Covid-19 has been a catalyst for change, birthing unprecedented cross-industry collaboration. From perfume companies producing hand sanitizer to luxury hotels becoming quarantine centers, and to car part makers producing masks, the scale and speed of innovation ushered in by Covid-19 has been staggering.

Companies are racing to not only recover from the sudden disruption to business as usual, but to reinvent themselves and build resilience against future shocks. Skills once valued for strategic innovation are now considered by employers as essential for survival – including design thinking, entrepreneurship, and innovation.

By 2025, entrepreneurship will be the most sought-after skill by employers, according to HR professionals.
– Mercer Global Talent Trends Report 2020

At ASB, we are skilling our students for the future of work. Drawing on MIT’s Action Learning pedagogy, students spend up to a third of the curriculum on-site with corporate and startup host partners throughout Asia and beyond.

For full-time MBA students, the program culminates in a final Action Learning Entrepreneurship Trek where they will ideate, prototype, and pitch their own new product or service business, guided by ASB’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center.

The Action Learning Entrepreneurship Trek: Methodology

The Entrepreneurship Trek is broken into 4 steps:

Problem Identification

Human-centric approach to problem and opportunity identification.

Ideation

Understanding the problem and looking for potential solutions using design thinking

Prototype Development

Building simple physical or software prototypes

Product and Business Model Pitch

Pitching the minimum viable product (MVP) including evaluation of financial potential and strategies for commercialization using compelling storytelling

Tools and Resources

In addition to the core curriculum for the Entrepreneurship trek outlined above, students were able to tap into the following resources to hone their skills:

Crash courses in critical skills: From design thinking and critical thinking to Arduino, 3D modelling and printing, and Flutter and Guide for app development.

FabLabKL: A trademarked space providing software and equipment including 3D printers and laser cutters to bring ideas to life and create viable prototypes.

An entrepreneurial community: Ranging from angel investors and VCs to early-stage entrepreneurs, including ASB alumni to guide and inspire students.

Customer survey tools: Qualtrics survey software and guidance on survey design.

Regular touchpoint sessions: Panel, advising and reflection sessions are incorporated as a check-point for students to get feedback and direction.

Entrepreneurship club: This student-led club organizes initiatives and events allowing students to build a wider entrepreneurial network.

“The Action Learning experience has been a great way to test ideas in a safe environment. Feedback from faculty, judges, and fellow classmates have been very helpful in this journey.”

-Hrishi Eathakota, MBA Student

Showcase

The 2020 Entrepreneurship Trek culminated in a showcase of 8 innovative and ground-breaking student projects, including a storytelling app to connect socially-distanced grandparents with their beloved grandchildren, an AI-driven platform designed for blind jobseekers using videos and keyword recognition to help them stand out to prospective employers, and a stereotype-shattering skincare product designed for Asian men’s needs.

Sportstition

An amateur sport competition platform for discovering and sharing events

Sporstition is a self-service one-stop platform for sports competitions that allows anyone to create, share, find, attend and record sport competition events that fuel their passions and enrich their lives.

RunCom

Amateur running app for connecting with runners near you

RunCom is an application for amateur runners to schedule group runs, share knowledge and get community support.

Torch

Intelligent software sourcing platform to making sourcing simpler

Torch is an online platform that help guide the user to search for software tools through intelligent matching, crowdsourcing, and guided searches.

Katha

An interactive app for connecting grandparents with grandchildren through story-telling

Katha is bringing back the magical moments of grandma’s story time, incorporating video calls and storybooks in one interactive app. The app connects grandparents with grandchildren to spend more quality time together through storytelling.

Happy Fishermen’s Friend

B2B platform to empower fishermen to sell catch at better prices

HFF provides a bigger market network to ensure selected zone’s fishermen could sell catch at better prices via B2B platform powered by a social entrepreneur team. This is to help reduce poverty among fishermen in selected zone due to underutilized fishing capacity.

Charyato

A multi-sided platform connecting charitable individuals with charities

CHARYATO is a multi-sided platform which provides a single consolidated channel for charities or individuals to support their preferred causes. This platform promotes democracy, accountability and transparency in charity.

Mancealer

Developing an all-in-one tinted moisturizer with natural looking coverage for Asian men

MANCEALER addresses the lack of existing cosmetic products in the market that provide natural coverage for Asian skin tones. MANCEALER developed an all-in-one tinted moisturizer with natural looking coverage for Asian men.

MagicBox

An online platform for customizable meal kits

Magicbox is an online platform that provide consumers a healthy and convenient cooking experience with personalized options for specific needs.

View More Projects

“As an angel investor, I feel the teams really stand up compared to real-world pitching. In addition to that, they are very well prepared to answer questions.”

– Alan Lim, President, Malaysia Business Angels Network

Student and Ecosystem Impact

For MBA Students

Hones CV-building entrepreneurial skills
Provides a creative space and safe testing environment to design, prototype, and launch
Enables hands-on, collaborative learning by solving real problems
Builds empathy and ability to navigate complexity