the prize presentation ceremony was graced by guest-of-honour, Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs & Ministry of Social and Family Development on 13 May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ground Zero is the flagship event of NES\u2019s Startup Development Division, and it aims to gather entrepreneurial-minded students to ideate and innovate solutions to solve real world problems. Held from 8 to 13 May, the event was opened for students from all tertiaries and faculties and provided a platform for participants to learn, network and hone their entrepreneurial skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMapletree has been supporting the education sector in several forms, from providing bursaries and book prizes to endowed gifts, as well as funding entrepreneurial competitions like Ground Zero. We recognise that students have many ideas but may not have the experience and means to build on their ideas. I am happy to learn that Ground Zero 2023 gives the students the opportunity to connect with selected incubators and accelerators to take their idea forward, and possibly into the commercial space,\u201d said Mr Edmund Cheng, Chairman, Mapletree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, participants were given the opportunity to select an area of focus and come up with a startup idea from the ground up and pitch it, all within one week. The four areas of focus are Industry 4.0, Sustainability, Healthcare, and Consumer-centric. This was a new concept for the event which traditionally provided participants with problem statements to propose solutions to.

For this iteration of Ground Zero, the event was supported by a network of over 50 mentors, speakers, and judges. Additionally, NES also invited angel investors and incubators to attend the event and scout for talents amongst the participants. This increases the participants\u2019 opportunity to bring their innovations from competition to early-stage commercialization.

\u201cNUS Entrepreneurship Society is grateful for the support from Mapletree as well as the other sponsors and partners in making sure Ground Zero becomes a launchpad for student entrepreneurs to take their first big step in turning their ideas into a startup. The world is becoming more complex each day, and only by innovation can we keep up with the times. As aspiring entrepreneurs ourselves, we can\u2019t help but be inspired by the quality of pitches by the participants and we hope to have inspired them as well to carry on making a difference,\u201d said John Russell Himawan, Vice President, NUS Entrepreneurship Society.

A total of 75 teams participated, and the three winning teams Jin.co, Flex, and SmartPrice.com impressed the judging panel with their pitches. They were awarded cash prizes of $5,000 (First Prize), $3,000 (Second Prize) and $2,000 (Third Prize), respectively. More information on the winning teams can be found in Additional Notes.

Mapletree supported Ground Zero 2023 by providing venue sponsorship, hosting a total of 234 participants in MBC\u2019s Town Hall on 8 and 13 May 2023. Additionally, Mapletree also extended its support to the top three finalists with the S$10,000 cash prize pool. Mapletree previously also supported another event by NES, UNICON 2023, a student-led conference for young entrepreneurs across Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Available for download here: https:\/\/bit.ly\/44XV5W2<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo credits: Mapletree Investments<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u200b\u00a0MOS Sun Xueling with the top three winning teams, representatives from Mapletree, Ground Zero and judges on 13 May 2023<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0Mapletree\u2019s Group Chief Corporate Officer, Mr Wan Kwong Weng delivered the welcome address at Ground Zero on 8 May 2023<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MOS Sun Xueling (first row, fifth from right) with the finalist teams, representatives from Mapletree, Ground Zero and judges on 13 May 2023<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MOS Sun Xueling interacting with participants of Ground Zero on 13 May 2023<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Additional Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winning Teams<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Category<\/strong><\/td>Details of team<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
First Prize winner (S$5000)<\/td>Team Name: Jin.Co 
Focus area: Consumer-centric 
Description: Jin.co makes health snacks using cultural superfoods like ginseng and dates. Their goal is to bring today or modernity into traditional products for a new generation.<\/td><\/tr>
Second Prize winner (S$3000)<\/td>Team Name: Flex 
Focus area: Healthcare
Description: Flex is a tech company focusing on leveraging the power of AI to eliminate sports injuries and provide fitness guidance for everyone.<\/td><\/tr>
Third Prize winner (S$2000)<\/td>Team Name: Smartprice.com
Focus area: Sustainability
Description: SmartPrice.com provides a dynamic price tag solution for retail stores to help retailers increase revenue while reducing waste. Their price tags are paired with a cloud database and AI technology to offer the best price for products, based on expiration date and inventory levels.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Judges of Round 1 of the pitching competition on 11 May<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Wang Donghai
    Venture Development Manager at NUS GRIP<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Hussein Sulaiman
    Programme Head of BLOCK71 (Indonesia & Vietnam)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Nick Chung 
    Team Lead at NUS Enterprise (Deep Tech)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Kevin Leung
    Associate Director at NUS GRIP<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Lionel Lee
    Senior Programme Manager at NUS Enterprise<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Seow Hui Hong
    Ecosystem Builder at NUS Enterprise<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Claire Keung
    Community Manager, Aquatech Centre, NUS Enterprise<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Judges of the final pitching competition on 13 May<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Lai Choon Huong
      Assistant Manager, Investments & Assets Management 
      Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust Management<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Dave Ng
      General Partner 
      Altara Ventures<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Tancy Tan
      Chief Operating Officer
      HSBC<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Anni Cai
      Associate
      Sequoia Capital SEA<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Phik Ming Lim
      Angel Investor
      Epic Angels<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16209,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_trash_the_other_posts":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"editor_notices":[]},"tags":[416,114],"newsroom-category":[112,995],"csr-category":[1011],"class_list":["post-612","newsroom","type-newsroom","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-416","tag-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMapletree supports aspiring entrepreneurs to bring ideas to real life at Singapore\u2019s largest student-led startathon, Ground Zero 2023 - MIPL Japan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mapletree-stag.altis.cloud\/jp\/newsroom\/mapletree-supports-aspiring-entrepreneurs-to-bring-ideas-to-real-life-at-singapores-largest-student-led-startathon-ground-zero-2023\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mapletree supports aspiring entrepreneurs to bring ideas to real life at Singapore\u2019s largest student-led startathon, Ground Zero 2023 - MIPL Japan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SINGAPORE \u2013 Reinforcing its corporate social responsibility\u2019s education pillar, Mapletree Investments (\u201cMapletree\u201d or \u201cthe Group\u201d) is pleased to support Ground Zero 2023, the largest student-led startathon held annually in Singapore. 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