National Micro Enterprise Pitching Bootcamp 2023 Episode 1: Turning on The Lightbulb.

Hello everyone, my name is Hanissa, one of the Community Builder's Apprentice from Youth Ventures Asia and you can follow me on instagram @cowboybackwards hehe

Youth Ventures Asia started their National Micro Enterprise Pitching Competition Bootcamp 2022 with a bang! The main host consists of KPT and UTeM and is brought by Youth Ventures Asia. With a round total of 150 students from Public Institutions of Higher Learning all over Malaysia, they came all the way to Cyberjaya to improve their idea development and pitching skills. 50 different innovative ideas from different institutions from the west of Malaysia all the way to the Borneo region: institutions including IPTA, Kolej Komuniti, and Politeknik.

We started the day at 5:30 pm. All the staff and mentors came early to discuss everything that was going to happen in the next three days. This isn't my first time working on an event like this. I've worked with Youth Ventures in the past (specifically August 2022) in a similar event, but with about 30 participants.

But this time, we goin' bigger. We have 150 students from different IHLs all over Malaysia.

I came to Rekascape quite early, probably before 5:30 cause I didn't want to be late. At first, the participants were supposed to arrive at 7.50 after they had their dinner, but Malaysians kan. Some of them arrived at 8.30!!!!

On the first day, we had a mini ice-breaking session where we break all the students into 5 different groups which are led by 5 experienced leaders from the industry. We also had three speakers talking about Design Thinking (Hanif himself), Social Media Branding (by Aniq), and Mr Mirza who talked about his experiences in the entrepreneur world.

I take Strategic Communication as a degree, and it was my first time seeing passionate students who are learning about social media branding and actually putting what they learnt into their pitch. Personally, I only do that for my assignment (no passion LOL).

In Mr Mirza's speech, manz was talking about how he was a millionaire (in USD btw) by the age of 27. I am literally 20 and I think I need to start thinking about some product or service I'm gonna sell. Might join this programme next time and hopefully, I'll get my Miata by the age of 27. Trust. Mr Miza mentions how a product has to be from the heart, and the reason for "why" is important when selling an idea.

When you have 150 students, you have 150 different personalities. I'm quite awkward when meeting new people, but so far I've met what I think are interesting people. Thankfully, they are all nice and layan me bothering them with questions regarding the first day of the event.

The first people I approached were Fatin, Aida, and Syahira from UniSza. I overheard their pitch about a type of sweetener and I was intrigued. I'm not a fan of sweet things but these girls were really sweet hehe. Their product is called "Df Sweetener" and is made from Duku fruit. It apparently can be formed into powder and is four times sweeter than sugar but with low calories, but is natural! I'm excited to see how they're going to develop their idea with the new knowledge of branding and designing. We'll keep a tab on them.

Next, I met this group of boys from UiTM Shah Alam.

Honestly, I approached them because I overheard they are from UiTM Shah Alam. I lived there for two years and I just wanted to ask how they deal with the traffic everyday cause, to be honest... I'd rather walk to the seksyen 2 McDonalds (from Seksyen 18) than sit in the car. So, I interviewed them asking about their product and of course, what it's like to be a UiTM Shah Alam student. We'll keep a tab on them just because of my personal prejudice against Shah Alam. They seemed pretty confident with their idea and they are easygoing. The guy even has a moustache that's pretty cool. Their idea is to help freelance photographers and videographers and build a two-sided platform for service providers and consumers to help with their communication.

Next group of gals I met is from Kolej Komuniti Pasir Gudang. They are a group of shy and quiet girls, I really hope that they get to share and pitch their ideas to the rest of their peers. Their idea is a mobile spa (it sounds interesting already). Ainul explains that "customers contact through social media and set an appointment for an easy spa". Which means the masseuse comes to the house through an appointment.  

As a spectator (and floor manager), all I get to do in these events is to watch and listen to their pitch and look through their slides. I find it nerve-wrecking to stand in front of an audience and to talk about an idea I have, and to watch everyone else do it, it makes me wish I have the guts to do that too. All the students here are passionate about their product and service, and I really hope they will keep up that energy until the end of the event.

On the last day, all the future entrepreneurs will pitch their idea to a seat of judges. It is where they will apply what they have learnt from the past three days. I really hope everyone does well and puts in their 100%, in this case, there might be future investors watching.

Stay tuned for the next two days to see the event through my eyes and to see the progress of the students. Goodnight broskis I'm really tired.