NUS MSBA students win School of Computing Innovation Prize for finance app

01 June 2022 — Five NUS Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) graduates won the School of Computing Innovation Prize for their finance app, AllGrow, which was developed for everyday Singaporeans from low to middle income households, and migrant workers.

The team comprising recent MSBA graduates Mukeshwaran Baskaran, Xhoni Shollaj, Ng Wing Kei Tracy, Cristian Giovanny Bojaca Penate, and Teerawat Chaiteerath, won S$2,000 for their idea.

They won the SgTech-SoC Prize under the team category for their app AllGrow, an integrated platform combining cross border remittance services, as well as tailored financial products and finance education content. The Prize is awarded each year to student projects which demonstrate a significant degree of innovation and high potential socio-economic impact.

Citing how money transfer services often have high transfer fees, the team developed the app with the aim of reducing money transfer fees for migrant workers by providing a greener, more efficient cross border transfer infrastructure built on a low-cost blockchain, Binance Smart Chain.

“When we compared our prices to the already available remittance services, we were extremely surprised that we managed to attain far lower prices, so we triple checked our calculations to ensure there were no silly mistakes involved,” said Ng on behalf of the team.

“Traditional banks and wealth management groups do not have existing financial products catered for migrant workers, and many traditional financial products like stocks and mutual funds are either too risky or require investments that are too high. We wanted to solve this problem by providing a simpler platform for migrant workers to access such financial products, and to learn more about finance,” she added.

The app was initially developed for a team project completed under the Fintech, Enabling Technologies and Analytics module as part of the MSBA programme.

The shortlisted projects were presented in mid-May via Zoom to five members of the judging panel, which included representatives from SGTech and the Singapore Computer Society (SCS).

“We feel incredibly happy and proud that the effort we placed into this project has been recognised and that we managed to win the team prize, despite having very impressive contenders,” added Shollaj.