PwC Malaysia crowns Be Da Ape, a team from Sunway College, as winner of first-ever PwC Trust Builders Challenge

137 student teams participated in this challenge to help solve a problem on trust

KUALA LUMPUR, 3 April 2017 – On Saturday, after a vigorous elimination process over several weeks, PwC Malaysia declared three teams from locally-based universities as winners of the first PwC Trust Builders Challenge.

• The Winner was Be Da Ape (from Sunway-TES, Sunway College)
• The Runner-Up was Team Target (from INTI International College Subang)
• The Second Runner-Up was jwt. (from Sunway-TES, Sunway College)
• Best Presenter (individual award) was Arpan Chandra Sarker (from team Be Da Ape), Sunway-TES, Sunway College

Sridharan (Sri) Nair, PwC Malaysia Managing Partner who was one of 5 Judges during the Finals, said,

“My fellow Judges and I were very impressed by the presentations and ideas these students shared. Their solutions and approaches were professional, imaginative and yet very much applicable in a real-life business context.

I’m encouraged by the thought that these young people who are Malaysia’s future leaders have such a strong understanding of how business works. The interest displayed from all teams that took part in the competition demonstrates a real desire in our young people to solve important problems which revolve around trust in business.

For us, this is one of the best signs that we are moving the needle on the topic of trust in business. It may be a tiny step, but a needed one in this current climate of low trust in institutions all over the world.”

The Trust Builders Challenge which ran from January to April 2017, is a team competition for Malaysian university undergraduates. The competition challenges teams to showcase their critical thinking, innovativeness, and business acumen by presenting a solution to rebuild trust in business.

It was conceived by PwC Malaysia as part of their larger Building Trust programme, which also includes the Building Trust Awards for Malaysian public-listed companies.  

Sri said:

“In November 2015, we recognised the companies that are making efforts to build trust among their customers and investors at PwC’s inaugural Building Trust Awards.

Then in 2016, PwC and the Young Corporate Malaysians collaborated on a Trust Debate which attracted over 100 attendees, 1,284 Facebook Live views and 1,054 engagements on social media. The energy and enthusiasm of those who listened in to this debate proved to us that young people have a particularly keen interest in the topic.

We wanted to do more to harness ideas and input from our young Malaysians. In fact, we believe that we can encourage the next generation of leaders to help influence what trust looks like in the future. Hence, the idea of PwC Trust Builders, a trust building challenge for university students was born.”

137 teams of three students each from locally-based universities took part in the challenge. For a competition without any cash prizes, the participation rate was much higher than expected.

Salika Suksuwan, Human Capital Leader, PwC Malaysia said:

“Teams from public and private universities all over West and East Malaysia put in submissions for the challenge. I’m pleased with the diversity of these students from different backgrounds, genders, and fields of study. It was very encouraging to see great solutions borne out of diverse teams.

Our Malaysian universities and employers should also take heart in knowing that more than 400 students who participated in our challenge are homegrown talent. Not only should we be proud of these young people, but inspired to know that we have future and capable leaders in our very midst.”

How the competition worked

• Student teams were presented with the following situation:
  A well-known clothing label is found to have been operating a sweatshop - forcing its factory workers to work extremely long hours with very low wages, and employing underage workers. 

• The challenge ran as follows:
  Part 1: Laying the foundation (Initial submission – 28 February)
  Students were asked to form a team of three and put on their business leader hat. With only 5 presentation slides, they had to explain how they would rebuild trust with their stakeholders and customers.
  
  Part 2: Creating the structure (Semi-finals – 25 March)
  10 teams were selected to pitch their solutions to our panel of Judges who included PwC Partners and Directors, and a TalentCorp representative.
  
  Finished product (Finals – 1 April)
  The three top teams presented their final solutions to the judges, and defended their cases.

The winning team won:

• a trip to Vietnam (to support the Human Capital team in our Vietnam firm’s onboarding process)
• the opportunity to be part of the PwC Building Trust Awards 2017 gala dinner committee
• an internship with PwC Malaysia

Read about the winners and more on the PwC Trust Builders Challenge for university students here: http://www.pwc.com/my/en/issues/trust/pwc-trust-builders.html

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