40 campus teams vie for Esquire’s business model competition

MANILA, Philippines – The competition is on for 40 teams from 14 different Metro Manila colleges and universities that attended the plenary for Esquire Financing Inc.’s (EFI) “Fueling the Dream: Business Model Competition” at the Asian Institute Management’s (AIM) Stephen Fuller Hall last September 27.

Launched to encourage the creativity, passion and entrepreneurial aspirations of college students, “Fueling the Dream” will award a capital-based funding of up to P1 million, aside from P100,000 cash and a feature in Entrepreneur magazine, to the winning team.

Participating schools are Asia Pacific College, Ateneo de Manila University, Colegio de San Juan de Letran, De La Salle-College of St. Benilde, De La Salle University-Manila, Far Eastern University (East Asia College, Manila, and Makati campuses), Lyceum of the Philippines University, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Raffles Design Institute, San Beda College-Manila, The One School, University of Asia and the Pacific, University of the Philippines-Diliman, and University of Santo Tomas.

The plenary was attended by EFI’s core management team led by Chairman & CEO Rajan Uttamchandani. There were also an inspirational talk by Ifore Yu, founder and CEO of Chicken Charlie, and mini-lectures by SERDEF’s Eduardo Canela and AIM professor Richard Cruz.

“Fueling the Dream” is also brought to the students by advocacy partners, Go Negosyo and SERDEF (Small Enterprises Research and Development Foundation), with INQUIRER.net onboard as media partner. AIM hosts the plenary and final presentation. Final pitch happens on December 6, where finalists get to present their business model in front of a select panel of judges.

Esquire Financing Inc. is the country’s leading financing company that caters to the needs of SMEs. It was incorporated in 2011 and has since served more than 3,000 businesses around the country.

It aims to fuel the dreams of entrepreneurs by providing fast, flexible, hassle-free, and non-collateral business loans from P100,000 to P10 million to small and medium enterprises.

Learn more about Esquire and its services at www.esquire.com.ph or by calling 811.8888.