East Ventures, a venture capital firm in Southeast Asia, has successfully concluded the My First $1000 program with its Showcase Day on 30 May 2026. It marks the culmination of an eight-week entrepreneurial journey designed to empower students in Singapore to build and execute business ideas with integrity, ownership, and accountability.
Held at *SCAPE, the event brought together curated teams who showcased their products and business ideas through student booths, gallery walk, and presentations. Mr. Dinesh Vasu Dash, Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth and Manpower, and the Economic Strategy Review Committee on Entrepreneurship Co-Chair, as well as the students’ parents and partners of My First $1000, attended the event.
The event concluded with an awarding session for participating teams, including the disbursement of matching grants. The following awards were presented:
“My First $1000 program was built on the belief that the best way to learn entrepreneurship is by doing it. All the teams have stepped out of their comfort zones, taking risks, executing real business. They should be proud of themselves. The results of this program are highly encouraging and reaffirm that Singapore has a bright future in nurturing entrepreneurship. All the ingredients are already in place — the people’s DNA, the platform, the funding, the rule of law, and government support. We deeply appreciate the support from all partners who made this program possible. We hope this initiative will continue to inspire and empower the next generation of entrepreneurs in Singapore,” said Mr. Willson Cuaca, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at East Ventures.
Key timeline and summary:
11 February 2026: Program launch
- My First $1000 programme officially launched.
- A total of 139 submissions were received during the submission period.
10 – 12 March: Onboarding week
- 108 teams were selected.
- The committee ensured all teams aligned on expectations, key milestones, and next steps.
- 4 teams withdrew their participation.
13 March 2026: Challenge Launch Day
- Mr. Dinesh Vasu Dash and Mr. Willson Cuaca officially kicked off the program’s execution phase, inspiring selected teams and their parents to embrace entrepreneurship through lessons on resilience, risk-taking, and navigating failure.
- Tech & AI emerged as one of the most pursued sectors, with 27 teams building businesses in the space, followed by Creative & Handmade (25 teams), E-commerce & Retail (14 teams), and Food & Beverage (14 teams). Other sectors represented included Services & Consulting, Health & Wellness, Fashion & Beauty, and Education & EdTech.
14 March 2026: Workshop Day
- Selected teams participated in a series of workshops focused on entrepreneurship, venture building, and execution, while also receiving guidance from their assigned mentors.
- The program engaged 57 mentors from diverse industries and professional backgrounds, who provided ongoing mentorship and support to participating teams throughout the 8-week execution phase.
15 March – 9 May 2026: Execution phase
- Throughout the 8-week execution phase, participating student ventures actively brought their businesses to market through a range of sales and marketing channels, including Carousell, Instagram, TikTok, and physical pop-up booths.
10 – 29 May 2026: Evaluation and settlement
- The committee audited the teams’ revenue.
- The teams returned the initial seed capital of S$250, plus a S$50 cost of capital
30 May 2026: Showcase Day
- A total of 72 teams qualified for matching grants, with 41 teams successfully generating more than S$1,000 in revenue during the program.
- 32 teams could not generate any revenue.
- Total revenue generated by all participating teams is S$117,822.98.
- The highest revenue is S$25,480, generated by Drummer Dreammaker.
- Total matching grants awarded to 72 teams are S$53,964.54.
Avin Taishiran Teo, Co-Founder of Wuna, one of the selected teams that offers A stylish wearable for menstrual cramp relief, said, “This has been an amazing experience for us. In school, you are taught to get things perfectly right the first time, but this entrepreneurship journey taught us to launch, gather feedback, and iterate. Selling our very first product to our mentor, who deeply believed in our idea, gave us the confidence we needed. Wuna holds a deep personal meaning for me, and we are absolutely continuing this journey by refining our prototype for a pre-order launch to provide relief to women everywhere.”
“Unlike seasoned entrepreneurs who focus primarily on market size, these young founders start from genuine personal passions, giving them an unmatched ‘superpower’ of resilience when things get difficult. Adult founders could learn so much from these students’ ability to fail openly without letting it hurt their ego; instead of spiraling when faced with low interest, they objectively analyzed what went wrong and immediately pivoted their business lines,” said Ee Ling Lim, Co-Founder & CEO of Wavesparks and Mentor of Wuna and DollyStitch.
Mr Dinesh Vasu Dash, Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth and Manpower, and Co-Chair of the Economic Strategy Review Entrepreneurship Committee, said, “Entrepreneurship is about ideas, pitching, sales, failure, and bouncing back stronger. Every participant has enriched themselves through this experience, regardless of the outcome. Programmes like My First $1000 help nurture a culture where young Singaporeans are willing to take risks, learn from failure, and pursue their ideas with confidence.”
My First $1000 is supported by its Catalytic Partners, Temasek Foundation and Golden Agri-Resources, together with its Enabling Partners: the Economic Strategy Review (ESR) Entrepreneurship Committee, Enterprise Singapore, JTC Corporation, ACE.SG, Zenith Education Studio, DBS PayLah!, Carousell, The Trampoline by Access Singapore, SaladStop!, Woofie, and Reactor School.
For more information, please visit my1st1000.sg.
