KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 – Taylor’s University students have won the National Championships of L’Oréal Brandstorm 2023. Team F’Oréal comprised three third-year students from the Faculty of Innovation and Technology. Brandon Tan Qi Loong and Caresse Tan Zhi Nie are studying Bachelor of Computer Science (Hons), and Teoh Wei Ean is studying Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (Hons). The students were able to defeat over 60 teams from universities across Malaysia, with over 900 student registrations.
L’Oréal Brandstorm is an annual international innovation competition that offers students a platform to develop their entrepreneurial and creative skill sets. Each year, the competition presents a new business case to solve, offering competitors the chance to develop unconventional solutions for the beauty sector. This year’s competitors were given the task of developing beauty-related services, solutions, and experiences through cutting-edge technologies, including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI), and the Metaverse.
Team F’Oréal created a sustainability-oriented innovation for a technological future that would benefit the beauty field. The team said that they spent three weeks refining their business idea, mindful of meeting the judging criteria of innovation, technology, sustainability, inclusivity, feasibility, and scalability. They were able to condense their idea into a one-minute pitch video together with a three-page presentation, which proved to be a challenge, but they were determined to create a winning submission.
The team was mentored by Taylor’s University’s startup incubator, Bizpod, which is part of the university’s Taylor’sphere ecosystem that aims to nurture students’ intellect, creativity, and practical wisdom. With this national win under their belt, Team F’Oréal has been presented with an opportunity to compete with 40 other teams in the International Semi-Finals. Additionally, the team has been offered Management Trainee positions with L’Oréal Malaysia.
The International Final winning teams will be announced in Paris this June, where they will get an opportunity to engage in an Intrapreneurship opportunity at the L’Oréal Global Headquarters, bringing their concepts to life. Since 1992, L’Oréal Brandstorm has been a true innovation catalyst that has drawn more than 600,000 student participants from hundreds of educational institutions across 65 nations.
