By NATALIE CHAN XIN CI Team Remunch! seeking advice from Ms.Tanuja Rajah. SUBANG JAYA | Remunch, a social entrepreneur idea on preventing food wastage and giving canned and dried food a new lease of life, clinched the first prize at the Startup Weekend KL at Taylor's University.
The winning team comprised HELP University student, Kimberley Yvonne Wong Leh Hua, 19, Taylor’s University student, Lim Shu En,19 and a Business Development Executive, Lee Pui Mun, 26. Wong said she proposed the initial idea when she recalled her experience with food wastage. “Basically, me and my housemate bought broccoli and put it in the fridge. "A week later, my housemate came up to me and said that the broccoli we bought was still in the fridge after I threw away oats that were three months old. “So I realised food wastage is such a horrible thing and that is how the idea came about,” said Wong. Remunch’s idea was to purchase canned and dried food that is close to expiry from supermarkets, resell it to cafes in the Klang Valley at a cheaper price compared to supermarkets. In the process, there will be quality control check and standard operating procedures to ensure that canned and dried food are safe to be consumed before leasing it out to cafes. The idea evolved as they underwent brainstorming sessions among themselves and their mentors. The team have gone through many highs-and-lows throughout the competition, as their idea has been criticised by mentors and time was not on their side. Although it was tough, they enjoyed their weekend at TU expressing that their time here was amazing, wonderful, great and eye-opening. There were seven teams consisting 29 participants from various tertiary institutions and young working adults and out of the seven, Remunch won because the judges believed that their idea can solve a real problem. “They won because they provided a solution for food wastage, a real problem and the team has thought about the solution in a detailed way, they have answers to all our questions. “They covered all bases and definitely have passion,” said Program Manager of MaGic, Tanuja Rajah. Integrated Marketing Communication Manager, Doreen Loo also expressed that Remunch won because their idea has a social environmental mission that will win the hearts of customers. The panel of judges also added, instead of businesses that gives a percentage of profits to charity, they would prefer businesses doing charity and make money. The second and third place was given to Central Bakery and Powerup, plus a one month collaborative workspace with MaGic. Remunch will be advancing to compete in the mega Startup Weekend with other winning teams in mid November. Startup Weekend is a 54 hour on-going camp for people who has interest in entrepreneurship to connect.
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By CLARISSA LOI PUI LING SABD’s Ameer Farhan describing the concept behind his featured painting titled ‘Progression’. | Photo Credit: Sentul East Design Centre SUBANG JAYA | Taylorians paid tribute to the rich cultural heritage of the now-defunct Sentul Depot by revitalising its historical past through artistic expression.
Titled ‘Sentul Works’, the exhibition in collaboration with YTL Land featured a collection of 34 contemporary artworks by 13 students and alumni from Taylor’s School Of Architecture, Building And Design (SABD) and The Design School. The artworks were inspired by the railway workshop's abandoned grounds. “The initiative was incepted by YTL Land - they wanted to invite 'youth' to experience the Sentul Depot, and Taylor’s was one of the first universities to be invited; and we were very proactive with the initiative,” said Deputy Dean of SABD, Academic Affairs and Student Experience, Dr Veronica Ng. She revealed that students chosen for the project experienced tours around the private land during site recces to document their perspectives of the place. “The broad intention is for them to be the eyes of the youth and to re-present what they 'see' and 'experience' to the public,” added Dr Ng. An ex-worker at the Depot, A.G. Pragasam, narrated his work experiences and daily routines to the participating students with his personal tales inspiring a diversity of interpretations ranging from paintings, photography, printmaking, collage and digital imaging. One of these included works was a stop motion video titled Destination by two SABD students. Destination, which utilised digital visualisation techniques with sound as a key element was created by Matthew Goh Seng Yang, 25, and Lee Kim Yoong, 25. “His words actually helped me fill in the blanks of this empty site; hence giving me the idea to recreate the sense of purpose through visualisation, in order to imagine a sense of place,” said Goh. Dr Ng noted that YTL Land and Pragasam were both greatly impressed and appreciative of the artistic outputs of the students. “Mr. Pragasam mentioned the portrait of him was personally meaningful, and I believe that’s what really matters as the core message of this Sentul Works project is to bring out the soul and essence of the railway workshop,” said SABD student Phua Jing Sern, 21, whose contributing piece was a film portrait of Pragasam titled Uncle. With Sentul Works being a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the participants, there was hope that other students will have a chance to channel their creativity in other culturally-significant efforts too. “There are not many of these sites within the urban areas of the Klang Valley. Since the students being youth will form the leadership of the future, it is important that they are the messenger to others in appreciating the past in order to move forward,” said Dr Ng. The Sentul Works art exhibition ran from 24 September to 9 October at the Sentul East Design Centre and will start on 22 October onwards at Lot 10. Sentul Works is also scheduled for a showcase at Taylor’s University’s Centre of Design and Architecture gallery by early November. By SAMANTHA SIN The closing of the impromptu speech session. SUBANG JAYA | The Shine Award Centre organised their first public speaking workshop week from 26 to 30 September at the Student Life Centre to help students overcome their fear of public speaking.
