"My Business Idol 2009" taps universities, colleges

CEBU, Philippines - The Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) is again helping out students who are seeking a chance to excel in the business sector through “My Business Idol 2009,” which will be held this August 11 at the Cebu International Convention Center.Eight colleges and universities in Cebu are invited to send a team from their Business Administration or Management undergraduate program that would be given a chance to present a new or renovated product, which they think would sell in the market.

During a press briefing recently, MCCI Vice President-External Wilson Ng said that the best way to practice business is by doing it, which is the main reason why they are tapping students and helping them practice in creating business plans.

Ng added that this practice would greatly help students as business plans are commonly used in the real business and good for them to be able to practice producing as well as defending their respective proposals.

Ng, along with MBM chairman Philip Tan, explained that unlike in the previous contest which had two rounds, this year they would be having only one round for each team, comprising of two bonafide business or management students and two faculty members of the college, to present their business ideas and the corresponding financial projections.

The business plan, which will be in the form of marketing a product or a service, will be critiqued by the panelists, who will be composed of teachers from different schools, and afterwards by the judges who are mostly respected businessmen.

The organizers explained that the contestants need not present an entirely new product because they could re-invent or make changes in existent products and make revisions of their own.

However, Ng explained that new innovations will definitely give them the edge. — AJ de la Torre