A one-week all expenses paid trip to Seattle, USA for the Gold Award winners marked the culmination of the HSBC Young IT Entrepreneur Awards 2003. The Gold Award teams from Malaysia and Hong Kong were flown to Seattle to participate in an exclusive Winners?programme that was held on 22-28 June 2003. The Silver Team from Hong Kong also joined the trip but at their own expense.

HSBC and the University of Washington tailor-made a one-week programme to educate the participants about the state-of-the-art IT and digital media developments to enhance their analytical and critical thinking ability and to strengthen their entrepreneurial spirits. 

For Team Epsilon from Multimedia University (MMU), the trip to Seattle was the icing to an already once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The all-girl winning team, which comprised Edah Chong, Soh Lin Che and Eileen Tey, was absolutely thrilled throughout the trip and they wished that they could have extended their stay in scenic Seattle. “This tour will indeed become one of the most wonderful memories of my undergraduate life. It has been a very meaningful experience for the three of us. We got to experience campus life at the University of Washington, visit Microsoft, Boeing, network with founders of successful US dotcoms, and of course meet new friends from Hong Kong,?Edah mused. 

Team Epsilon beat four other finalists to snag the prestigious award comprising a HSBC trophy each, prize money of RM15,000 and the trip to Seattle. Their efforts certainly paid off as they enjoyed themselves throughout the trip.  

Diary of events during the Winners? Camp:

Day 1
Team Epsilon arrived at Sea-Tac Airport, Seattle. The girls were bleary-eyed from the long flight (18 hours on the plane excluding waiting time at the airport!) but their wide grins confirmed that they were excited to meet the Hong Kong winners and to see Seattle.

After checking-in at a hotel next to the university, the teams were whisked into a van for a full-campus tour. After the tour, the teams were left to explore Seattle on their own.

Day 2
Health checks were conducted to ensure that all participants were SARS-free. The teams attended their first session on the past, present and future of IT and issues on media convergence by the much revered Dr Tuen-yu Lau, Director, Digital Media Master's Programme, University of Washington. Next was a seminar on the evolution of IT entrepreneurialisim in the world by Rob Koepp, Research Fellow from Milken Institute. 

After the introduction to the evolution of the role of IT and the latest media developments, the participants visited The Seattle Times Company in the afternoon. The company visit was not to learn about the printing business, but rather to observe how Seattletimes.com, their online operations worked. As there was a significant behavioural shift to how people now read their daily news, the teams were fascinated by how Seattletimes.com seek to extend into the online world, their core values and community service through independent, quality journalism. The visit intended to show the use of web tools to expand the reach and depth of the print edition, and to bring those values to an audience beyond print.

Stanley Farrar, Managing Editor of Seattletimes.com, (standing) explains the operations of the online edition of Seattle Times to the students

Day 3
Monica Soto, a business journalist from the Seattle Times visited the teams at the university grounds. She spoke to them on the current state of technology and digital media. She also talked on the boom and bust of the dotcom bubble and how it affected companies in the US. 

Mark Vadon, CEO of BlueNile.com dazzled the teams with his experience and lessons on setting up a successful business selling diamonds, particularly engagement rings on the Internet. He shared the secrets of his success but also reminded the participants of the harsh realities of setting up their own business.
The participants were very excited in the afternoon as the company visit this time was to Microsoft. Microsoft was very hospitable to the teams. The teams watched the latest presentations on the ‘Future of the Home and Digital Media?and were later presented with the latest Windows Media Player 9 Series software. The teams left Microsoft in awe.

Day 4
The teams participated in an activity-based seminar on “Learning the Fishing Skills: How To Be A Smart Person in a Knowledge-based Society.?They learnt quick but efficient techniques to obtain key data without information overload. Next, was a seminar to educate the participants on effective time management and the latest working methods to survive and excel in the 21st century workplace..

Similar to the Microsoft visit, the teams were ecstatic to visit the Boeing airplane manufacturing plant. After the tour, the teams spent some time in downtown Seattle to enjoy the summer sale and the warm weather!

Day 5
More interesting seminars were organised to shape the participants into future entrepreneurs. The teams learned what makes consumers tick, the latest research tools and applications to identify consumer patterns and the importance of branding to a start-up company. In the afternoon, the teams experienced the Music Project, an interactive and interpretive music museum that tells the history of American popular music. The participants relished the power and joy of music in its many forms; rock ‘n?roll, from its roots in jazz, soul, gospel, country and the blues, to its influence on hip hop, punk and other recent genres. The teams created their own music and even took photos dressed as Afro musicians back in the 70s. The day ended in style with dinner 184 metres above sea level at the Space Needle's revolving restaurant. The Space Needle is a symbol synonymous with Seattle and the teams enjoyed their dinner that overlooked the fabulous views of Puget Sound, Mount Rainier, the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges and the city of Seattle. 

HSBC Young IT Entrepreneur Awards winners from Hong Kong and Malaysia, from right, Rachel Lui, Matthew Chang, Ariel Mak, Vanessa Wong, Soh Lin Che, Edah Chong and Eileen Tey Yee Lin

Day 6
The last day of the programme! The teams were eager to explore the city of Seattle and its famous tourist spots. No more seminars and lectures, instead two speakers were invited to share their anecdotal experiences of setting-up and building their own businesses. The first speaker was Tia Walker, CEO of Authora Inc. A charming young lady who had successfully developed and marketed easy-to-use digital risk management, security and privacy solutions to both corporate and personal users. 
In short she sold cryptography to users minus the fuss. “A strong advisory board, angel investors and strong teamwork are essential to create a successful company,?advised Tia. 
The other speaker, Scott Ehrlich, an expert with dotcoms and co-founder of many successful start-ups such as Real Networks and Red Tie Media shared his story after Tia's session. “It's good to get other people's money first as it validates your business idea,?reminded Scott.

After the talks, the Gold Award teams from Malaysia and Hong Kong presented their winning business plans to the audience. Team Epsilon wowed the audience with their 24-hour karaoke satellite broadcasting idea while Team MattRae garnered thunderous applause for their software which provides personalised fashion and image consulting services.

Seven award winners from Hong Kong and Malaysia (center) pictured with the lectures and administrators of the University of Washington at the closing ceremony: (from left) Jennifer Hallmon, John Bonner, (from right) Dr T Y Lau and Dr Diana Wu

Day 7
All the participants were heavy-hearted to leave beautiful Seattle, especially the picturesque campus grounds of the University of Washington. Everyone exchanged their personal email addresses and telephone numbers ?it's evident that no one from the younger generation uses snail mail anymore!

HSBC Young IT Entrepreneur Awards winners from Hong Kong and Malaysia pictured with Dr T Y Lau of the University of Washington (5th from right) and guest speaker, Rob Koepp, Research Fellow from the Milken Institute (4th from right)

Source: IT Courses NOW! Issus 5, Page 42 & 43.