KUALA LUMPUR: Nescafé remains committed to empowering young Malaysians with opportunities to succeed through its ambitious innovation challenge, which saw university students from across the nation reimagining the future of coffee.
Marking the conclusion of the challenge, these young innovators gathered to showcase their creativity and business-savvy at the grand finale of the Nestlé Youth Innovators Programme (NYIP) 2024, held at Nestlé (Malaysia) Bhd's headquarters recently.
The programme builds upon the success of the Nescafé Youth Entrepreneurship Programme (NYEP) established in 2016, which started with providing practical day-to-day café management operations and experience for students.
This year, the challenge was taken up a notch in the form of a business case challenge involving 450 participants from 10 partnering universities, fostering creativity, collaboration and problem-solving skills.
Nestlé Malaysia and Singapore chief executive officer Juan Aranols said the company is committed to continue equipping Malaysian youth with relevant skills and capabilities.
"More than just a competition, NYIP is a catalyst for innovation and youth empowerment that fosters entrepreneurial thinking and challenging these bright young minds to reimagine the future of coffee," he added.
The NYIP challenge invited students to develop innovative strategies to recruit more youths into the Nescafé brand and increase coffee consumption amongst youths.
To foster participants' growth throughout their journey, all finalists were given mentorship opportunities with Nestlé Malaysia's marketing experts across various business divisions.
This mentorship experience provided students with invaluable insights into business strategy, innovation and market analysis, helping them refine their proposals and develop practical business acumen.
Using their fresh perspectives and understanding of youth culture, innovative solutions ranging from new product concepts to digital engagement strategies were presented.
The journey culminated in the NYIP Grand Finale, where eight finalist teams competed for attractive cash prizes worth a total of RM32,000.
The team from Multimedia University (MMU) won the grand prize of RM15,000 in cash.
Meanwhile, one team from Monash University and a team from Universiti Malaya won first and second runner up, receiving cash prizes of RM10,000 and RM7,000 respectively.