SINGAPORE – Organised by Mapletree Investments (“Mapletree” or “the Group”), the inaugural Mapletree Budding Entrepreneurs Challenge (“MBEC”) showcased innovative ideas from 12 teams over three days. At the Grand Finals on 13 March 2026, four top projects each received S$10,000 in prize money and seed funding. (For more information on the winners, please refer to Annex A.)

The inaugural edition challenged teams to develop and pitch a product or service aligned to the themes of Education or Healthcare. Prior to the Grand Finals, 35 ideas were submitted, of which 12 were shortlisted. Participants engaged in mentoring sessions, workshops and fireside chats with start-up leaders, industry experts and youth entrepreneurs during MBEC hackathon.

Mr Edmund Cheng, Chairman, Mapletree, said, “Extending the impact of entrepreneurship initiatives we have co-organised and supported over the 16 years of our community giving journey, MBEC reaffirms our commitment to nurturing young innovators who are ready to shape the future. We hope to connect young entrepreneurs with industry mentors and partners, nurture bold thinking and inspire a stronger passion to do good and do well.”

Drawing on Mapletree’s capabilities as a real estate company, the four winning teams – AdaptAble, Error 404, Goodgood, Reflexion – will advance to commercialise their ideas at rent-free pop-up stalls at VivoCity from 13 to 19 August 2026. The team with the highest profits will be awarded an additional S$500 cash prize. More details on the stalls’ location and operating hours will be released closer to date.

In line with the challenge’s purpose of creating meaningful impact, 70% of net profits will be donated to an Institution of a Public Character registered charity of the team’s choice. Charities must be aligned with at least one of Mapletree’s four Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) pillars of the Arts, Education, Environment or Healthcare.

Leveraging Mapletree’s pool of retail experts, winning teams will receive retail mentorship from Ms Gwen Au, Vice President, Marketing Communications, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust Property Management Ltd to gear up for stall operations at VivoCity.

Hubert Koh, co-founder of Goodgood, an affordable tactile engineering toy system, shared, “It was an insightful three days talking and networking with established entrepreneurs and mentors. They have been helpful in refining our idea, especially our final pitch. We are grateful and proud to be one of the four winning teams at Mapletree Budding Entrepreneurs Challenge 2026.”

As part of Mapletree’s CSR efforts, under the Education pillar, MBEC was created as a continuation of the Mapletree-SCCCI River Hongbao Hackathon (“RHBHacks”), which concluded in 2025. MBEC provides a platform for youth innovators to tackle pressing social issues through real-world retail ventures.

Past winners of RHBHacks also include Stick’Em (2021), an intuitive and affordable kit where children can learn the fundamentals of robotics in a fun and engaging way, which has since expanded into 11 countries, engaging over 9,000 students; Commenhers (2022), which has scaled its business with over 100 employees, turning large amounts of textile waste into new, saleable products like pouches, bags, and clothes and SUSFeed (2025), Singapore’s first sustainable fish feed, pioneering sustainable and nutritious pet feeds for ornamental fish.

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