Experts tapped to mentor student innovators

MANILA, Philippines - One of the popular shows on TV today is “The Voice,” which has been syndicated in many countries, including the Philippines.

It is a singing competition, but what sets it apart from the rest is the mentoring given to the contestants by superstars, who are also coaches of the contestants they chose for their teams. 

This is exactly what Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) had in mind when the telco organized the recently concluded bootcamp at the First Pacific Learning Academy in Antipolo for the 10 finalists of the 11th SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards.

“SWEEP Awards has become a virtual playground for student innovators, and we want to ensure they get all the help they need from us to increase their chances of winning in this year’s competition.  Moving forward, we also want to help them transform their ideas into a business with products or services that people can avail of, and where the teams can actually earn from,” Ramon Isberto, head of public affairs at Smart, said.

 For the 11th SWEEP Awards, coaches comprised of a lead mentor coming from the panel of judges plus one representative each from the engineering, marketing, and developer/innovation units of Smart have been assigned to each of the finalist-teams.

These coaches shared with the student innovators relevant industry information and practical tips on how to transform ideas into viable and marketable products and services to boost their chances of winning in the competition.

The mentoring by the coaches does not end with the bootcamp.  Coaches will give remote mentoring to the teams over the next few months. 

Teams, on the other hand, have timelines on the deliverables to their coaches such as the sample pitch, and the prototype of their entries, to prepare them for the final judging come February.

“There are a number of disruptive ideas from among the entries. The students don’t even realize now the potential for usage and benefits that their entries have. The value proposition and the actual product/service just need fine-tuning so they can be ready for market should they decide to go the commercial route,” said Lloyd Dennis Manaloto, department head for Strategic Innovations at Smart, and one of the lead mentors for the teams.