Sabah students shine at Social Project Challenge 2025
The Sabah school teams gathered for a photo opportunity before their turns for the elevator pitch.
KOTA KINABALU (May 27): Three teams of 17-year-old aspiring changemakers studying at All Saints Secondary School, Kota Kinabalu, and Keningau Vocational College emerged as grantees for Social Project Challenge 2025 hosted by myHarapan and sponsored by Yayasan Telekom Malaysia (TM) during the bootcamp and pitch contest from May 23 until May 25 at Crystal Crown Hotel, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. There were 15 shortlisted teams nationwide and 10 teams were chosen to receive grants of RM800 to carry out their social projects in the next three months.
The teams were initially shortlisted from 70 entries from 30 teams who attended online training and pitched their ideas before the list was further narrowed down to 15 teams who were fully sponsored to attend a three-day physical bootcamp followed by an elevator pitch. They were given the exact five minutes to present their ideas and another 10 minutes for the judges to ask the presenters questions.
All Saints' all-male quartet pitched their Mini H20 Purifier, a water filter which they designed for rural villagers in Sabah who have a limited access to clean water. The team members were Boy Foo E Nang, Ryan Adriel, Mirza Abreshyam and Joshua Robin. There were two teams from Keningau Vocational College (KVC) who made it to the list of the 10 winners. The first team developed a project titled Sign & Tell which intends to teach sign language to hearing school students and teachers so they can communicate better with hearing-impaired individuals for a more inclusive environment.
This team was made up of five female students – Victoria Jacob, Rosselina Senora, Iris Sofea, Daffeny Jeanne and Aleysa Felix.
The second team consisted of three students and they were Nur Adawiyah Balqis, Nur Syaidattul Akma and Syehekeel Daniel Hanry who developed a food and paper waste management system in collaboration with a local farm. They named their project Waste 2 Awareness.
The All Saints Secondary School's team was coached and managed by Siti Azizah Md Yussof while the teams from Keningau Vocational College were chaperoned and mentored by Vienny Balakrishnan and Dr Sirhajwan Idek.
These 10 winners will be presenting their projects again after the three-month implementation phase at another event and the success of their projects might secure them more grants with greater amount to further scale up their social projects.
The Social Project Challenge (SPC) is a programme that seeks to introduce youth to social entrepreneurship and equip them with skills as well as provide them the resources including grants and network to kickstart their social enterprises.
This programme has been initiated by myHarapan also known as Youth Trust Foundation which is a not-for-profit association established to empower young Malaysians by supporting youth projects and initiatives that lead to better nation-building.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Borneo Post
27-05-2025
- Borneo Post
Sabah students shine at Social Project Challenge 2025
The Sabah school teams gathered for a photo opportunity before their turns for the elevator pitch. KOTA KINABALU (May 27): Three teams of 17-year-old aspiring changemakers studying at All Saints Secondary School, Kota Kinabalu, and Keningau Vocational College emerged as grantees for Social Project Challenge 2025 hosted by myHarapan and sponsored by Yayasan Telekom Malaysia (TM) during the bootcamp and pitch contest from May 23 until May 25 at Crystal Crown Hotel, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. There were 15 shortlisted teams nationwide and 10 teams were chosen to receive grants of RM800 to carry out their social projects in the next three months. The teams were initially shortlisted from 70 entries from 30 teams who attended online training and pitched their ideas before the list was further narrowed down to 15 teams who were fully sponsored to attend a three-day physical bootcamp followed by an elevator pitch. They were given the exact five minutes to present their ideas and another 10 minutes for the judges to ask the presenters questions. All Saints' all-male quartet pitched their Mini H20 Purifier, a water filter which they designed for rural villagers in Sabah who have a limited access to clean water. The team members were Boy Foo E Nang, Ryan Adriel, Mirza Abreshyam and Joshua Robin. There were two teams from Keningau Vocational College (KVC) who made it to the list of the 10 winners. The first team developed a project titled Sign & Tell which intends to teach sign language to hearing school students and teachers so they can communicate better with hearing-impaired individuals for a more inclusive environment. This team was made up of five female students – Victoria Jacob, Rosselina Senora, Iris Sofea, Daffeny Jeanne and Aleysa Felix. The second team consisted of three students and they were Nur Adawiyah Balqis, Nur Syaidattul Akma and Syehekeel Daniel Hanry who developed a food and paper waste management system in collaboration with a local farm. They named their project Waste 2 Awareness. The All Saints Secondary School's team was coached and managed by Siti Azizah Md Yussof while the teams from Keningau Vocational College were chaperoned and mentored by Vienny Balakrishnan and Dr Sirhajwan Idek. These 10 winners will be presenting their projects again after the three-month implementation phase at another event and the success of their projects might secure them more grants with greater amount to further scale up their social projects. The Social Project Challenge (SPC) is a programme that seeks to introduce youth to social entrepreneurship and equip them with skills as well as provide them the resources including grants and network to kickstart their social enterprises. This programme has been initiated by myHarapan also known as Youth Trust Foundation which is a not-for-profit association established to empower young Malaysians by supporting youth projects and initiatives that lead to better nation-building.