The workshop started with an exhibition debate that lasted two days as an introduction for the participants. There was also a booth set up, promoting the public speaking workshop From Fear To Fun, at Lecture Theatre 12. Other activities included an item placed on a table while students were given 20 seconds to promote it, which was a unique way to practice public speaking. “The turn up was okay, though it was still under our expectations of 200 pax for the entire week,” said School Of Communication student, Loo Khai Ting Jaslyn, 21. “I could see that the attendees thoroughly enjoyed themselves, especially during the impromptu speech session on Friday,” said the organiser, Alinder Kaur Chall. “Taylorians are actually filled with talent in speaking and it has been eye-opening for me. “I am not sure if we will have this next year but the plan is to have it annually,” said Chall. She added that the Impromptu Competition that was held on the last day of the week, was good exposure for the students, making it a great way to end the event. By PARK JUNGA Creators of Online Learning app chosen by Google. | Photo credit: Grace Tan. SUBANG JAYA | Six Taylor’s students who attended Startup Weekend Educators Edition, which took place from 23 to 25 September, were selected to collaborate with Google for Education.
“I attended the workshop to enhance and update my knowledge and skills about technology as a future teacher who’s going to teach 21st century learners,” said School Of Education student, Lo Wei Hui, 21. “My team wants to design and launch an online learning app that assist people (who has limited language skills) in communication,” added Lo. Startup Weekend Educators Edition was a platform for aspiring educators to share ideas. The weekend-long workshop provided a hands-on experience to the attendees, assisting them in conceiving practical startup ideas. Each group had 54 hours to prepare before pitching their ideas to the judges. “This workshop was worth joining and I’m thankful that Google gave us a chance to meet other educators to share ideas. "With the experience that we had gained, we want to reduce language barriers and consequently increase foreign workers’ safety awareness in Malaysia,” said Lo The workshop attendees consisting of 70% educators and 30% technicians were brought together to build a business based on current education issues. By SAMANTHA SIN SUBANG JAYA | SHINE’s iLead Conference returned for their fourth installment at Lecture Theatre 21 and 22 on 15 October.
This time around, iLead introduced five speakers and three of them are participating in the new forum. The CEO of PEMANDU, Dato’ Sri Idris Jala and Founder of Zubedy Sdn Bhd, Anas Zubedy spoke at the conference while Co-Founder of Happy Bunch, Joanne Ho, Founder and CEO of Fruni Print, Alexis Ang and National Swimmer, Khoo Cai Lin spoke at the conference and participated in the forum. The forum entailed moderated and guided open discussions where the speakers shared their experiences. The topics talked about were mainly centered around entrepreneurship, leadership building and motivational talks that would inspire students to achieve their goals. “We wanted to get speakers who are closer to the age group of the target audience to remind them that they can be successful at a young age. “We also wanted to cover the most relevant aspects of each speaker who took part in the forum, followed by a question and answer session,” said Director of iLead and School Of Biosciences student, Zachary Sean Sia, 20. The iLead Conference is directed by Taylorians for Taylorians annually where young leaders are able to hone their innovative creativity and improve their leadership skills. “The forum was used as an interactive platform where students were be able to gain the best from the speakers next to a Kahoot! game we conducted,” he added. |
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