FedEx Express (FedEx) has announced the winners of the first-ever FedEx Small Business Grant Contest in Asia Pacific.
The contest was open to all for-profit small businesses that met entry criteria around the number of employees in the organisation and the length of time the companies had been established, among others.
First rolled out in the US three years ago, this year marked the fi rst time that the FedEx Small Business Grant Contest was held in other regions of the world. In addition to Hong Kong and Singapore, the contest took place in Brazil.
In Hong Kong, B-Free Technology Ltd., a local technology innovator, was awarded the grand prize of approximately US$20,000 for coming up with the award-winning B-Free Chair to help the disabled to navigate stairs and regain mobility. Th e grant from FedEx will allow the company to further research and develop its next-generation wheelchair, the B-Free Ranger, and expand into the European market.
Th e winner of the Singapore contest was RedWhite Apparel Pte Ltd, a long distance cycling bib shorts company that was awarded the grand prize of approximately US$18,000 to assist in its plan to go global. RedWhite Apparel was launched in 2014 by Amreet Singh and Yuvaraman Viswanathan whose passion is cycling ultra-distances of 200 kilometers or longer.