Congratulations to all 2022 MEC Winners!
Click here to check out the
2022 MEC Final Round Award Winning Teams
The main focus of the ME competition is not "competition" itself, but rather to provide an opportunity for students to foster their communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking skills.
About Us
World Journal
ME Competition Co-host
Founded in 1976, the World Journal is the most influential Chinese-language newspaper in North America. One of the few U.S. daily newspapers distributed on a national basis. World Journal’s mission is to serve all overseas Chinese by helping immigrants bridge the gap to mainstream America, keep in touch with their homeland and local Chinese community news and improve their quality of life.
Columbia Business School’s
Venture For All® Program
ME Competition Co-host
Columbia University is a private Ivy League research university in Upper Manhattan, New York City. Venture for All® is a global initiative whose mission is to enhance the entrepreneurial ecosystem in emerging and frontier markets through education and mentorship. Our programs educate and train young aspiring entrepreneurs to become enterprise builders and job creators.
IEG Global Corporation
ME Competition Co-host
IEG Global Corporation (IEG) is a non-profit, 501(c)(3), that provides students with financial challenges to receive equal opportunities to participate in all of our Programs since 2012. At IEG, we strive to make a difference in this world via education.
IEG works directly with top universities to develop challenging Programs for students. We don't believe grades should be the only key indicator on whether you could attend these programs, but more on
whether you have the "passion to
learn and excel".
About Us
World Journal
ME Competition Co-host
Founded in 1976, the World Journal is the most influential Chinese-language newspaper in North America. One of the few U.S. daily newspapers distributed on a national basis. World Journal’s mission is to serve all overseas Chinese by helping immigrants bridge the gap to mainstream America, keep in touch with their homeland and local Chinese community news and improve their quality of life.
Columbia Business School’s
Venture For All® Program
ME Competition Co-host
Columbia University is a private Ivy League research university in Upper Manhattan, New York City. Venture for All® is a global initiative whose mission is to enhance the entrepreneurial ecosystem in emerging and frontier markets through education and mentorship. Our programs educate and train young aspiring entrepreneurs to become enterprise builders and job creators.
IEG Global Corporation
ME Competition Co-host
IEG Global Corporation (IEG) is a non-profit, 501(c)(3), that provides students with financial challenges to receive equal opportunities to participate in all of our Programs since 2012.
At IEG, we strive to make a difference in this world via education. IEG works directly with top universities to develop challenging Programs for students. We don't believe grades should be the only key indicator on whether you could attend these programs, but more on whether you have the "passion to learn and excel".
What is ME Competition?
Model Entrepreneur®, ME, is a competition hosted by Columbia Business School’s Venture For All® Program and World Journal SF LLC, with the goal to encourage young talents to stand out from pure imagination and speak out innovative ideas with business feasibility. Unlike any business competitions, ME participants will be able to receive proper guidance and suggestions on their business models through VFA Clubs.
Competition Details
Qualifications
Every team comprises of at least two, maximum eight, members with one group leader as a single point of contact with ME.
Each team member needs to be a current high school student.
Fee :
Preliminary (First Round) $60 per person;
Revival Round $100 per team (if your team move into the Final Round directly from First Round, this does not apply);
Final Round: $0 for teams applied through World Journal as scholarship given by WJ (Original $330 per person).
Schedule
Rules
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Each team can only submit one business proposal
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Every proposal & video should be original and not publicized before
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Participants who didn’t make to the final round could choose to submit their revised business proposals by the deadline for Revival Round
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Each team should be identified with a team name throughout the competition
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Participants found to have committed copyright infringement will be disqualified immediately with no exceptions
Preliminary
Registration & Business Proposal deadline (Round 1): 4/12/2022 PDT
Announcement & Comments (Round 1):
4/28/2022 PDT
Revised Business Proposals Due
(Revival Round): 5/10/2022 PDT
Finalist Announcement: 5/24/2022 PDT
Final Stage
Final Round Orientation: 6/10/2022 PDT
6:30pm - 7:30pm
Deadline for Final Business Proposal & Video Submission: 6/25/2022 PDT
Promotional Video Voting: 7/1/2022 - 7/10/2022 (PDT)
Final Round: 7/11/2022 - 7/13/2022 PDT
6:30pm - 9:00pm
Location:
Online (Time & Link to the live stream room will be sent separately)
Awards Ceremony
7/14/2022 (PDT), 6:30pm - 8:30pm
*World Journal SF is authorized to accept the 2022 applications from high school students in the United States, Canada, Mexico.
Business Proposal Submission (Preliminary)
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All documents should be submitted in English, and in PDF format
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Please submit to: info@mecompetition-usa.com
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E-mail subject: (Team Name)+(School Name) ie. InstaTruck + Monta Vista High School
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BP title: (Team Name)+(School Name) ie. InstaTruck + Monta Vista High School.pdf
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Theme
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Each team should come up with an innovative product or service to make life better, or solve a current social problem.
