YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS SCHEME (YES!) FOR SCHOOLS

Transcription

1 YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS SCHEME (YES!) FOR SCHOOLS CALL FOR PROPOSAL Page 1

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. BACKGROUND 2. OBJECTIVE FOR CALL FOR PROPOSAL (CFP) 3. ELIGIBILITY 4. EVALUATION CRITERIA 5. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION & TIMELINE OF EVENTS 6. ANNEXES: ANNEX A FREQUENTYLY ASKED QUESTIONS ANNEX B 2015 CALENDAR OF EVENTS (COMPETITIONS) Page 2

3 1. BACKGROUND The Young Entrepreneurs Scheme for Schools or YES! Schools seeks to promote and entrench the spirit of entrepreneurship among youths and nurture youth entrepreneurs through learning by doing. This unique programme incepted in 2009 by SPRING Singapore, offers a combination of business and technical skills, character development, communications and relationship management, and mentorship. Since inception, the programme has seen 150 schools benefiting from the scheme with students forming a deeper appreciation for innovation and entrepreneurship. 2. OBJECTIVE FOR CALL FOR PROPOSAL (CFP) SPRING Singapore will be conducting two Call for Proposals in The first Call for Proposal will be held between Jan to Feb and the second Call for Proposal will be held between Jun to Jul. SPRING Singapore invites interested schools to submit their proposals for YES! Schools. Schools with approved proposals will be committed to running the programme in 2015 with focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. 3. ELIGIBILITY YES! Schools is open to all MOE registered schools (JC/centralised institute/secondary/primary) who are able to demonstrate domain expertise and experience to nurture students towards innovation and entrepreneurship. 4. EVALUATION CRITERIA 4.1 All applying YES! Schools proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria: (a) Entrepreneurship and Innovative Elements: The proposal should highlight the approach of the project in terms of entrepreneurship learning and innovation. (b) Holistic Approach: The proposal should cover a comprehensive programme on the entrepreneurship learning activities to cultivate a mindset for enterprise among the students involved. (c) Hands-on (experiential) learning component: The proposal should demonstrate the feasibility of the project and outline the steps taken to ensure effective learning outcomes for students. Project should also require students to put to practical use the lessons learnt typically through participation in 1 internal as well as 2 external business plan competitions for $10,000 in grant support. (d) Reach of Project: The proposal should indicate the number of students that will benefit from the project. 40 students is the minimum benchmark for $10,000 in grant support. Page 3

4 (e) Mentors: All applying schools must include at least one mentor within their proposal. This mentor should provide guidance and real business/industry knowledge regarding the project. 5 PROPOSAL SUBMISSION & TIMELINE OF EVENTS 5.1 Submissions should be made using the Application Template enclosed with this proposal or can be found at Applications and accompanying hardcopy materials must be submitted to the following address: SPRING Singapore Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (YES! Schools) - <insert School s name> 1 Fusionopolis Walk #01-02 Solaris, South Tower Singapore Attention: Jayasutha Samuthiran (Ms) Second Call for Proposal (Jun to Jul 2015) Applications and hardcopy materials must be submitted to SPRING s mailing address by 1700hr Friday 31 Jul 2015 Page 4

5 ANNEX A FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 1. How much funding is available for my school? Below are the funding limits that each school can apply for on an annual basis: Up to $10,000 per JC/centralised institute/secondary/primary (case-by-case). The amount of grant awarded, however, will depend on the nature and scale of the project. Schools are advised to be prudent in their budget estimation. 2. What type of projects are supported? Projects should focus on entrepreneurship learning for students, which include some hands-on learning elements for students to apply the knowledge and skills that they have gained. Proposed projects should form part of a holistic plan for entrepreneurship learning in the school. 3. Can the grant be used to pay for renovation costs or to buy physical assets? The majority of the grant should NOT be used to pay for the costs of acquiring physical assets and/or infrastructure development. SPRING will evaluate the merit of each proposal and determine whether such infrastructure investment is essential to the overall plan for entrepreneurship learning in the school. 4. Can the grant be used to subsidise overseas learning trips? The grant should NOT be used to subsidise overseas learning trips. 5. Can the grant be used to pay for talks/ seminars? The grant can be used to fund talks/seminars if this forms an integral part of an overall entrepreneurship learning framework in the school and where other followon activities are also organised to engage the students in entrepreneurship learning. In addition, the majority of the grant should not be used to fund speaker/facilitator fees, F&B catering or any of such related costs. 6. How do we apply for the fund? "Fill up the application form with the relevant details on the proposal and send hardcopy of the project proposal to SPRING Singapore via Post: YES! Schools Administrator (Attention: Ms Jayasutha Samuthiran) Infrastructure Partner Management Division SPRING Singapore 1 Fusionopolis Walk, #01-02 South Tower, Solaris Singapore (138628)" 7. How are we to know whether our project application has been approved? The principal and teacher in-charge of the project will be notified and a letter of offer will be sent to the school. The funds will be disbursed once we have received the acceptance letter from the school. 8. Can the school appeal if our project has been not been approved? The secretariat will provide the school the reason(s) why the proposal was not approved. The school is encouraged to work on the proposal based on the feedback given and submit the revised proposal for SPRING's approval. Page 5

