Amongst deals, mergers and acquisitions, it’s been a busy year for Hong Kong so far.
The latest back-to-back exits of homegrown startups Divide and Cherrypicks is proof that the ingenuity of our entrepreneurs are stronger than ever before. Just when we couldn’t get any prouder of our burgeoning startup scene, the prestigious ‘Talent Unleashed Awards’ announced that it was extending its reach to include Hong Kong and Singapore. The aim of ‘Unleashed’ is to celebrate individuals whose impactful ideas could potentially change the world, whether it be solving business problems or helping a community in need.
While the overall winners will be chosen by the legendary Richard Branson and Steve Wozniak, our own Yat Siu was invited to represent Hong Kong as a regional judge. See more details on each award category here.
The five Hong Kong winners selected in each category are as follows:
- Daniel Chan won the ‘Rising Star Award’ for Cashyou, a P2P local payment system and e-wallet app.
- Aurelien Menant won the ‘Best Startup Award’ for Gatecoin, an exchange that lets users buy and trade virtual currencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin.
- Karen Farzam won the ‘Inspirational Leadership Award’ for WHub.HK, a platform that connects Hong Kong startups with an untapped talent pool.
- Sunny Kok won the ‘Digital Content Award’ for his work with Green Tomato, TalkBox Voice Messenger and his creation of Hong Kong Movie.
- Paul Lee won the ‘Community Impact Award’ for Ace Hearing’s hearing enhancement tech which mobilizes the services of hearing professionals.
With five winners from Singapore, New Zealand and Australia also in the running, our Hong Kong finalists will have to wait until July 31st to see if they’ve made the cut. Besides bragging rights, winners will join Richard Branson at the ‘Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship’ in South Africa for a week-long workshop on entrepreneurship and business innovation. Held at the W Hotel in Hong Kong, the awards ceremony will be broadcast simultaneously in Auckland, Sydney and Singapore. Until then, join us in congratulating Daniel, Aurelien, Karen, Sunny and Paul in their amazing work!
