IMI Creative from UTM crowned Champion at the finale of DiGi Challenge for Change

Malaysian universities taps on mobile and internet solutions to improve lives of underserved communities

Team IMI Creative from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia beat 12 other finalists to be crowned Champion at the DiGi Challenge for Change competition finale officiated by Dr. Syahira Hamidon, Senior Principal Asst Secretary, Entrepreneurship Unit, Ministry of Higher Education who represented YB Dato' Saifuddin Abdullah, the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, today.

IMI Creative has been working closely with the Persatuan Orang-orang Cacat Anggota Malaysia (POCAM) and the Malaysian Paralympic Council (MPC) since they were named finalists from Johor. Their solution, named Starter Kit Disabled Advertisement has a major impact on the disabled community through its corporate advertising programme for wheelchair users.

"The last six months of the DiGi Challenge for Change programme has been an incredible process of maturing our social venture initiative. By working closely with our Industry mentors and the university, we have quickly developed greater capacity for our solution. Our hope moving forward is for more corporate organizations will step forward to do their part for the plight of the disabled community," Ruzimi Mohamed, Chief Executive Officer of IMI Creative.

As Champion, the team won RM10,000 cash and a host of other start-up and business incubation support and solutions from DiGi and partners of the Competition.

DiGi's third installation of Challenge for Change has inspired young Malaysians to discover meaningful and innovative ideas using mobile and internet solutions to enable positive changes for underserved communities nationwide.

DiGi's Chief Executive Officer, Henrik Clausen commended participants for their creative use of mobile and internet to enable social change. He said, "Connectivity opens up new ways of teaching and learning, extends reach to new markets and in doing so enable many people to benefit from new social and business opportunities. We believe that connectivity is an impetus that can empower the underserved to improve their livelihood.

"We are pleased to have worked with budding talents in this competition to develop sustainable ideas using mobile and internet solutions that are readily implementable. We hope the journey has inspired students and imparted them with valuable live skills of innovation, entrepreneurship and community service," added Clausen.

Commenting on the winning idea, Zaiton Hj Idrus, DiGi's Head of Corporate Affairs and Chief Judge of this Competition said, "The judges and I were very impressed by quality and depth of understanding shown in their presentation. For the first time in a social venture competition, we have seen finalists going beyond proof of concept to make a difference amongst the underserved communities."

A total of 117 teams from 23 Malaysian universities participated in this year's competition, which kicked-off in September last year with the aim of encouraging undergraduates to initiate social ventures using mobile and internet to address existing social, economic and environmental issues amongst underserved communities. Thirteen (13) teams were then shortlisted and they spent three months engaging with local NGOs and communities to develop and implement their ideas with the help of DiGi and industry mentors.

The DiGi Challenge for Change is endorsed by the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture (KPKK), and the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE). DiGi's national partners this year include MSC Malaysia, Microsoft Malaysia, ZTE Corporation, Jobstreet; GEW (Global Entrepreneurship Week) and YouthWorks Asia who provided support as judges and mentors of the competition and contributed experiential prizes for the finalists and champion.