-- 36 teams with students from various universities/colleges across Malaysia participated in the competition
-- Top five finalist were mentored by Frost & Sullivan and Genovasi
-- Teams "ABC" and "Mighty Rockets" bag attractive prizes of RM3,000 and RM1,500 respectively
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, April 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan, together with its Strategic Partners Genovasi, and Tech Mahindra once again hosted the second annual Frost & Sullivan Public Sector Case Challenge 2014. The finals took place on 8 April 2014 at Tech Mahindra's Malaysia Global Solution Center in Cyberjaya.
The competition required students to develop and present their ideas on how Governments can foster innovation and promote economic growth. The case was based on a typical scenario of diverse challenges faced by public administrators in managing and growing an economy. The competition was open to all Malaysian undergraduate students.
Karthik Rajan, Vice President, Public Sector, Asia Pacific said, "This is the second time we have organized this competition and we're very pleased with the strong interest from Malaysian students, we received very interesting solutions from 36 teams. The competition was organized to give Malaysian students an opportunity to get a taste of research and consulting and create awareness on the career opportunities in our line of business."
Five teams were shortlisted and were given mentoring sessions by both Frost & Sullivan and Genovasi. This is an opportunity for students to gain fresh perspectives through creative and thought-provoking ideas put forth by some of the best talents in Malaysia.
The groups then presented their case to an esteemed panel of judges which comprised of Carol Wong, CEO of Genovasi Malaysia; Kamilah Shahidan, Director of Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad; Michael Warren, Vice President of the Shared Services & Outsourcing Cluster of Multimedia Development Corporation; Rohana Ramly, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Coordination) SME Corp; Sudhir Dhar, VP and Head of Global Solution Center of Tech Mahindra; and Veena Loh, General Manager of Malaysia Property Incorporated.
The teams were judged based on their logical reasoning and flow, innovativeness of the proposed solution, actionability of the proposed solution, and completeness of the submission. After careful deliberation, Adam Malik from Sunway University, Brandon Khoo from Kolej Yayasan UEM, and Crystal Ng from Taylor's College of Team ABC emerged victorious, receiving a cash prize of RM3000, sponsored by Genovasi. Muhammad Afiq bin Massa'at, Mohamad Diniy bin Moktar, Muhammad Faiz bin Khalib, Hanisah Hamzah, and Arina Maisarah Ahmad Zahid of Team Mighty Rockets from International Islamic University Malaysia took home the second prize of RM1500.
Carol Wong, Chief Inspiration Officer (CEO), Genovasi said, "Genovasi's charter is to create an ecosystem of innovation in Malaysia through our Design Thinking school that teaches creative human-centered problem solving skills. The Frost & Sullivan Public Sector Case Challenge is a great platform for discovery and development for undergraduates while coming up with solutions allowing them the opportunities for employment and also refinement of their skills through the mentoring workshops."
The Genovasi mentoring session exposed students to a new concept towards problem solving called Design Thinking, which is a human-centered approach to innovation that employs multidisciplinary teams, flexible environments and a creative process to generate user-focused products, services or experiences. This new approach helps organizations and governments to keep ahead and maintain their relevancy in an ever changing world.
"Tech Mahindra remains committed to the development of human capital in Malaysia and we are happy to have hosted the event for the second year running at our campus in Cyberjaya. We are very pleased with the student response and quality of presentations," said Sudhir Dhar, VP and Head of Global Solution Center of Tech Mahindra, who was also judge in last years' event.
Karthik continued, "Talent is not short, but there are some gaps between what students envision as a career path and what the industry actually needs, this is what we need to address. It is through this competition that we aim to bridge the gap by getting students to work on close to real world business cases."
Visit us online at http://www.facebook.com/FSCCMY2014 for more information.