The Star
24-05-2025
- The Star
Rakyat shopping wisely to maximise savings
PETALING JAYA: Malaysians are not only paying more for their nasi lemak, rendang and roti canai prepared by eateries; they are also feeling the pinch from high grocery bills. When it comes to grocery shopping, Malaysians are faced with the constant dilemma of whether an item is a must-have or optional. For the last five years, grocery prices have increased, causing household budgets to burst. Despite the continuous rise in prices, Thangarani S., 56, pointed out that there is no other way around it since her family of four does not eat out often. 'Yes, it is true. All essential items have increased in terms of pricing, but you cannot stop buying rice or sugar or flour, can you? 'We have to buy them regardless of the increase in costs because how much can you cut off your budget? You can remove things like biscuits, chocolates or keropok, but daily essentials are a must-buy. 'Take sardines, for example. It is considered basic food for the B40 group, but a big can costs around RM10 now,' the Ampang homemaker told The Star. Thangarani was responding to data showing that Malaysians are spending more on groceries than any other South-East Asian country. Administrator S. Saras, 53, from Ulu Kelang, said that when it comes to buying groceries, there are two main items – wet and dry. 'I spend about RM80 to RM150 on the weekly wet items. For the dry items, I spend around RM300, which can last for two weeks, depending on what I buy. 'If you compare the current pricing with those from five years ago, yes, there is a steady increase. This is why I end up spending RM600 to RM800 per month easily. 'We also cook more because my parents live with me, so they prefer home-cooked meals. We only go out maybe once a week or on special occasions because even a basic meal for five people can come up to RM80,' she said. Aliya Saiful from Setia Alam, Selangor, typically spends around RM300 on dry items alone when grocery shopping. This is because the mother of four splits her grocery bill depending on the priority of the household items for each month. She also carefully considers the budget before choosing to go to the supermarket or local wet market. 'Typically, we would need to spend up to RM800 per month including wet items, but I do check for prices before going shopping. 'Now my list is a lot shorter as I only have my youngest children at home. But when all my kids are at home, the grocery bill can go up to RM900. 'Since I only have my two youngest school-going children now, I have more time to choose where to spend my budget,' said the 50-year-old accounts manager. Alia has cut down on processed food items such as frozen chicken because they tend to take up a chunk of the bill. She also has a shopping tip – fruits and vegetables are basically more expensive in supermarkets but cheaper at local traders. From her own observations, she said supermarkets tend to put an 'organic' label on fruits and vegetables to justify a higher price tag. 'Even though it is just local spinach, I have seen them sold for RM5 per bunch when I can get it for RM2 at the wet market,' she said. Sales executive Cynthia Lee, 33, said she now brings her own prepared meals to work in order to save money. 'When I started working, I was able to splurge on lunch and coffee with my colleagues. But after marriage, I realised that I was able to save more with my own packed lunch. 'This is also because eating out or ordering food costs more lately due to delivery and labour costs. As such, I opted to pack meals for me and my husband,' she said. Lee also noted that prices of certain items have steadily increased over the past years. To satisfy her love for overnight oats with honey, she has switched to buying local honey. 'The switch from imported items is also extended to other things as long as they are good,' she added.
New Straits Times
23-05-2025
- New Straits Times
CelcomDigi core earnings set to accelerate, driven by integration gains
KUALA LUMPUR: CelcomDigi Bhd's core earnings growth is expected to accelerate to 11 per cent and 25 per cent in financial year 2026 (FY26) and FY27, from four per cent in FY25. RHB Investment Bank Bhd (RHB Research) said this is driven by the tapering off of integration-related costs, the realisation of stronger synergies and improving commercial execution. The firm also noted that CelcomDigi has reaffirmed its steady-state pre-tax savings target of RM700 million to RM800 million post-FY27. For FY26, CelcomDigi expects low-single digit growth in service revenue, low-to-mid single digit earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) growth and capital expenditure-to-sales of 14-16 per cent. "We see integration cost tailing off in FY25 with the network integration coming to a close," the firm said in a research note. "With the improvement in commercial execution and greater extraction of merger synergies, we see core earnings growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18 per cent for FY25-27," it added. According to RHB Research, CelcomDigi has completed about 80 per cent of its network integration as at end of first quarter of 2025 from 75 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024. "We see some challenges in integrating the remaining 20 per cent of the sites due to extended discussions with Digital Nasional Bhd and site owners with some slippage in integration timeline to the second half (Q1) of 2025," it added. The firm said the company has booked RM300 million in integration cost since the merger started, out of the RM527 million in total integration cost including capital expenditure (capex). Meanwhile, integration cost in Q1 totaled RM63 million, of which RM41 million is operating expenditure (opex)-related and the remainder on capex (RM22 million). The firm noted that the Q1 capex of RM148 million was low, representing just 5.0 per cent of revenue, but expected to increase over the next few quarters – in line with the IT platform upgrades. RHB Research kept its 'Buy' call on CelcomDigi with a target price of RM4.40 a share.
