Arthur Lau (L) and Serra Huynh with RSM lecturer Chris Nailer
Recent MBA graduates Serra Huynh and Arthur Lau finished runners up in the finals of the inaugural LESANZ Graduate Business Competition in March. The competition invited students to pitch business plans which hinge on ground-breaking technologies and services and have an emphasis on intellectual property (IP) strategies to support business goals.
The competition was set up by The Licensing Executives Society Australia & New Zealand (LESANZ) as a feeder to the LESI Foundation Graduate program.
LESANZ is the preeminent professional organisation in the field of IP transfer and commercialisation in Australia. It is one of 32 national and regional societies of The Licensing Executives Society International (LESI), which has over 10,000 members worldwide. The LESANZ Foundation was established in 2013, to increase awareness and understanding of the licensing of IP rights and to communicate the critical role licensing plays in bringing creativity and innovation to the commercial marketplace.
Serra and Arthur's business idea, entitled Flash Photography, proposed mobile photo studios in universities around Australia providing corporate headshots for students. The idea was originally developed by Serra and Arthur and fellow students, Hiroko Fujino and Sheng-Ho Hsu as part of the Integrated Business Project Plan A: Entrepeneurship and New Venture course in the MBA.
Although their idea was highly commended by the judges, they eventually lost out to the team from Swinburne University.
Serra said: "Arthur and I would like to thank Chris Nailer for his invaluable advice and mentoring along our journey. Althoughwe have decided not to operate Flash Photography as an entity (since we both work full time in the public service), however as a result of our experiences we have been inspired to open our own businesses in the near future based upon our personal interests."
The finals took place at the opening of the LESANZ Annual Conference in Perth on 19 March.