YES WE MADE IT TO THE TOP 20 FINALISTS ALLIANCE BANK SME INNOVATION CHALLENGE 2015

The SME Innovation Challenge 2015 was launched on 9 July 2015 with a total RM1,000,000 cash and media prizes to be won. There are three additional category prizes to be won this year namely, the Manulife Sustainability Award (RM100,000), VISA Retail Award (RM100,000) and HyppTV Viewers' Choice Award (RM200,000). The Grand Prize for the Champion will receive Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin Entrepreneurship Award RM250,000/ First Runner-up will get RM200,000 and Second Runner-Up will receive RM150,000.

The application for the SME Challenge 2015 was closed on 1 September and those shortlisted including my new company CarBengkel was called for an interview and had to pitch 6 prominent judges chaired by billionaire and philanthropist Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin on 18 September 2015 (for more information, read HERE). From that session, twenty were selected and the TOP 20 Finalist was announced this afternoon at the Young Entrepreneurs Conference 2015 held at the Planery Hall, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

The Young Entrepreneur Conference 2015 is a by-invitation-only event and is open to all aspiring entrepreneurs. Amnan Bazli Pahamin and I attended the YEC 2015 with a mix feeling. Nervous, excited and anxious!! We really look forward to be selected as the Top 20 Finalists. Being a new start-up, we can only imagine the mileage we will get being shortlisted. I did my best though I felt I could have done better pitching Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin and those prominent judges last week on 18 September. We had the pleasure and honour to meet the humble Malek Ali, the founder for our favourite radio station BFM 89.90 who is also one of the judges at the recent pitch. I love his inspiring life story.

BATTLE OF PLATOONS 4.0

The Chief's Original Bootcamp has declared a state of emergency for all battalion to be at Defcon 3. All platoons under each battalion to form a unit ready for battle. This is the fourth war cry for battle issued in half a decade.

At Defcon 3, all recruits at all battalion to increase their training intensity and ready for deployment. Our intelligent unit speculate a war will break out with the following details:

DATE: 8 November 2015
TIME: 5:30am - 9:30am
WAR ZONE: To be advice.
THEME: No better friend, no worst enemy.

What is the Battle of Platoons?

The Battle of Platoons is a special event organized to foster the spirit of camaraderie between recruits from all platoons. Most of the time, recruits only interact with their fellow platoon mate without any opportunity to meet recruits from other platoons. During the battle, recruits from all locations will gather at the war zone. Recruits from all ranks; Rangers, Seals and Deltas would have to work together and win points for their platoon.

The Battle of Platoons was first mooted by Senior Sarge Coad; COBC Regional Master trainer & Spec Ops Coordinator in 2009. "The challenge was conducted to determine which platoon is the strongest in a friendly, enjoyable and slightly competitive way".

Who can participate?

1. Any recruits that is registered and train at COBC. 

2. To enable more recruits to join & participate in the BOP 4.0, a special fee is extended for all past, present & new recruit at only RM99.50 per month for the month of October and RM99.50 for November (The fee is conditional on registration and payment for both November & December before November intake- total RM199.00 for 2 intakes). This RM99 per month is for all recruits registered for the months of October & November 2015.
3. All WIP and special recruits can defer their WIP payment to December and pay the "special fees" instead.

PITCHING AT THE SME INNOVATION CHALLENGE 2015

I first heard of the BizSmart Academy SME Innovation Challenge 2015 from Li Lian Khaw whom invited CarBengkel to compete. We submitted our application in early August and was overwhelmed to received a congratulatory email on 11 September, being one of the 40 companies that was shortlisted for the pitching. For more information on SME Innovation Challenge 2015, click HERE. For more information on CarBengkel win~win solution for car owners and the aftersales network, click HERE.

We were given a week to prepare for the pitching scheduled on 18 September 2015 (today!!) at 9:15am slot. Logan and I worked the weekends and the whole week to perfected the pitch deck and I spend the whole 2 days rehearsing to deliver our message in the given 8 minutes timeframe!! Cradle graduates were trained to pitch in 5 minutes and the additional 3 minutes is almost a bonus but I wanted to share so much more of what CarBengkel can do that I needed more than the bonus 3 minutes. After dozens of practicing and rehearsing, I managed to hit the 8 minutes timeframe after censoring and prioritizing alot of slides and pointers.

What is the mechanic of the challenge?