University students with a unique business or social venture idea now have the chance to compete and polish their idea to win a trip to Japan. The national Business Model Competition (BMC Cambodia 2023) is calling for young aspiring entrepreneurs for its annual Season 13.

Stephen Paterson, BMC program coordinator, told Kiripost by email,

“This year, we are also partnering with the University of California Berkeley, which will serve as one of our knowledge partners for the upcoming BMC training program. The addition of the trip to Japan for the winning team is also something new for BMC 2023.”

Stephen, also a Chief Innovation & Entrepreneurship Officer (CIEO) at the National University of Management (NUM), added, “In terms of investment, this is still under discussion with our Japanese partner. I expect they will be looking to provide some support to those BMC alumni teams who have successfully implemented their startups.”

BMC Startup Program Sows the Seeds for Entrepreneurs

Since 2009, BMC Startup Accelerator & Competition has fostered entrepreneurship among university students in Cambodia. So far, more than 1,500 applications have applied for the program with over 300 teams from more than 20 universities joining the competition. From 2015, the BMC also bundled a three-month accelerator program.

Stephen told Kiripost that as the competition is mostly focused on university teams, he does not expect most of them to have success with their current business ideas. “Rather our approach is to go slow, develop an entrepreneurial mindset in addition to teaching the key lean startup methodology, which can also be used in the future to develop successful startup businesses and social ventures.”