Teams advance to final round in startup contest

Three teams came out on top in the latest round of the Toyota Impact Challenge, gaining access to a six-month incubation programme to kickstart their business ideas and a chance to win $10,000.

The teams will get personalised mentoring and enjoy free workspace at Impact Hub Phnom Penh, Olivia Hough, the managing director of the coworking space, told Khmer Times.

The final pitch for the $10,000 cash prize will be sometime in January 2019, Ms Hough said, adding that only one team will be crowned winner and take the cash award.

The three contestants are Rushero, an on-demand delivery and logistics platform, SmartBin, who is developing an app to encourage recycling habits, and TosJis, a platform that promotes smart transportation.

“They will now be matched with the best business mentors for their startup. They will receive mentoring support in areas like finance, branding and marketing,” said Ms Hough.

“They will also have access to Impact Hub’s innovation space where they can work with their team for free during the week and they will have biweekly master classes to help them with any specific business challenges they face.

“We will also help them prepare the final pitch with their presentations to the president of Toyota Cambodia. They will need to show how they would use the $10,000 to fund their startup in a sustainable way to grow it to the next level,” she added.

Uch Sarath, founder of Rushero, said participating in the event is being an amazing learning experience that has allowed them to significantly improve their business model.

“We are so excited that Rushero got selected for the incubation programme. With the strong support of Impact Hub Phnom Penh and Toyota, we believe that we can make a lot of progress in the next six months,” he said.

Read more...