This year’s next Bright Idea Year 4 grand winner is Reedley International School. From left: judges Larry Gamboa and Honorio Poblador IV, students Diether Raphael Dy, Azucena Reigne Vera-Perez, Vivienne Jeri Tieng, Meghan Sevilla, Jerremiah Yu, coach Frandy Bayan, judges Rocio Olbes and Edmond Maceda.
Enderun Colleges awarded Reedley International School as the grand winner of The Next Bright Idea High School Elevator Pitch Challenge held last February 3, 2016 at The Tent at Enderun.
This year’s theme was Sustainability: Ideas That Make a Difference. The participants of the competition were required to pitch business concepts that are sustainable. Out of the 15 teams that qualified for the finals Reedley International School’s project called Thermoelectricdrive, a mechanism that creates electricity out of temperature differences, took home the grand prize of PhP 50,000. First Runner Up went to Victory Christian International School for their concept, Your h(u)man Services / YUS, Second Runner Up went to Jubilee Christian Academy’s Vitrum. The People’s Choice Award was also given out to the team with the highest number of online votes, where the audience participated in choosing their favorite team. This award was given to De La Salle Integrated School for their project Soilymer.
“It’s just amazing; we are really hoping that we can revolutionize the community with our product” Reedley International School team member Jerremiah Yu said.
Eleven schools qualified for the finals namely: De La Salle Integrated School, De La Salle Santiago Zobel, Grace Christian College, Jubilee Christian Academy, Philippine Science High School, Reedley International School, San Beda College Alabang, St. Jude Catholic School, St. Paul Pasig, Victory Christian International School, and Immaculate Conception Academy. Their pitches were judged by Larry Gamboa, author of Think Rich, Pinoy!; Edmond Maceda, a veteran environmental engineer and director of Enderun’s new Sustainability and Environmental Studies Department; Rocio Olbes, social entrepreneur and owner of Henry Bags and Bars to Bears; and Honorio Poblador IV, managing director of Navegar, a private equity fund that invests in Philippine companies.
“We were impressed by the content, the feasibility of their sustainable idea, and we were all surprised that they had even patented it already. It shows their belief in the product, their confidence in it”, judge Edmond Maceda said.
Now on its fourth year, the Next Bright Idea is a competition started by Enderun Colleges to instill the entrepreneurial spirit among the youth. Prior to the finals, 41 teams from various high schools attended an entrepreneurship master class in order to help them conceptualize their business idea and deliver a pitch. The teams then submitted a 1000-word summary of their business concept. From the 41 teams, the top 15 entries were selected to present a three-minute pitch to a panel of judges, who assessed their business ideas based on sustainability, innovation, feasibility, and financial attractiveness.
The event was held at the Tent at Enderun.
The four judges – (From left) Larry Gamboa, author of Think Rich, Pinoy!; Honorio Poblador IV, managing director of Navegar, a private equity fund that invests in Philippine companies; Rocio Olbes, social entrepreneur and owner of Henry Bags and Bars to Bears; and Edmond Maceda, a veteran environmental engineer and director of Enderun’s new Sustainability and Environmental Studies Department.
First Runner Up Team members: Gabrielle Louise de Baron, Louise Anne Sumudivila, Richard Mikhael Victoria, Prince Marek, Charles Adrian Cabuhat; and judges.
Second Runner Up Team members: Shenelle Lim, Janielle Cheng, Kyra Lim, Robyn Rey, Patricia Yu; and judges.
People’s choice Team members: Arno Mikhail Azcarraga, Nathaniel Jan Marfa, Angelo Louis Almasan and Oriz Lopez.