Alibaba ASEAN-Chongqing CREATE @ Alibaba Cloud Start-up Contest (CACSC) was held on 17 September 2018 at the SLINGSHOT@SWITCH, Sands Expo and Convention Centre. It was an event to give promising start-ups a platform to showcase their technology and business ideas, gain early exposure to investors, corporates, industry leaders, mentors, media, and tech-savvy early adopters.

We saw intense competition by some of the most promising start-ups in the region, and after much deliberation, HEYCOINS was chosen as the grand prize winner, capturing the opportunity to pitch at the grand finals of CACSC 2018. They also receive S$50,000 Startup SG grant prize sponsored by Enterprise Singapore as well as USD50,000 Cloud credits.

HEYCOINS is a chain kiosk that tackles the hassle and inconvenience created by the use of physical cash. HEYCOINS Kiosk collects cash from users and converts them into the digital currency that can be used for various purposes. HEYCOINS can bring economic benefits and positive social impacts by recycling cash, removing cash from unwanted circulation and the same time, reduce the massive manufacturing cost of cash for the government by controlling the return of the stored cash back into circulation.

We managed to catch up with Eddie Rong (CEO and co-founder) and Kenneth Yap (chief business officer) upon their winning the competition.

“It’s a privilege to be here among the best minds from Alibaba and to win it is just extra icing on the cake,” says Kenneth. Eddie explains that since the founding of the company, they have set their sights on becoming a global company. “The challenge was to find the right person who knows the right things,” he added.

Elaborating on that, Kenneth says, “Finding the right partners who also value our solution is important. The challenge is in finding partners who are familiar with regulations, who understand the local market, and who believe in our vision.”

On advising new entrepreneurs, Kenneth suggests, “Have people who see your idea and can criticize your idea, be open and take feedback,”.

Eddie adds that “We should be open minded and share things, get critical feedback. Do not worry as your idea will not be copied. When we first started, people didn’t understand what we do. But now they listen more because we dare to talk about it.”.

“Talk to competitors!” he adds.

On winning USD50,000 Cloud credits, the founders explain how they will use the credits. “With Chinese companies, Alibaba Cloud would be ideal as it is faster, more efficient and the technical perspectives are good.”

They intend to talk to Taobao and T-Mall and to learn more from Alibaba to become a global company that provides local solutions.