Imagine eating authentic, piping hot satay in New York City.
This could be a very real possibility in the future if the marketing plan of Final-year International Business students, Angelia Tan and Nurul Asyikin Bte Muzlan is realised.
The pair took part in the FedEx Express Junior Achievement International Trade Challenge 2011 held at Tower Club Singapore on 16 July 2011. The competition, held annually since 2008, involves tertiary students crafting business marketing proposals to sell a particular product to any country of their choice. With their delicious idea, the girls became one of the top 12 finalists, out of 116 local submissions.
It was an intense competition with teams from Nanyang Polytechnic, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and Hwa Chong Junior College. However, the Ngee Ann team’s marketing of Leo Satay to their target city of New York, USA, highly impressed the judges. They were commended on the customisation of the product to cater to the American palate. The team’s hard work paid off when they emerged as one of the Top 3 teams representing Singapore.
According to Angelia, innovation was key, “We had many strong competitors, and that forced us to think out of the box. We had to develop an original and practical marketing plan and do something that no one else has thought of.”
Nurul Asyikin attributes her learning at Ngee Ann for their success, “The modules we’ve learnt in our course, have definitely been a great help during this competition, because it is very applicable to business in real life. The tutors have always encouraged us to be flexible and imaginative in our thinking, which is very useful in this competition.”
Pictured left: (Left) Angelia Tan and (right) Nurul Asyikin bte Muzlan
The pair went on to participate in the Asia-Pacific finals in Bangkok from 23 - 27 August 2011. They competed with 21 teams from countries such as New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia.
Pictured above: (L) Nurul Asyikin explaining the marketing plan to the audience, (R ) Angelia presenting the prototype to judges - (left) Mr. Robert Whittaker, Managing Director of Shared Future; (centre) Mr. Clifton Chua, Managing Director of FedEx Express Singapore; (right) Mr. Marc Ng, Founder and CEO of Berrylite.
For more information on the FedEx Express Junior Achievement International Trade Challenge 2011, visit http://www.ja.org/involved/involved_students_comp_intl_trade.shtml
Article written by: Angelia Tan and Nurul Asyikin Bte Muzlan (IBZ, Year 3)
Photographs contributed by: FedEx