KATHMANDU, JULY 24
The final of the TBC Startup Fest, 2023 took place in Kathmandu yesterday. With the top ten teams pitching their ideas, three were victorious at the end of the day, with the team 'Composting the Expanded Polystyrene (Styrofoam)' taking home the first place.
Organised by The British College Incubation Centre, the TBC Startup Fest is an opportunity for students from across the country to present their entrepreneurial ideas and compete for the prize to invest in their startups. The competition started on July 21 with the participation of 50 college students across Nepal. Of all the participants who pitched their ideas, 10 were then chosen for the finals. Each of the ten winning ideas then had to form teams of five from the original 50 students to create teams and work on their final pitches.
These teams then attended mentoring sessions on July 22 with esteemed external experts and TBC professors who helped them to hone their business ideas and create presentations.
The final day of the event began with keynote speeches from the distinguished guests, Prof Tim Gocher OBE and Dr Pukar Malla, before the final teams presented their ideas before the expert judges, including Sneh Rajbhandari, Ashutosh Dixit, Amit Agrawal, and Deputy Principal of The British College Dr Patrick McCrudden.
The teams presented a dynamic range of business ideas that focussed on innovation, impact and sustainable Development Goals. At the end of the day, three teams were announced as the winners.
The team, 'Bio Enzyme' secured the third place with their innovative bio enzyme cleaning products, winning Rs 50,000.
Likewise, the team 'Harvest Grow Investment' that focussed on recruiting investors for the Nepali farming industry secured the second position, winning Rs 75,000. The first place was secured by the team, 'Composting the Expanded Polystyrene (Styrofoam)'.
Head of the Business School at TBC Sunita Basnet said, "The British College aims to contribute to the startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem of Nepal and the Startup Fest is part of this aim."
She further said, "As an academic institution that delivers curriculum related to enterprise, impact and SDGs, it is important for us to give a platform to young audiences to turn their thoughts into reality."
A version of this article appears in the print on July 25, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
