TOKYO, June 10, 2010—JMEC announced the winners of this year’s annual business plan challenge for aspiring entrepreneurs and executives, with 17 different nationalities among the 55 participants in one of the closest fought battles in JMEC’s 16-year history. The nine Project Clients—including SMEs and global corporations—that participants had prepared individual business plans for at a fraction of the market rate, and under the mentorship of senior Tokyo-based businesspeople, praised the high quality of the entries and the dedication and hard work of the participants over the seven-month project.

Judges had spent the entire previous month reviewing the written entries, followed by personal presentations by each team.

The high-profile awards presentation was held at the Tokyo American Club on June 4 and was attended by key principals of Japan’s foreign community, such as leaders of foreign chambers of commerce and embassies in Tokyo.

JMEC 16 judges—K.K. Gotairiku Partners President Rike Wootten, Tomra Japan Ltd. President Trond Varlid, and BCCJ President Philip Gibb—agreed that the hard work teams had put into the plans was very evident through the written work and oral presentations.

Mr. Wootten said: “One of the hardest things about being a judge is seeing such great projects and presentations—yet not being able to talk about them.”

Participants sign a non-disclosure agreement before starting their business plans because JMEC requires them to be privy to Project Clients’ confidential information. Many Project Clients immediately, or later, put into action the business plans, with a number becoming lucrative additions to their portfolio of products, services or business solutions.

Judges revealed:

• Project Clients received very good ideas and good value
• The top team scored 8% more than last year’s winner
• The top five teams were within just 12% of each other
• JMEC 2010 was a very close contest
• Oral presentations played a vital role in deciding the outcome
• Business plans weighed between 361 grams and 1,223 grams
• Two teams spent more than 2,200 hours each on plans
• Some 40% of participants were women
• Participants’ average age was 32
• Participants came from 17 countries
• 38% of participants were native English speakers
The winning teams:
1st Place
Antoine Grillard (leader), Douglas Foote, Jean-Paul Biondi, Ling Yang, Hiroaki Shintani and Mari Yamakawa

2nd Place
Jason Altobelli (leader), Yann Jacquinot, Chihiro Murata, Junko Sato, Takeshi Onodera and Shane Krumeich

3rd Place
Ami Christmas (leader), Aya Horio, Abhijeet Dhenge, Samuel Loparo, Kristi Mackintosh, Eimilly Cabrera

Abhishek Goel,
 director of Cactus Communications K.K., a JMEC 16 Project Client whose team won 2nd place, said: “Our team compiled a brilliant report, putting in long hours of work and leaving no stone unturned. It lays out a compelling picture of the market opportunities for our education business. I can say that we made an excellent investment by entering the JMEC project. We are delighted that we chose JMEC for the research and to help us create our market expansion strategy.”

Air New Zealand General Manager (Japan and Korea) Ed Overy, said: "To see the quality and amount of talent that JMEC attracts is very encouraging. Our involvement with the program has given Air New Zealand a useful profile. The strategy paper clearly identifies the potential of the education market for Japanese visitors to New Zealand and we will certainly use some of the output in the future."

JMEC Program Director Laura Loy said: “The competition was fierce, but everyone should be proud of their accomplishments, whether they took home a prize or not. The feedback we have already received from the Project Clients is extremely positive.”

The Japan Market Expansion Competition (JMEC) is a non-profit organization supported by these chambers of commerce in Japan: American, Australian & New Zealand, Belgian-Luxembourg, British, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Enterprise Ireland, the Netherlands, Swedish and Swiss. JMEC also receives corporate sponsorship from the business community in Japan. The dual objectives of the program are to provide hands-on business training to individuals living and working in Japan, while helping foreign businesses to enter or expand into the Japanese market by providing high quality, reasonably priced business plans. www.jmec.gr.jp

For media enquiries, please contact: Custom Media Communications: Simon Farrell Tel: 03-5545-5420, Fax: 03-5545-5421 E-mail: simon@custom-media.com

For general enquires or more information on becoming a Project Client or Participant in JMEC 17, beginning in fall 2010, please contact: Laura Loy, Program Director Tel: 03-5562-1444, Fax: 03-4496-6281 E-mail: info@jmec.gr.jp

High-resolution images could be downloaded from: http://custom-media.com/gallery/jmec.zip

First Place Team

L to R: Mitsuhiro Honda (HP Japan), Hiroaki Shintani, Mari Yamakawa, Ling Yang, Douglas Foote, Antoine Grillard (Not pictured: Jean-Paul Biondi)

Second Place Team

L to R: Ed Overy (Air New Zealand), Takeshi Onodera, Junko Sato, Jason Altobelli, Yann Jacquinot, Chihiro Murata, Shane Krumeich

Third Place Team

L to R: Aya Horio, Eimilly Cabrera, Samuel Loparo, Abhijeet Dhenge, Ami Christmas, Kristi Mackintosh