JGSOM
Students win in the Grand Championship at the 2nd HSBC Young I.T. Entrepreneurs
Awards Competition
To
represent the Philippines at the Regional Grand finals in Hongkong
Ateneo sweeps all three top awards
Ateneo's
John Gokongwei School of Management continued its winning ways at the HSBC
Young I.T. Entrepreneurs Awards Competition by winning the Gold Award yet
again at this year's Philippine grand finals held at the Makati
Shangrila Hotel on 9 March 2005. Steven Alexis Ng (III
B.S. CTM), Carlo Mortel (III B.S. Mgt) and Aaron
Jarvis Ho (III B.S. LM) carried the day for JGSOM with their
proposal "e-Musikero", an online music retailer that
will allow Filipinos living anywhere in the world to quickly find,
purchase, and download legitimate music from mainstream and independent
Filipino artists.
These three young men made it two in the row for JGSOM by repeating the feat of another JGSOM team, made up of Abigail Go (BS CTM), Richard Rubnan Que (BS Mgt) and Melody Wong (BS CTM), who also won the Gold Award at last year's first-ever staging of this HSBC competition with their entry, eLustrados.
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| Team "Park Me" poses for posterity with Ms. Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, CEO of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and Mr. Warner Manning, CEO of HSBC Philippines |
It was truly Ateneo's night, as the Blue Eagles stamped their class over the rest of the field by not just winning the Gold Award, but sweeping all three major awards of the competition: Ateneans Darren de Jesus (IV BS MIS) and John Legisma (IV BS MIS), together with University of Asia & the Pacific management student Crystal Lee, won the Silver Award with their proposal, "WowTravel", a portal for tourism-oriented establishments in the Philippines which will give travelers the ability to create their dream vacation packages on-line and in real time. Jor-el Soyangco (III BS ME), Johann Vittorio Trinidad (III AB Psych), and Jenica Ranice Go (III. AB ECH) completed the sweep by winning the Bronze Award with their proposal, "Park Me", a parking management company dedicated to providing simple, efficient and easily accessible parking reservation via SMS.
The
"e-Musikero" team will represent the Philippines at the
Regional Grand Finals to be held at HSBC's Asia-Pacific Headquarters in
Hong Kong in June 2005, going up against the champion teams from Hong
Kong, Malaysia and Thailand.
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| Team "e-Musikero" receives their Gold Award from Mr. Joey Concepcion, Chairman of the Board of Judges, and Mr. Roberto de Ocampo, President of the Asian Institute of Management |
The
Gold, Silver, and Bronze awardees all received special trophies,
self-development funds of P150,000, P125,000, and P100,000, respectively,
and a chance to interact with winners from Hong Kong, Malaysia and
Thailand during the Regional Grand Finals in Hongkong. In addition,
the Gold Awardees were presented with a 6 month scholarship to the Asian
Institute of Management's Venture Into Entrepreneurship Program and a
one-week study tour to the University of Washington in Seattle.
The
five finalists, which included a team each from De La Salle University and
Cebu Normal University, were selected from over 100 entries nationwide
over three successive rounds of screening and elimination. The Board
of Judges was chaired by Mr. Joey Concepcion, Chairman of RFM Corporation,
and Presidential Consultant for Entrepreneurship. Other members of
the Board of Judges included Ms. Luli Arroyo, Director for Strategic
Development of the Foundation for I.T. Education and Development (FIT-ED);
Ms. Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, President and CEO of the Philippine Daily
Inquirer; Mr. Roberto de Ocampo, President of the Asian Institute of
Management; and Mr. Warner Manning, CEO of HSBC Philippines.