My friends and I came out with FoodCulture Guide, a unique, service provider of affordable tour packages of Singapore’s vibrant food culture. Our aim was to be a regional leader and succeed with the workforce we developed by retraining the elderly as tour guides; providing job opportunities and spreading the different cultures found in Singapore to the people around the region. We used social media – Blogspot, Facebook Page and even Twitter to reach out to our targeted audience.
Initially, this idea came from my friends (Lee Hui Xin and Umairah Kwang) and me when we took our Cross Disciplinary Subject – Entrepreneurship in Year 2. We were given the topic of ‘Silver Industry’ to work on for our assignment. In order to stand out and be unique, we chose to hire senior citizens instead of creating any innovative products that can help them physically. After which, I also found out that Singapore is lacking in promoting our own culture and heritage. Therefore, we foresaw that there would be business opportunities in setting up a business idea relating to this area.
After which, I continued working on this idea and together with my classmates - Lee Hui Xin, Umairah Kwang, Nur Sakinah, Adeline Wong and Benjamin Tan, submitted our business plan to Final5, a competition organized by Temasek Polytechnic.. Even though we didn’t manage to make it to the finals it was still a great learning experience for every one of us.
After making further improvements to our business ideas, I decided to submit the business plans of FoodCulture to the Singapore eChallenge 2011. This time, we managed to make it to the semi-finals, then finals and even managed to clinch the 2nd runner-up on 18 November 2011.
From left to right: Poh Jue Ying, Herman Benny, Professor Lindsay, Benjamin Tan, and Patricia Phua.
From left to right: Ms Nami, Ms Cheng, Patricia Phua, Poh Jue Ying, Benjamin Tan and Herman Benny.
Singapore eChallenge 2011- top 6 finalist teams on stage.
My team that participated in the eChallenge 2011
Our dearest and ardent supporters: Adeline Wong, Chen Shao Chun, Low Kai Keng and Jeffrey Lim.
You might ask: ‘What’s the unique selling point of FoodCulture?’ We see ourselves as Social Entrepreneurs that help the senior citizens to embrace an active lifestyle and provide them with opportunities to continue contributing to society. However, our idea was not just beneficial to the ‘Silver Industry’, but also helps to educate the younger generations of Singapore’s rich and diversified culture as well as heritage.
Basically, the major set-back that we faced was time management as we are currently Year 3 students and most of us are either busy with Major Project or Student Internship Programme. The lack of time and the need to focus on our studies were indeed the biggest challenge that we faced. However, proper planning, good time management and commitment from everyone in the team are needed in order to manage and excel in our studies and participate in any competition.
Thus, there shouldn’t be any excuse or reason for anyone from not joining competitions. So, don’t hesitate anymore, just take a little step forward and who is to know? You might be the next winner, a successful entrepreneur!
In life, it’s not about winning or losing, but to simply enjoy the whole process. Our team truly appreciated this opportunity that was given to us to learn something outside the classrooms.
Lastly, we would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude and thank all our lecturers, supporters, volunteers, Ngee Ann-Adelaide for their continuous support. Especially, Ms Cheng, Course Manager of Financial Business Informatics, Ms Nami – our supervisor, and our lecturers - Ms Audrey Toh, Mr Edward and Ms Esther. Without their endless support and guidance, I don’t think we would be able to make it thus far.
Once again, thank you!
Posted by Poh Jue Ying
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