Sustainable Fashion Idea Wins Accolades At Intervarsity Challenge

Four promising students, one of whom is from APU, demonstrated strategic thinking in business ideas with sustainable fashion aimed at the younger generation and proposed converting an existing thrift store into a thrift cafe and Augmented Reality (AR) — Virtual Try Before You Buy feature.

From left: Eng Yi Den, Sharifah Zaqreeztrina, Shavina E. Pillai, and Tan Wei Siang are students from different universities who engage in numerous competitions together in the spirit of friendship.

After finishing fourth in the previous competition; Tan Wei Siang (Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation), Eng Yi Den (University of Malaya), Shavina E. Pillai (Brickfields Asia College), and Sharifah Zaqreeztrina (Heriot-Watt University Malaysia) lead team 4theFuture to 1st Runner UP in the Intervarsity Corporate Strategy Challenge (ICSC) 2023.

The ICSC 2023 is a competition-based event organised by the University of Malaya Accounting Club (UMAC) that brings together talent from both public and private tertiary education institutions in Malaysia and exposes them to real-life business situations.

ICSC strives to shape undergraduates into successful entrepreneurs of the future and identify potential corporate leaders of the generation, all while contributing innovative ideas to make a positive impact on society as a whole.

This year’s competition involved three rounds of business presentations, and 48 participants from 12 teams participated.

For the first stages, each group was allowed 45 minutes in stage 1 to prepare a concept for a business plan, and then 75 minutes in stage 2 to finish it and explain what each group did.

Finally, all teams will be tested in the stage 3 with Business and Corporate Crisis Management and Press Conference in 60 minutes.

Wei Siang pointed out that he did not expect the judges to like the Sustainable Fashion concept presented by his group. In addition to providing high-quality clothing to the younger generations, they also align their business with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)12: Responsible Consumption and Production, as well as their vision of being the #1 choice of fashion business to inspire the world.

To improve the customer experience, they proposed establishing an omnichannel experience for shoppers and converting current thrift stores into thrift cafés. They expect to increase store footfall and customer spending through a number of channels.

They also suggested the Augmented Reality (AR) — Virtual Try Before You Buy feature in their e-commerce web, collaborating with large corporations in the fashion industry to create a win-win strategy for all and scale the larger effect to inspire the world, in order to provide the most comprehensive user experience.

Meanwhile, he and members of 4theFuture agreed that “ICSC is an excellent opportunity for students to gain valuable business experience, learn about strategic thinking, business problems, analysing a real-world business problem, analysing market trends, identifying opportunities for growth, and developing plans for executing business strategy.”

They had earlier competed in the FutureReady Consulting Case Program Competition 2023 and the Global Case Competition 2023 but had finished fourth in both.

Overall, despite studying at different universities, the 4theFuture team was able to strengthen the spirit of fellow Malaysian students; enjoyed participating in this competition and were able to exchange opinions with other team members; and, most importantly, they were able to bring home a cash prize of RM1,500.