WHILE their peers were taking a break from studies, pursuing their interests or taking up industry internships, National University of Singapore second-year students Lai Wai Kit, Joshua Lim, Choo Haiping and Bingzhi decided to take part in the IBM Young Entrepreneur Award, one of the many business case competitions available to students through the NUS Business School.

'Being an entrepreneur has always been my dream and the competition was an opportunity for me to test my resilience and perseverance,' said Bingzhi.

'For me, the competition was a chance to apply the concepts of school in the real world, and of course the prize money was attractive as well,' quipped Joshua.

Initiated by the IBM Singapore Pte Ltd in partnership with local IT products distributor ECS Holdings, the competition required groups of students from NUS to come up with competing marketing strategies for a new product - the IBM Tivoli Continuous Data Protection software. Specifically, they also had to conduct market research and analysis and develop a financial plan for the execution of the marketing strategy, estimating the expenditures as well as projected revenues and costs over a specific period of time.

'ProProtectors', as the guys chose to call themselves, passed the preliminary presentation rounds to be one of six finalist teams given $500 each to execute their business plan. Eventually, they outsold their competitors to win the $5,000 cash prize as overall champions, not surprisingly, if you consider that none of the members were new to the business scene.

'Joshua and Bingzhi are running a tuition agency, while Haiping and I were also partners in a Food & Beverage outlet based on campus,' explained Wai Kit. 'Joshua and Bingzhi's tuition agency was sparked because they were once tutors. Haiping's and my experiences at our supper venture was inspired because we lived in hall, and found a gaping lack of supper alternatives on campus.'

While the experience from their forays into the business world had its benefits, it led to some unexpected consequences as well.

Brainstorming

'Team ProProtectors comprised of four outspoken dynamic individuals - and whilst this proved to be advantageous at times, it was also a drawback as each of us wanted our viewpoints to be heard,' said Wai Kit. 'We wasted a lot of time brainstorming in discussions that continued late into the night.'

Added Haiping: 'For example, some of us felt that stocking extra inventory at our base was strategic; some of us felt that this tactic to prevent the competitor teams from accessibility to inventory was not appropriate.'

Furthermore, when words came to action, they realised that things were not going as well as they planned, and as a result they even decided to change strategies halfway.

'I believe that the biggest challenge in the competition was daring to stray from our initial plan, adopting a new strategy and being able to adapt to the rapid changes that the competition environment presented us,' Bingzhi said.

That included working as salesmen at electronics store Courts, believing that the channel would be a strategic avenue to tout their ware. The rationale was that, if a consumer had just spent $3,000 on purchasing a laptop, he would not mind spending another $30 on Tivoli data protection.

'We later became more proactive and started to make corporate door-to-door sales to small and medium enterprises and small offices, home offices (SOHOs),' the trio said. 'It was there we found much success.'

Overcoming rejection was a big challenge for the team, at least initially.

'However, after much experience and rejections we've learnt not to pity ourselves and to maintain the same level of enthusiasm and energy when making our sales pitch,' said Joshua.

A lesson in entrepreneurial spirit was definitely one of the things this group of friends took away from the competition, made more valuable by the fact that each of them hopes to be his own boss eventually. In fact, Bingzhi and Haiping specifically hope to start an online venture and a renewable energy company respectively.

As for Wai Kit, he plans to work in the corporate world for a few years, 'build a strong network of associates, and find an opportunity where I could bridge'.

'In essence, I want to be my own boss in a world that needs me - rather than to be a boss neck-to-neck amongst many others,' he added.

This article was first published in The Business Times on April 28, 2008.