6 9. Do we need to present the proposal to SPRING? Where needed, some schools may be asked to deliver a short presentation on their project. 10. What happens after the project has been completed? Schools with approved project(s) will be required to submit a final report following the completion of the project. This report should evaluate the effectiveness of the project in terms of the number of student/teachers involved as well as learning gained. Some schools may be asked to share their projects with other schools/teachers, feature at exhibitions and/or provide information for marketing materials etc. 11. What happens if we have additional expenditure on top of the grant awarded? Additional expenditure out of the grant awarded has to be borne by the school as stated in the Letter of Offer. 12. What do we do with any unused funds? You will have to return the unused funds to SPRING. Such unused funds cannot be snowballed to support other projects and/or to the following year. 13. What happens if the school is unable to execute the project as planned? You will need to write in to SPRING to explain the status of the project and return the full (or remaining) grant to SPRING. You will have to re-submit a new application should you want to re-start the project. However, priority will be given to new projects. 14. What happens if the school decides to change our project after submission? You will need to inform SPRING in writing as soon as you can and submit the relevant amendments. 15. What happens if the project generates revenue or profit? The school can decide what they would like to do with the profits. Schools are encouraged to retain the capital (revenue - profit) to be used for other entrepreneurship learning activities. 16. Can the grant support existing projects? The grant is meant to support new initiatives, however if you have an ongoing project and want to apply for the grant, you will have to justify why this project deserves the funding support. 17. What if the project has already received funding from other sources? In general, we will not support projects that have already received or will be receiving funding from other sources (e.g. I&E Fund, CitiFoundation, Spirit of Enterprise etc). 18. What is the role of mentor? Mentors are to provide a real-world perspective and guidance to the students and teachers. He/She should have reasonable business/professional experience and have the enthusiasm to further youth entrepreneurship. The mentors can connect (physically or otherwise) with the school at least once a month to provide guidance and advice. Mentors can come from alumni, school advisory board, Page 6

7 parents etc. There should be no conflict of interest, therefore training provider cannot be the mentor. Mentors cannot be paid from YES! Schools grant. 19. What are the available competitions for students to participate in? Please refer to Annex B for list of competitions scheduled in Page 7

8 ANNEX B 2015 CALENDAR OF EVENTS (COMPETITIONS) Month* Competition Details Point-of-Contact Feb Youth Innovation Challenge For more info, Jun May to Jul Jul Sep/Oct Oct/Nov Nov Nov Young Entrepreneurship Challenge (YES) Tan Kah Kee Young Inventor s Award National Youth Business Challenge Shell LiveWIRE Awards 2015 Marketing Innovation Challenge (MIC) National Financial Literacy Competition National Pushcart Challenge (NPC) Ms Dora Ho, DID: or dora-ho@sp.edu.sg Mr Brandon Lee, DID: or bsw_lee@science.edu.sg Mr Nicholas Tan, DID: or ttl5@np.edu.sg Ms Rosa Koh, DID: or klt3@np.edu.sg Shell LiveWIRE Secretariat Office, DID: or livewire@ite.edu.sg Mr Kenny Low, DID: or Kenny_Low@rp.edu.sg Ms Joyce Loh, DID: or Joyce_Loh@rp.edu.sg Ms Serene Cheong, DID: Ext 212, or cheong_wenxin_serene@moe.edu.sg Mr Stanley Kwek, DID: or stanley_kwek@rp.edu.sg Ms Jacqueline Wu, DID: or jacqueline_wu@rp.edu.sg *Subject to change by organisers. Please check with organisers for further information. Page 8