KOTA KINABALU: An innovative entrepreneurship competition – Oozes’s Pitch Bah! – is expected to produce more young talents in Sabah and improve the employment rate among locals.

OOZE is a youth incubation hub that focuses on providing financial literacy and entrepreneurship program to kids and teenagers to help them learn to manage their money better, build confidence, grow and launch their business idea.

The programme, in which Sabah Creative Economy and Innovation Centre (SCENIC) is one of the strategic partners, aims to encourage teenagers pitch their entrepreneurial ideas and cultivate their creative thinking.

Being a government initiative, SCENIC Assistant Strategic Partnership and Brand Builder, Norsida Ajhari said the centre plays a vital role in encouraging youngsters to venture into entrepreneurship that can further enhance their technological capabilities and creativity.

This is in line with one of the SCENIC pillars – Innovation Driven Entrepreneurship (IDE).

“Sabah has the highest unemployment rate in Malaysia. We are confident that the Pitch BAH! initiative will be able to produce more globally competent young talents and eventually will be hired by the companies now that they have learnt all of the business acumen which is also crucial when they enter the workforce.

“Through this pitching competition, participants will get the opportunity to present their business ideas, exchange innovative ideas and solutions and get feedback from the industry players that could help them move forward,” she said.

The application for the competition is open until Nov 15, after which successful participants will be notified on Nov 21 for further training before the final competition.

Norsida added SCENIC would help to promote the programme via its social media platform and media coverage as well as nurture the talents produced by Pitchbah! to the next level via various initiatives under SCENIC.

Meanwhile,Ooze founder Precilla Fong said the event would help to churn out innovative ideas and solutions through a pitching session.

“It will involve mentors who will be guiding the teenage entrepreneurs throughout the online training sessions.

“During the training session, teenagers will gain exposure to know how different industries work, how tonetwork and receive constructive feedback from the industry experts. ”

For participating teams to advance into finals, Fong said judges would evaluate pitches based on an equal weighting of perceived feasibility and growth potential, as well as the “wow factor.”

Anyone interested in participating in the competition can apply via https://www.oozeclub.com/competition.