It took Facebook a mere 7 years and an ambitious Harvard undergrad to reach 700 million users around the world. It's no surprise then that such potential fast-track success is attracting similarly ambitious Singapore youth to try their hand at entrepreneurship.
This is where the National University of Singapore (NUS) Enterprise division comes in: they want to lower the business barriers for aspiring entrepreneurs, according to their deputy director Brian Koh. "We bring people from different backgrounds together," he explained. "As long as they have a substantial idea to prototype, we give them a space and opportunities to hack something out."
Yahoo! Singapore recently talked to three start-ups incubated at NUS Enterprise on the passion, determination (and support!) it takes for a great idea into useful, honest-to-goodness existence.
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The product: MedF1
The Big Idea: Lowering the cost of health care by smoothing out the logistical kinks between clinics and medical suppliers.
Started by: Ryan Teo, 27, Jamen Loh, 26, and Toh Hong Pang, 26, of Unboxs Solutions
medf1
There's no question that health care costs are escalating, and one major factor contributing to that are the massive gaps in logistical and clinical inefficiencies within the medical industry.
Enter MedF1, a web-based knowledge hub and directory for pharmaceuticals, medical devices and consumables. Likely the most unique start-up among the three, MedF1 seeks to lower the cost of medical care by smoothing out the kinks between suppliers and clinics.
"Clinics have to call 10-15 suppliers every week to check prices and orders, and most of these functions are still paper-based," says co-founder Jamen Loh.
Ryan Teo added: "This raises the price of the end product: medicine and other medical equipment like wheelchairs."
Through MedF1, clinics, medical centres and hospitals can manage their inventory needs while saving money on their drug and device orders through an online account. The web-based service means that no installation is necessary, and clinic administrative staff that is usually less tech-savvy can learn how to use the service quickly.
Launched in February this year, the service currently has a few hundred suppliers and 65 clinics on board, and both co-founders hope to increase that number down the road.
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The product: around!
The Big Idea: Allow merchants the ability to provide customers with real-time location-based deals and loyalty rewards.
Started by: Xu Daxiang, 29, and Quek Shu Yang, 28, of Gozo Labs
around!
Daily deal services like Groupon are great, but if you've ever found the need to see if there are any deals near where you are right now, GOZOLabs' free location-aware iPhone app is just for you. Called around! (that's right, you don't capitalise the first letter of their name) the app scans your surroundings for available deals.
Once located, users can then claim their deal by scanning a QR code at the respective merchants. To top it all off, around! provides a loyalty reward system which merchants can use to ensure that customers come back again. For instance, every deal redeemed can earn a virtual stamp, and merchants can take advantage of that to offer freebies for return customers.
"Current deals sites offer a good way to attract customers, but it doesn't provide long-term value for businesses because they are usually one-time customers," says Xu Daxiang, founder of Gozo Labs.
The built-in rewards system is markedly different from current daily deal sites, which depend on bombastic one-off deals to flood the merchants with customers who might never come back again.
Gozo Labs hopes to differentiate itself through its mixture of location-based deals, coupon discounts and loyalty rewards.
Merchants who have gone the around! route include FOX apparel, G2000 and Fairmont Hotel (currently offering a deal for moon cakes for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival).
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The product: Sogamo
The Big Idea: help Facebook game developers make money by better understanding their players.
Started by: Elvin Li, 28, of Zelrealm Interactive
sogamo dashboard
"At what point in time will a person be willing to spend real money in a Facebook game?"
That was the question founder and CEO Elvin of Zelrealm Interactive Elvin Li wanted to answer through his startup.
Zelrealm offers a complete set of analytic tools that game developers can use to analyse and improve the monetisation of their social games. Called Sogamo (Social Games Monetisation), the tool features an automated personalisation system, which profiles players according to their in-game habits.
Once you've been sorted by Sogamo to be a "Killer," a "Socialiser," an "Achiever" or an "Explorer", game developers can use this understanding to determine your level of motivations, and implement a corresponding way get you to spend actual money on the game.
And lest you think Zelrealm is a one-trick pony, the company also offers game publishing and Facebook marketing services to help game developers publish their games to Facebook, and get the most out of those games.
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