Start-Up Mentorship Programme with STE@M by MBSAAS – 30 Jan 2021

On 30th January 2021, Ms Nicole Tretwer, Honorary Secretary of the Manchester Business School Alumni Association of Singapore (MBSAAS), held a mentorship session with Urban Origins for their pitch session. The session was hosted at the centre premises in support of MBSAAS’s Startups, Technology & Entrepreneurship @ Manchester (STE@M) initiative under the lead of Mr Teo Teck Loon, Honorary Treasurer of the MBSAAS.

Giving back and contributing to society has always been part of the University’s ethos, and by extension, MBSAAS’s, and the Urban Origins proposal was precisely the type of grassroots startup that significantly aids in the improvement of life quality for the community, making it a great candidate for support.

The goals of Urban Origins Founders Ms Suzanna Tang and Mr Bala Rukmangathan are to streamline and improve access to locally-produced, sustainable food sources via their platform, and ensure local food security for all children in Singapore.

During their entrepreneurial journey, Urban Origins discovered Action Community for Entrepreneurs (ACE) which runs a quarterly startup incubator program, BACECamp, with mentor volunteers from MBSAAS. These alumni mentors and volunteers utilised their spare time to assist startups to better illustrate their business ideas and apply the learnt methodologies that could transform startups into successful ventures.

This programme has been so successful with the support of alumni volunteers that 2 startup batches have already been completed, with many mentors even electing to stay on with consulting their assigned startups even after the completion of the workshops.

We are always glad to see the efforts of our Manchester community’s initiatives in giving back to society, not least enterprising collaborations that prove to be meaningful.