Awarded by: Center for Entrepreneurship, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Two members of the HKUST Business School family paired up with a student in Engineering to create a social enterprise targeted at the elderly that won the Championship and Best Presenter Awards at the Hong Kong Social Enterprise Challenge 2012.
Herman Chan Ho Man, a BBA graduate in Marketing & Management, and Nivey Tsang Ka-hing, a Year 2 BBA student in Finance & Marketing, joined Year 2 Chemical and Environmental Engineering student Samantha Kong Wing-man to create Eldpathy.
The proposed social enterprise aims to raise awareness and empathy for the elderly through special suits that mimic the physical limitations often faced by older people. Participants would wear the suits during Elderly Challenges to experience scenarios the elderly encounter each day. Elderly staff would also be on hand to guide them. The project would be funded by offering the program to corporations and student groups who would like to volunteer or expand into elderly care.
The HKSEC is an inter-collegiate competition and more than 220 teams joined the 2012 competition. The finalists had to set up a website, submit a 20-page business plan and make a 15-minute presentation to the judges. As Champions, Eldpathy received start-up money to launch their social enterprise.