Event highlights

Highlights from the PwC’s 2019 Trust Builders Challenge Finals. Watch now.

10 teams came to impress at the 2019 Trust Builders Challenge finals last Saturday.

After spending weeks crafting and perfecting their presentations, the teams were in high spirits, and kept the momentum going throughout the day.

Part of PwC Malaysia’s Building Trust programme, the Trust Builders Challenge engages students in solving trust crisis in business. It encourages them to develop a perspective on trust as our future leaders.

This year, students formed teams to come to the aid of a fictitious online store, who faced a cybersecurity breach in their systems with hackers gaining access to their payment gateway and customer data. The problem was magnified by the IT department’s failure to address the issue and the CEO’s denial of the breach. They were tasked with providing solutions to the problem and rebuilding trust with all stakeholders affected.

Each team were paired with two mentors, one from PwC and one from an industry. Similar to last year, mentoring allowed teams to broaden and refine their presentations through feedback and interaction with their mentors.

The teams tested the mettle of their strategies with a panel of judges, which included Rajeev Peshawaria, CEO of the Iclif Leadership and Governance Centre, Toh Yen Kee, Special Officer for the Ministry of Finance, and members of PwC Malaysia’s senior management team.

The judges were impressed by the teams’ ability to demonstrate clarity in understanding the problem, their innovative and actionable solutions, and strategic delivery of their key messages.

In summing up the judges’ feedback, Yen Kee shared, “We loved the diversity in the solutions we heard today. Each team put forth a recommendation that wasn’t presented by any other team. What’s important is to focus on solutions that target the root cause, and give you the biggest impact for the limited resources most businesses have on hand.”

An interview of this year’s Trust Builders Challenge Judges

An interview of this year’s Trust Builders Challenge Judges

Team AWZome with our Managing Partner Sridharan Nair

Indeed, the judges were in for a tough deliberation. Ultimately, Team AWZome from the University of Nottingham Malaysia clinched the top prize. Team CIA from University of Malaya came in second and Team Confianzaa from Taylor's University rounded up the top three.

Team KCs from Sunway College and Team Elite from Sunway University received ‘Special Mentions’ for third and fourth runners up respectively.

The judges also highlighted three best presenter finalists this year - Jivasuthen (Team Michaelians), Bryan Chua (Team Design 100) and Alvin Ng (Team AWZome) - with Bryan taking the 'Best Presenter' title.

The winning strategies

Team AWZome, University of Nottingham Malaysia

The team were very articulate and confident, and impressed the judges with their ability to build the scene and identify the impact of the crisis to all stakeholders. They also showed good use of props to make their points.

Their solutions included monitoring the ‘dark web’ for leaks in customer information, stringent cybersecurity penetration testing, and setting the right tone from the top by having the CEO turn down their bonus for the year.

Team AWZome with our Markets Leader Nurul A'in Abdul Latif

Team CIA, University of Malaya

They impressed judges with their thorough analysis of the situation and clearly articulated action plan. They proposed the formation of a special task force to review internal IT policies, cooperation with the authorities to identify the culprits, and customer education on personal data protection.

Team CIA with our Markets Leader Nurul A'in Abdul Latif

Team Confianzaa, Taylor's University

The team captured the judges’ attention with their high energy presentation. They suggested working with a cybersecurity expert to protect the identities of customers whose information was compromised, improving the website’s credentials through security certification, and embarking on a brand recovery campaign.

Team Confianzaa with our Markets Leader Nurul A'in Abdul Latif

Team KCs with our Markets Leader Nurul A'in Abdul Latif

Team KCs, Sunway College

The judges were impressed with the use of a video asking customers how they thought the company in the scenario should rebuild trust. The team were also commended on their presentation delivery and smooth transition among the three presenters.

Team Elite with our Markets Leader Nurul A'in Abdul Latif

Team Elite, Sunway University

The team proposed the implementation of a PR campaign and a stronger governance structure. They were credited with their detailed and well thought out timeline for their proposed action plans.

Three speakers impressed judges with their eloquence and confidence in delivering their presentations and answering the judges’ questions - Jivasuthen, Bryan Chua and Alvin Ng. The winning title went to Bryan Chua from Design 100, a mechanical engineering student, who took a huge risk in representing the team as the sole speaker for the entire presentation.

Judge Rajeev Peshawaria with Best Presenter, Bryan Chua from Design 100

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The judges share their thoughts

Toh Yen Kee, Special Officer, Ministry of Finance

“I was looking for ideas that were innovative, and that come from their heart, as opposed to a solution that may also be found on Google. Be different, and don’t be afraid to take risks. And the key thing is to have a solution that is actionable in a crisis. If it’s not actionable, it won’t solve the problem.”

Alex Tan, Partner and Forensic Services & Risk Consulting Leader, PwC Malaysia

“The thing that stood out from the participants this year was their interesting use of props, which was left field. Presentation skills were top notch - they engaged in good eye contact, and were very positive and demonstrated a lot of confidence. It was hard to decide between them. I don’t think we (the judges) would have done half as well if we were in their positions!”

Nurul A'in Abdul Latif, Markets Leader, PwC Malaysia

“To be a good presenter, you need to present well and speak well in both the presentation and the Q&A section. This year, the best presenter was able to clarify and explain his solutions in great detail, and address questions thrown to him. It was apparent that the team had stress tested them, which convinced judges that he knew what he was talking about.”