Content of Business Proposal
(1) Cover Page
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The cover should include your team name, logo, team members'names, school name, and the supervising teacher's name if any.
(2) Business Plan
a. How did your team come up with this idea? Why do you want to create this product or service?
b. Describe an existing business pain point that you want to solve or a business opportunity you have identified.
c. Introduce the product or service you have designed.
d. Describe your target customers. Who are they? What are the main customer segments that need your product or service the most?
e. Business value proposition
Final Round Requirement
You are required to submit the Final Business Proposal and 2 Videos.
Final Business Proposal:
Teams entering the Final Round will submit their final business plans based on the suggestions from the Columbia Business School VFA professors/instructors.
Please make sure to include a three-year simplified financial calculation.
The requirements of the business proposal for the Final Round:
Part 1: The cover should include your team name, project name, logo, team members’ names, school name, and the supervising teacher’s name if any.
Part 2: How did you come up with your business idea? Why do you want to create this product or service?
Part 3 : Introduce the product or service you have designed.
Part 4: Customer analysis
Part 5: Business value proposition
Part 6: SWOT analysis
Part 7: Competitor analysis
Part 8: Simplified financial calculation for the next 3 years (You should at least include sales forecast, various expenses, breakeven, and the amount you require to launch your business)
Part 9: Who are your team members? What are their roles?
Part 10: What is your realistic next step?
Video 1 (Promotional Video):
Each team will be required to shoot a promotional video explaining your business ideas and/or product services. The video will be no more than 1 minute and 15 seconds. There is no limitation on the form and style of the short video, but the video content must comply with relevant international video and advertising laws and regulations. Racial discrimination, pornographic violence, and excessively exaggerated, vulgar, and false advertising content must not appear in the video.
Video 2 (Roadshow Video):
Each team will need to prepare a roadshow video that lasts no more than 3 minutes and 15 seconds. The video will cover the following seven items:
① Describe the current problem or opportunity.
② Customer archetypes. Who are your customers? What type of customers would find your product or service most useful?
③ What is your business model? How will you make a profit?
④ Competitor analysis.
⑤ Simplified financial calculation for the next three years (you should at least include sales forecast, various expenses, breakeven, and the amount you require to launch your business).
⑥ Who are your team members? What are their roles?
⑦ What’s your realistic next step?
* The videos must be presented in English.
*The video content must comply with relevant international video and advertising laws and regulations. Racial discrimination, pornographic violence, and excessively exaggerated, vulgar, and false advertising content must not appear in the video.
*All videos must be submitted by 6/25/2022 (PDT) with the final business proposal (in PDF files). Late submission will be considered as an abandonment of the competition. Each team has only one chance to submit, once submitted, no changes will be allowed.
*The documents' names for both the promotion video and the roadshow video should include the name of the team and the school or institution.
Final Round Guidelines
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The Final Round will consist of 4 parts. Please peruse the Final Round Scoring Rubrics section below for more information.
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Part 1 will take place online, Part 2 and Part 3 will be reviewed offline, and Part 4 will be reviewed by the Judging Panel online.
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Part 4 will last a total of 20 minutes in 2 rooms:
Room 1 (10 minutes)
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* 20 seconds for the first team to briefly describe its business model (elevator pitch)
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* 2 minutes of Q&A with the peer review team.
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* 20 seconds for the second team to briefly describe its business model (elevator pitch)
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* 2 minutes of Q&A with the peer review team.
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* 5 minutes of Judging Panel Q&A for both teams. The judges may ask questions regarding the following topics:
1. Your business idea.
2. The product or service you have designed
3. Customer analysis
4. Business value proposition
5. SWOT analysis
Room 2 (10 minutes)
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* 20 seconds for the first team to briefly describe its business model (elevator pitch)
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* 20 seconds for the second team to briefly describe its business model (elevator pitch)
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* 9 minutes of Judging Panel Q&A for both teams. The judges may ask questions regarding the following topics:
1. Competitor analysis
2. Financial analysis
3. What is your realistic next step?
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Prizes
1st place
- $1500 start-up fund per team
- Certificate issued by Columbia Business School Venture For All®
- Interview from World Journal Chinese Daily Newspaper
2nd place
- $1200 start-up fund per team
- Certificate issued by Columbia Business School Venture For All®
- Interview from World Journal Chinese Daily Newspaper
3rd place
- $800 start-up fund per team
- Certificate issued by Columbia Business School Venture For All®
- Interview from World Journal Chinese Daily Newspaper
Additional Prizes:
Winning teams will get the scholarships in the amount of $1000 towards the cost of the IEG programs they are interested in.
