NUS MBA competes at the NUS Business Hackathon 2022
This year, the NUS Business School launched the inaugural BizSchool Hackathon. Sponsored by H Group, the mission was to hack how to turn preventative health into a profitable business. Poornima Ambalavanan, Sarah Leong and Aiko Furukawa from the Jan 21 NUS MBA cohort, and Jessica Lu, a PhD student from the School of Medicine, teamed up to form Team WellNUS Sparks to tackle this issue. They share their experience here:
What was the process like?
The Hackathon was a 3-month long programme with the first round happening from February to March, and the second round in March to April. The first round had 30 submissions where teams had to conduct primary and secondary research for market sensing and feasibility testing. The second round has 5 finalists, and we were required to develop a business model, and go-to-market strategy with a precise marketing plan. Over 3 months, we spent hours ideating, doing market research, brainstorming business strategies, and devising marketing plans. This tested us to the edge, and we even had to totally revamp our proposal 5 days before the finals. All the hard skills taught in the MBA stood us in good stead, and our hard work paid off in the end, with a 2nd place finish.
How did the team work together?
Our team was very diverse, in terms of industry, age and nationality. Aiko has a strong finance background and many years of experience in the banking industry, Sarah is a health policy practitioner working with the Ministry of Health, Poornima comes from a science background and was a researcher in Immunology prior to her MBA. The youngest member of our team, Jessica is a PhD student working on Ageing Biology. Despite of our diverse backgrounds, it felt as if the four of us were on the same wavelength from the start. There was a natural synergy and tons of mutual respect, which made working together simply a breeze. By bringing each member’s unique perspectives, life experiences and expertise, we got the best work done together.
How was the overall experience?
To start with, we found the premise of the competition very interesting. As most of our team members came from healthcare background, the topic was close to heart, and we found it to be very relevant and needed at the present time. We found it as a unique opportunity to showcase our classroom knowledge and business acumen and attain new skills and knowledge along the way. On the day of the final presentation, we had to go to school to present our final proposal to the judges. It was remarkable to see exciting and unique business ideas from other finalists. It was not a simple task to design business development strategy for a healthcare company, given the stringent regulatory framework in Singapore to market healthcare services. However, we were very delighted to see the result that we produced. Overall, it was a challenging and enriching experience.
Lastly, any piece of advice for future hackers?
Pick the right team, and don’t be afraid to keep pushing yourselves to ever higher standards. Plan your work ahead of time, don’t wait until the last minute. Identify each of your unique strengths and assign tasks accordingly.
Team Shadowfax, consisting of NUS MBA students Steve Prawiromaruto, Gabrielle Casteneda, Vipul Jain and Daniela Collazos Zarate, also writes about their experience here:
Over the last few months, our team participated in the NUS Business School Hackathon, which focused on preventive healthcare in Singapore. The competition was split into two rounds where the first round focused on showcasing our research & understanding of the preventive healthcare landscape in Singapore & how it can be improved, then the second round required us to develop a marketing plan for a preventive healthcare clinic in Singapore to acquire more customers and align it with the Singaporean government’s own “Healthier SG” plan.
Going through the first round of the competition was indeed challenging, especially given the fact that none of us were Singaporeans nor had any prior background in healthcare. Everyone pushed through however, juggling exams, group projects, consulting projects & student council work on the side, and in the end we received the honour and privilege to be one of the top 5 finalists.
The second round of the competition was an in-person presentation from the shortlisted teams and we were amazed by the effort and dedication the other teams displayed. Needless to say, we learned so much regarding what is needed for a comprehensive and effective go-to-market strategy and we also had the honour of hearing from Veronica Chew, CEO of H Group, and sponsor of the competition, regarding the healthcare situation in Singapore & the work her company does in that space. Having this round in-person was also very refreshing after 2 years of pandemic restrictions and zoom fatigue. Although we did not end up winning, this was overall an amazing learning experience and one of the highlights of our time in the MBA.
Special thanks goes to our friends & network here in Singapore who filled up our preventive healthcare survey which really aided us in our research. Y’all are the real MVP’s!
This article is an adapted version of the original articles which first appeared in the March-May 2022 issue of the Echoes newsletter, an NUS MBA student-led publication.
