Executive MBA alumni bag 2nd place in Blockchain Pioneers Hackathon Series

We are proud to share that our Executive MBA (EMBA) alumni – Rajan Pandey, Sunil Mudambi, Senthil Kumar Gurumoorthy, Rabiul Hossain and Anand Raghuvanshi – have bagged the second position in the Blockchain Pioneers Hackathon Series.

Team ‘smeExpress’ (SP Jain EMBA alumni) with Mr Michal Geci, Head of Innovations, DECENT

Hosted in partnership with DECENT at our Singapore campus from May 3-5, 2019, the three-day hackathon was the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, aimed to help students showcase their skills with the aid of technology.

The Hackathon series saw 16 teams of aspiring developers in Singapore as well as across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) compete in a chance to win a prize of 150,000 DCT (approximately USD 15,000). Four finalists worked throughout the three days to create a one-of-a-kind working blockchain prototype using DECENT’s blockchain platform – ‘DCore’.

Our EMBA alumni won the second prize of 30,000 DCT (approximately USD 2,700) in the competition. In addition to the prize money, their team, known as ‘smeExpress’, will also benefit from mentorship opportunities from DECENT's own blockchain developers. Their model was based on how SMEs play a major role in the economic development of a nation and how access to finance is a key constraint to SME development.

(Left to Right) Mr Tomas Bucek, Consultant, Foreign Trade Department, Slovak Investment
and Trade Development Agency; Mr Michal Geci, Head of Innovations, DECENT;
Mr Matej Michalko, CEO & Founder of DECENT; Dr John Fong, CEO & Head of Campus (Singapore),
SP Jain; and Dr Jireh Seow, Assistant Professor of Management at SP Jain (Singapore)

The opening ceremony of the event was graced by Dr John Fong, CEO & Head of Campus (Singapore), SP Jain; Mr Matej Michalko, CEO & Founder of DECENT; Mr Tomas Bucek, Consultant, Foreign Trade Department, Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency; Mr Michal Geci, Head of Innovations, DECENT; Mr Tomas Varga, Head of Strategy, DECENT, and the staff and faculty of SP Jain.

Commenting on the event, Dr John Fong said, “The Blockchain Hackathon Pioneer series is a great way to provide creative talents in Singapore an opportunity to put their business skills to practice using the DCore blockchain platform. I am really happy to see that our EMBA alumni were involved in this competition and I would like to congratulate all the winners.”

The hackathon series in collaboration with DECENT was initiated by Dr Jireh Seow, Assistant Professor of Management at SP Jain’s Singapore campus.

Dr Jireh Seow shared, “A key to the sustainability of tertiary business education in the age of disruption is building a business ecosystem. Hackathons are a crucial component of this ecosystem. It was a pleasure working with DECENT as a blockchain technology developer. They are a game changer and a vital partner in running hackathons and other entrepreneurial events. I hope to do the next hackathon in collaboration with DECENT in our Mumbai campus, and perhaps Sydney and Dubai campuses can host such hackathons as well.”

Speaking on the partnership, Mr Michal Geci, Head of Innovations, DECENT, added, “It was a great series especially since it was our first collaboration with SP Jain Singapore. We do hope we can extend this series to other SP Jain campuses across other locations. Southeast Asia is a new market for us and I am amazed to see some great talent, ideas and concepts showcased in some of the presentations. It is also interesting to see some team members with diverse business experience discovering their passion for blockchain. We are here to identify good partners, developers and makers who want to build their application with our blockchain partner DCore.”

You can see more photos from the event here.

You can read more about the hackathon here.