KPMG Digital Village today welcomed the top six Hong Kong entrepreneurs from the Empowering Young Entrepreneurs Program (EYE Program) during their visit to Singapore.

The session between KPMG Digital Village’s start-ups and EYE Program’s entrepreneurs became a platform for sharing of best practices and challenges faced by start-ups in developing innovative solutions to meet industry challenges.

Powered by Google, the EYE Program aims to empower young entrepreneurs in Hong Kong and has become a platform for passionate individuals with creative ideas and entrepreneurial spirit to get connected.

 

Promoting collaborative innovation in the region

The objective of this year’s EYE Program is to drive collaborative innovation by connecting entrepreneurs and corporates. One of the criteria for application included having a strong interest and desire to explore both local and overseas business opportunities.

“KPMG Digital Village believes that collaboration is the key to successful adoption and integration of innovative solutions. Supporting the EYE Program as an overseas partner was instinctive as we are both on the journey to advocate collaborative innovation, especially one that is without geographical boundaries,” said Lyon Poh, Head of Digital + Innovation, KPMG in Singapore.

The top six EYE Program teams worked closely with Hong Kong corporations including Asia Miles, HKT, and New World Development Company Ltd. on business ideas related to lifestyle royalty programmes, ICT, and smart living. They underwent two rounds of pitching judged by industry leaders, business professionals, entrepreneurs and investors on qualities such as viability, social and economic impact, industry innovation and team capability.

The services provided by KPMG Digital Village are also available in Hong Kong and across China. It takes a collaborative approach to innovation, which is the hallmark of the Digital Village programme, and involves working with start-ups to develop innovative solutions to address specific business challenges.

One of the six EYE Program teams will be selected to progress into the KPMG Digital Village, where they have the opportunity to be mentored by KPMG’s professionals in Singapore and get the support to develop their solutions across Asia.

The mentorship will include guidance on building business capability and positioning their business as a commercial venture with the potential to attract corporate interest. The team will also get access to the KPMG Digital Village co-working space in Singapore for 3 months.

“We are excited to bring EYE Program entrepreneurs from Hong Kong and get connected with passionate individuals and organisations in Singapore. With “Collaborative Innovation” as the key theme, we want offer entrepreneurs a strong network of support and resources. We are glad that KPMG Digital Village, being an overseas partner, is offering further support and mentorship for our program participants. In the years ahead, the EYE Program is looking to expand to other Asian cities to promote collaborative innovation across industries and sectors,” said SL Ho, Program Director of EYE Program. Apart from Singapore, the EYE Program had brought finalists to Silicon Valley and Taiwan in past 2 years.

Jan Reinmueller, Head of Digital Village, KPMG in Singapore added: “We look forward to our continued involvement in the EYE Program, which opens the gateway for innovative solutions to cut across industries, disciplines or geographies. KPMG Digital Village welcomes innovators from anywhere around the world. As long as you have an innovative idea that could be turned into robust, practical solutions, we can give you an accelerated path to our corporate clients.”