The first entrepreneurship program in Cambodia to focus on smart cities and transport

3

innovative ventures

$ 950

grand prize

Driving innovation in mobility and transport

The Toyota Impact Challenge inspired innovators to build solutions to a largely untapped yet fast-growing  sector: smart cities and transport.

We kicked off the program with a hackathon: a chance for aspiring entrepreneurs to meet like-minded people, form teams, and create new ideas for business solutions to enter into the Toyota Impact Challenge. From there, seven teams were supported over two months to build business skills and prepare to pitch — and three awesome finalists were selected after a pitch event with over 150 audience members! These three start-ups joined our 6-month incubation program, concluding in a Demo Day to showcase their solutions in front of influential members of City Hall, private sector, investors and more.

Two entrepreneurs, founders of SmartBin, stand with an oversized check in front of their prototype commercial trash and recycling machine.
Two males participants had presenting their ideas of Toyota Impact Challenge in Cambodia.

Behind-the-scenes of the Toyota Impact Challenge Hackathon

One of the key lessons that the aspiring entrepreneurs took away from the hackathon weekend was the importance of understanding the problem they are trying to solve, an often overlooked but essential step in starting a successful social business. Teams used the ‘problem tree’ to map out the challenge, the consequences it has, and the root causes. This deeper insight into the problem helped teams to shape their idea around a particular problem point, to ensure they have a realistic and sustainable impact.

 

Another big emphasis was on expressing or ‘pitching’ their idea clearly and concisely so that they can approach potential customers and get the vital feedback they need for their idea. The teams got real-world practice as they carried out at least 30 interviews to test and validate their ideas.

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