Twentytwo13

Innovation challenge ignites students’ interest in product development, international business

We still remember the day – it was an ordinary school day, at Global Indian International School, except that our teacher asked us to join a competition. Not just any competition, but an international one.

We were ecstatic but also equally nervous to join the FedEx Express/Junior Achievement International Trade Challenge (JA ITC) 2022 Malaysia Finals.

Hailing from a science background, we had near-zero knowledge in international business or marketing disciplines.

It was our team spirit and curiosity that compelled us to compete in this challenge.

The challenge was to create a health product to be sold in Cambodia. Right from the start, both of us were enthusiastic. We put forth our best efforts, dedicating all our time and resources to create something outstanding.

We stayed up late on many nights and reworked our project until we were happy with the final outcome!

Based on research and various discussions, we came up with Campex, a modified sanitary pad that solves the lack of clean facilities in many parts of Cambodia, a core issue faced by Cambodian women.

Campex aims to be 100 per cent biodegradable and environmentally friendly, with embedded dissolving soap strips and antibacterial elements.

We were eventually selected as one of the Top 3 Malaysian teams to compete in the FedEx Express/JA ITC 2022 Asia Pacific (APAC) finals. It was an amazing experience, and we gained a lot of knowledge through this challenge.

The semifinal at the Asia Pacific level was indeed nerve-racking. The stakes were higher as we were representing Malaysia.

This was truly challenging – not only were we split up and paired with winners from other countries who were complete strangers, we also had to create a product that holds sustainability at its core, with Germany as our target market.

Although we did not win at the APAC level, we were pleased that we were able to make it this far and experience many memorable moments.

Through this journey, both of us were able to interact with students from all over Malaysia as well as those from different parts of the globe, allowing us to form meaningful relationships and beautiful friendships across borders.

We are extremely grateful to all the wonderful experts and mentors who were there to guide us and provide us with constructive criticism, nudging us closer to our end goal, particularly our wonderful teacher and the Junior Achievement Malaysia team who supported us till the end!

This competition taught us that while winning brings us happiness, in losing, we gain wisdom.

Through the process, we learnt the importance of balance – it was tough handling school, spending time for ourselves, and managing this competition, but we persevered and triumphed!

We have gained immense insights into the business world through this challenge. It has sparked our interest in the business and marketing fields, which will hopefully guide our future career paths.

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This is the personal opinion of the writers and does not necessarily represent the views of Twentytwo13.