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[21 April 2005]
Asurion Asia Pacific Announces Success Of First Initiative
With Singapore Management University
Asurion Asia Pacific, l eading provider
of value added services to the wireless industry, is pleased
to announce the success of the first
“Asurion Young Entrepreneurs Challenge”, held
in collaboration with Singapore Management University (SMU),
Singapore's first private university funded by the government.
Created exclusively for SMU, the students
were asked to help Asurion develop innovative value added
service ideas to address the issue of customer churn in the
wireless industry and partner with mobile operators to retain
and grow their customer base. The competition saw 16 teams
competing to provide the winning solution and through a rigorous
selection process, five teams were short-listed for the finals,
which was held on 1 April 2005.
The finals involved a panel of four judges,
who evaluated and selected the top three teams following
a presentation by the finalists. The panel of judges included:
- Paul Kitchin, Vice President, Consumer Marketing, Singapore
Telecommunications Limited (SingTel)
- Jonathan Allan, Vice President, Marketing, Asurion Asia
Pacific
- Andrew Thomas, Managing Director, Ogilvy Public Relations
Worldwide
- Associate Professor Desai Arcot Narasimhalu, Chairperson,
SMU Business Innovations Generator and Director Industry
Relations, School of Information Systems, Singapore Management
University
The winning team came up with an Internet-to-mobile
gaming service called “HYPERwave”,
which is an extension of online multiplayer games to mobile
phones. This will be done through a gaming platform that
can seamlessly integrate mobile and Internet technology and
enable users to play multiplayer online games on their mobile
phones. The team's originality and persuasive analysis, as
well as the proposal's commercial viability garnered it the
first prize in the competition. Please refer to the attached
fact sheet for more information on this winning entry.
“Asurion is very happy with our collaboration
with an institution like SMU who believes as much as we do
in the value of creativity and entrepreneurship. The students
demonstrated a good understanding of what we were looking
for as a company and impressed us with their ingenuity, diligence
and quality of the business plan. T heir outstanding performance
has certainly given us the confidence to run this competition
on an annual basis and we look forward to extending internships
to some of these remarkable young people.” said Jonathan
Allan, Vice President of Marketing, Asurion Asia Pacific.
“Most of the time, we deal with industry
professionals when it comes to innovative mobile applications
and solutions. It was thus a refreshing experience to hear
the ideas of our young people. The students have obviously
put a lot of effort into coming up with their proposals.
I am sure they will be able to make a positive contribution
should they decide to enter the world of telecommunications,” said
Paul Kitchin, Vice President, Consumer Marketing, Singapore
Telecommunications Limited.
“We are very privileged to have a
partner like Asurion for this new series of annual competitions.
It is an integral part of the SMU education that students
get to tackle real life business situations and build extensive
business networks. The partnership will offer this opportunity.
The wireless industry is a burgeoning sector with fast and
furious developments. I am sure our students will feel the
adrenaline flow doing business consultancy for this sector.” said
Associate Professor Desai Arcot Narasimhalu, Chairperson,
Singapore Management University Business Innovations Generator.
Apart from cash prizes worth up to S$2500,
the winning team also stands to be employed as project consultants
should Asurion decides to implement their business idea.
An internship opportunity will also be offered to outstanding
students at Asurion and
Ogilvy & Mather, one of the largest communications networks
in the world. |
