On Friday 21^st July, the final of 2017 YES Global Overseas Entrepreneurship Competition (OTEC entrepreneurship competition) was held at the world-class venue of the University of Liverpool in London in the very heart of the City of London.

Awarded first prize by the nine panel Judges, was the new medical project entitled “Hello Phototherapy”, presented by project leader, Nan Jiang. This new innovative product is a small, portable unit which can be used to cure the neonatal jaundice often experienced by infants following birth. Currently in Hospitals and Maternity Units across the world, a much larger and expensive piece of equipment is provided. ‘Hello Phototherapy’ intends to make this portable unit, which can be used in communities currently without access to the necessary equipment, at a fraction of the cost. The high-technology man’s personal underwear ‘Joey Wears’ and the social media platform ‘Weavee’ who helps businesses to look for the potential consumers were the second and the third award respectively.

Picture: Amanda Wang from UVIC, the main UK sponsor and the Lead Judge, Prof Tom Elfring from the University of Liverpool awarding the First Prize to Nan Jiang

There were more than one hundred graduate enquiries for the entrepreneurship competition from across the UK which resulted in 53 high-quality business plans being submitted in the first round prior to the deadline. This was then reduced to just ten teams via the semi-final processes leading to the Final event at the University of Liverpool in London, Campus.

The Graduate finalists represented UK and European Universities and their business proposals covered the fields of, Global Tourism, FinTech, Business Service Exchange, Human Resource Management, Personal Financing and well as Medicine.

Picture: the judge’s discussion of OTEC entrepreneurship competition in London division

During the morning session, the nine Judges launched the initial discussion Summit to the audience on the subject of being ‘Born Global’ and the value of developing social capital which was followed by an extended question and answer session. The competition entrants didn’t miss their opportunity to get to know the Judges better and to ask then about the problems that they may encountered in the process of developing their entrepreneurship skills and abilities. For example, how to find the correct capital resources and how to proceed with their process of developing a positive social media presence and long term exposure.

Picture: the big-scale discussion about “globalization and individual success”

Following a lunch with plenty of opportunities to further network, the OTEC Competition entered the final phase with the timed presentation sessions which were divided into two parts: a 10-minute presentation followed by a five-minute Q&A with the Judges questions designed to probe each contestant team member with aspects of their business planning. The “Hello Phototherapy” team, played an amination video as part of their presentation to better demonstrate the amazing possibilities that their product has in the treatment of neonatal jaundice. The well-timed presentation, not only effectively allowed the Judging Panel to view the product in the medical sector but also illustrated is ease of use and portability.

Picture: the champion project “Hello Phototherapy”

The Second Prize winners, Joey Wears, demonstrated the new fashion men’s underwear product and attracted the Judging Panel by using their unique product creation and samples which allowed the Panel to see the design and handle the comfortable manufacturing material.

Picture: the runner-up project Joey Wears

Later, Tiffany Zhong, Director of the Young Elite Scheme, shared the content of "how to find the suitable job and internship opportunities in China and the UK" to the gathered audience whilst the Panel Judges held their awarding marking deliberation discussions in a nearby private room.

Alex Qiu, the experienced immigration consultant based with the UK Visa & International Education Centre, continued the advice session by explaining the importance of the UK’s immigration laws and guidance in detail to the international students gathered at the venue. Alex was also able to outline the requirements with regard to the UK Entrepreneurial Visa routes including application guidance and relevant information points available.

Once the Judges had made their awarding decisions, everyone returned to the main venue room and Amanda Wang, the Chief Operating Officer of UK Visa & International Education Centre, shared the company vision on how UVIC supports young people who choose to progress their academic studies via our Great British Universities and how the orgainsation was itself, grown and nurtured in the true entrepreneurship spirit more than 15 years ago. She also confirmed that the strong and healthy partnership of UVIC and OTEC will definitely continue to provide a UK National platform for the continual development of further entrepreneurs, long into the future.

On August 18th, the Global Final of OTEC entrepreneurship competition will start. At that time, the UK First Prize winning project “Hello Phototherapy” will represent the UK in the Global Final alongside the other top 25 competitions entrants from the US, Africa, Europe and across Asia. The runner-up project, the high-tech man’s personal underwear Joey Wears will also participate in the OTEC summit in Haichuang, China. The Glabal OTEC organising committee will also arrange the joint meetings between local venture capital organisation and the regional competition winners.

The key regional innovation and entrepreneurship supporters, Beijing Chaoyang Overseas Talent Center, the Zhen fund, the Pegasus Brigade and other institutions, initiated the Overseas Talent Entrepreneurship Conference (OTEC) in 2013. The OTEC Group is an emerging distinguished comprehensive service platform that has earned an international reputation, global recognition and has achieved a reputable position across the China region. Noteable and local support services include, but not limited to, allocation, intergration and implementation of resources to overseas entrepreneurs who are then provided with further support by partnering them with professional project management, marketing advice and policy guidance organisations.

The UK organisers, Global Youth Entrepreneurs Association (YES Global) has the cooperation relationship with many strategic partners, in order to help the young entrepreneurs to expand their global views, develop management skills, establish the elite social network and use it for their own business development opportunities.

As the UK’s leading cross-border Education and Visa services provider, UK Visa & International Education Centre –UVIC Ltd, has impartially supported and guided many thousands of young people to continue their successful studies across a wide range of academic programmes with world-class Universities since 2003.mMore recently the team at UVIC has developed a unique smart search engine, MyOffer.com which delivers a service platform for all those looking to grow globally and seek further life-enhancing Higher Educational opportunities by studying overseas.

Alongside this initiative, they have also led in the development of the MyMoney University Tuition Fee payment service platform in partnership with the university sector allowing for the complete ease of foreign exchange transfers from China to the UK and beyond. Currently the team and brought to market, the 51Room app which partners student accommodation providers with incoming international students which, along with the other services described here, aims to deliver a complete Ecosystem of advice and support for students traveling the globe to study – learning without borders.