SINGAPORE – Reinforcing its corporate social responsibility’s education pillar, Mapletree Investments (“Mapletree” or “the Group”) is pleased to support Ground Zero 2023, the largest student-led startathon held annually in Singapore. Organised by the National University of Singapore (“NUS”) Entrepreneurship Society (“NES”), the prize presentation ceremony was graced by guest-of-honour, Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs & Ministry of Social and Family Development on 13 May.

Ground Zero is the flagship event of NES’s Startup Development Division, and it aims to gather entrepreneurial-minded students to ideate and innovate solutions to solve real world problems. Held from 8 to 13 May, the event was opened for students from all tertiaries and faculties and provided a platform for participants to learn, network and hone their entrepreneurial skills.

“Mapletree has been supporting the education sector in several forms, from providing bursaries and book prizes to endowed gifts, as well as funding entrepreneurial competitions like Ground Zero. We recognise that students have many ideas but may not have the experience and means to build on their ideas. I am happy to learn that Ground Zero 2023 gives the students the opportunity to connect with selected incubators and accelerators to take their idea forward, and possibly into the commercial space,” said Mr Edmund Cheng, Chairman, Mapletree.

This year, participants were given the opportunity to select an area of focus and come up with a startup idea from the ground up and pitch it, all within one week. The four areas of focus are Industry 4.0, Sustainability, Healthcare, and Consumer-centric. This was a new concept for the event which traditionally provided participants with problem statements to propose solutions to.

For this iteration of Ground Zero, the event was supported by a network of over 50 mentors, speakers, and judges. Additionally, NES also invited angel investors and incubators to attend the event and scout for talents amongst the participants. This increases the participants’ opportunity to bring their innovations from competition to early-stage commercialization.

“NUS Entrepreneurship Society is grateful for the support from Mapletree as well as the other sponsors and partners in making sure Ground Zero becomes a launchpad for student entrepreneurs to take their first big step in turning their ideas into a startup. The world is becoming more complex each day, and only by innovation can we keep up with the times. As aspiring entrepreneurs ourselves, we can’t help but be inspired by the quality of pitches by the participants and we hope to have inspired them as well to carry on making a difference,” said John Russell Himawan, Vice President, NUS Entrepreneurship Society.

A total of 75 teams participated, and the three winning teams Jin.co, Flex, and SmartPrice.com impressed the judging panel with their pitches. They were awarded cash prizes of $5,000 (First Prize), $3,000 (Second Prize) and $2,000 (Third Prize), respectively. More information on the winning teams can be found in Additional Notes.

Mapletree supported Ground Zero 2023 by providing venue sponsorship, hosting a total of 234 participants in MBC’s Town Hall on 8 and 13 May 2023. Additionally, Mapletree also extended its support to the top three finalists with the S$10,000 cash prize pool. Mapletree previously also supported another event by NES, UNICON 2023, a student-led conference for young entrepreneurs across Asia.

Photos

Available for download here: https://bit.ly/44XV5W2

Photo credits: Mapletree Investments 

 ​ MOS Sun Xueling with the top three winning teams, representatives from Mapletree, Ground Zero and judges on 13 May 2023

MOS Sun Xueling (first row, fifth from right) with the finalist teams, representatives from Mapletree, Ground Zero and judges on 13 May 2023

MOS Sun Xueling interacting with participants of Ground Zero on 13 May 2023