Singapore, October 11, 2021 — Eleven impact startups will pitch their business ideas to venture capitalists and angel investors on October 13, 2021, at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Impact Start-up Challenge Grand Finale. The virtual event will be live-streamed to an international public audience including ASEAN, China, and India.

The top three teams will be awarded the DBS Foundation Social Impact Prize, and receive cash prizes of S$10,000, S$5,000 and S$2,000, respectively, with which to kickstart their impact journey. This is in addition to non-monetary support in the form of DBS Foundation’s capacity building programmes, and access to its network and social enterprise community. Separately, the most popular team as voted by members of the public will receive gift cards by Boxgreen, a DBS Foundation-supported social enterprise. 

The SUSS Impact Startup Challenge Grand Finale aims to identify innovative impact-driven business ideas, and is open to top teams from the ASEAN-China Impact Startup Challenge and the Impact Startup Challenge in Gerontology, both also organised by SUSS. Applications were received with participation from Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia and India, of which 11 teams progressed into the Grand Finale. Six of the 11 teams were made up of SUSS students and international students. The startup teams have also gone through two weeks of intensive mentoring with SUSS as they prepare for the final face-off.

All the startups have obtained validation from customers, and some have even gone on to achieve funding and traction post their experience with earlier iterations of the Impact Startup Challenge.

Professor Cheong Hee Kiat, President of SUSS, said: “SUSS is happy to present another batch of aspiring student entrepreneurs and thankful to have the support of DBS Foundation. This programme is one of our University’s multiple learning pathways for our students. Since it started in 2017, about 100 student startups have gone through our extensive training and mentorship, and 22 of them have launched impact businesses.”

Claire Wong, Head of DBS Foundation, DBS Bank, said: “It is always inspiring to support young entrepreneurs who are creating innovative solutions that can potentially address the pertinent environmental and social issues that we face today. We are glad to be a part of this year’s SUSS Impact Startup Challenge, and hope the fresh ideas that these students bring to the table will grow from here to make a difference for a better world.”

The top 11 teams are:

Viewers can sign up for the event and vote for their favourite startup here: https://www.suss.edu.sg/news-and-events/events/impact-startup-challenge-grand-finale

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For media queries and interviews, please contact:

SUSS
Valerie Ng (Ms)
Senior PR Manager, Communications & Marketing
Singapore University of Social Sciences
Email: valeriengww@suss.edu.sg

Tian Zhiyuan (Mr)
Manager, Communications & Marketing
Singapore University of Social Sciences
Email: ztian@suss.edu.sg

DBS Bank
Amanda Fong (Ms)
Group Strategic Marketing and Communications
Email: amandaf@dbs.com

About the Singapore University of Social Sciences

Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) is a university with a rich heritage in inspiring lifelong education, and transforming society through social sciences. We develop work-ready graduates and work-adaptive alumni to their fullest potential through our 3H’s education philosophy – ‘Head’ for professional competency with applied knowledge, ‘Heart’ for social awareness to meet the needs of the society, and ‘Habit’ for passion towards lifelong learning. 

We offer over 80 undergraduate and graduate programmes, available in full- and part-time study modes, which are flexible, modular and inter-disciplinary, catering to both fresh school leavers and adult learners. SUSS also offers a broad range of continuing education and training modular courses for the professional skills upgrading of Singapore’s workforce. 

Our programmes and courses are made available through our five schools:

• S R Nathan School of Human Development
• School of Business
• School of Humanities and Behavioural Sciences
• School of Law
• School of Science and Technology

To date, over 38,000 graduates have experienced our unique brand of education, and each year, about 15,000 students are pursuing their full- and part-time studies with us.

For more information on SUSS, please visit www.suss.edu.sg 

About DBS
DBS is a leading financial services group in Asia with a presence in 18 markets. Headquartered and listed in Singapore, DBS is in the three key Asian axes of growth: Greater China, Southeast Asia and South Asia. The bank's "AA-" and "Aa1" credit ratings are among the highest in the world.

Recognised for its global leadership, DBS has been named “World’s Best Bank” by Euromoney, “Global Bank of the Year” by The Banker and “Best Bank in the World” by Global Finance. The bank is at the forefront of leveraging digital technology to shape the future of banking, having been named “World’s Best Digital Bank” by Euromoney and the world’s “Most Innovative in Digital Banking” by The Banker. In addition, DBS has been accorded the “Safest Bank in Asia” award by Global Finance for 13 consecutive years from 2009 to 2021.

DBS provides a full range of services in consumer, SME and corporate banking. As a bank born and bred in Asia, DBS understands the intricacies of doing business in the region’s most dynamic markets. DBS is committed to building lasting relationships with customers, and positively impacting communities through supporting social enterprises, as it banks the Asian way. It has also established a SGD 50 million foundation to strengthen its corporate social responsibility efforts in Singapore and across Asia.

With its extensive network of operations in Asia and emphasis on engaging and empowering its staff, DBS presents exciting career opportunities. For more information, please visit www.dbs.com.

About the Impact Startup Challenge

The Impact Startup Challenge (ISC) series of courses offers a platform for students to generate ideas, test, validate and pivot their proposals by immersing them in start-up scenes to meet potential co-founders, connect with expert advisors, and learn from the ecosystem. Entrepreneurs have a higher chance of succeeding if they belong to an ecosystem. Learning from those who have successfully built and grown companies, as well as from those who have failed, and seeking opportunities to connect with experts in deep domain areas are key to successfully building a business.

The ISC courses are conducted city-based such as in Singapore, Jakarta, Phnom Penh, Manila and Shenzhen, region-based such as the ASEAN, China and India region, and domain-based such as in Gerontology and Sustainability. Since its first run in 2017, it has attracted more than 600 students from ASEAN, China and India who created more than 100 validated startup ideas and launched more than 22 impact businesses.

For more information on SUSS entrepreneurship programmes, click here.