Leverage Edu and Education New Zealand join hands for the online flagship edition of “What’s your billion dollar idea?” on 3rd December 2020
“What’s your billion dollar idea”, has launched as a first-of-its-kind online contest for Indian students to present their business ideas to eminent VC’s and CEO’s from the ecosystem and win exciting virtual internships with top New Zealand universities and companies.
The competition backs the entrepreneurial spirit of young students along their champion journey, and gives them access to learning opportunities from industry veterans along the way.
Speaking of the special collaboration, Jugnu Roy, Country Manager – India for Education New Zealand said, “It’s a pleasure for us to be providing Indian students a platform to showcase their entrepreneurial and business strategy, skills, and vision. Getting senior faculty from all eight New Zealand universities for mentorship is also a great introduction for Indian students into the New Zealand education system.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Education New Zealand on this initiative. As a young company ourselves, we identify with early stage entrepreneurship and the many ups and downs that come with it; having a larger ecosystem to support while at that is the biggest contributor to success, and NZ Universities, ENZ, and the fantastic Jury, are going to do just that for our emerging rockstars!” said Akshay Chaturvedi, Founder and CEO of Leverage Edu.
Every aspect of the competition has been curated online to ensure safety of participants during the pandemic. Students will be able to submit their elevator pitches as videos via an online application till 17th November 2020, post which the shortlisted students will be announced on 24th November 2020. For the next 8 days, they will be virtually mentored by leading faculty members from top New Zealand universities to finally present their business ideas to the jury during the online finale on 3rd December 2020, which will be streamed live across the social media handles of the two organisations.
The jury comprising of Mr. Ralph Hays, Trade Commissioner, New Zealand, Mr. Karthik Reddy, Managing Partner at Blume Ventures, Vice Chairperson of Indian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association, Mr. Hetal Sonpal, Angel Investor, Marketing & Strategy Leader, Coach, Marathoner, Ex-Wipro, Microsoft, LinkedIn and Intel alongside Ms. Jugnu Roy, Country Manager – India Education New Zealand, will grill the finalists “shark-tank style”. Criterias like originality, clarity of concept, implementation potential, cause addressed and global impact will aid in declaring the winning entries. The top 3 entries will win themselves virtual internships with Lincoln University, The University of Auckland and University of Canterbury.