The Nokia Protege Mentors

The challenges have been met…

The presentations have been delivered…

And now it's time to name the winning Proteges for the Nokia E7 Protégé Project.

Protégé Project mentor Donnie Tantoco said "both presentations were excellent", and that the race was "really really tight." Criteria for the presentation challenge: 50% content, 40% feasibility and 10% presentation style.

Team White had a "solid marketing plan" according to Aveline Siy, marketing head of Nokia Philippines, and one of the judges for the final Protégé Project challenge, but hit a snag when Protégé Project mentor Johnlu Koa observed their ideas "may not be workable from our point of view."

Team Blue wowed the judges with their fun and innovative business solutions, although they ran out of time with their overly detailed presentation. "Content wise, it was very meaty," said Johnlu, "but presentation wise, it got a bit boring."

Which team won the in the end? Click on the video below to find out!

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In the final challenge of The Nokia Protege Project, the two teams have to present a proposal on how to drive sales for Shopwise and The French Baker that utilizes mobile and digital communications technology.

Attending and judging the presentations are Project Protege Mentors Donnie Tantoco (president of Rustan's Super Centers Inc,) John Lu Koa (founder of The French Baker) and Aveline Siy, Marketing Head of Nokia Philippines.

Even with the intense preparations, the judges pointed out a glaring mistake that both teams didn't realize they'd committed.

Despite the gaffe, the two teams both solid marketing plans and Donnie Tantoco admitted that the "judging was really, really tough."

Click on the video to find out more!

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The next challenge for the 14 Protege Project finalists was to retail clothes direct to shoppers at Shopwise's apparel section.

Both teams found the challenge of coming up with the most effective market strategy to sell the clothes and accessories in just an hour tough. Team Blue's Danica summed up nicely when she said: "We're going sell clothes in Shopwise? How are we going to do that?"

Donnie Tantoco, president of Rustan's Super Centers Inc said: "In order to succeed, our proteges will have to quickly get to know not only the needs of our customers, but also the strengths of our clothing on offer."

One team rang up sales of over P40,000, and the other P5000. How did one team win so big? Watch the video to find out!

Want to catch up on the previous Protege Project Challenge? Watch Episode 2 here.

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Twitter

By Jennifer Wang

Congratulations. You finally have a handle on the social media thing. Now the real work begins: pinpointing the most powerful people in your online networks and cultivating those relationships into more business wins.

Big brands like beauty retailer Sephora and giffgaff, the U.K.'s fastest-growing mobile network, have called on enterprise social media suite provider Lithium Technologies to help launch and sustain their strong online communities. According to Lithium's principal scientist Michael Wu, a key part of that process is identifying top influencers and turning them into company advocates.

For small businesses with smaller budgets, there happen to be a number of low-cost (or free) social analytics companies--several with targeted business offerings--that provide scores and reports to help you find and engage your network superstars.

Many of them are still works in progress, Wu cautions, with an overemphasis on "bandwidth," or activity and quantity

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Which Protege will make it to the top?

Protege mentor Johnlu Koa personally presents the latest challenge to 14 Protege Project finalists: Which team can move the most French Baker Tortilla Wraps and Pan de Mie loafs at a busy mall in two hours?

"I want you to communicate [to mall goers] what they can do with these wonderful products," instructed the brand's founder to the 12 Proteges.

"In business a lot of times, we have a very beautiful and very effective product. But without a good marketing plan, without an effective communications strategy, we end up failing."

Both Team Blue and Team White went into strategy mode as soon as the go signal was given. Which Proteges had the winning approach? Click on the video to find out!

Want to catch up on the previous Protege Project Challenge? Watch Episode 1 here.

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Which team will win the first challenge?

Fourteen future business leaders have stepped up to the plate.

All currently students from the country's top universities, these selected applicants are battling it out for a mentorship opportunity of a lifetime: to be proteges to two of the Philippines' top business tycoons: Johnlu Koa of The French Baker and Donnie Tantoco of Shopwise.

Apart from gaining the priceless wisdom of these mentors, the Top 7 finishers will receive a group cash prize of P200,000 and a Nokia E7 phone each.

The first challenge: Each group is tasked to nail down three business professionals at a mall, and get them to spill the details on business permits and SEC requirements - all documented on video. Which of these two teams have the most initiative in collecting pertinent information for starting a business?

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What if you were given the biggest head start as you embark into your professional career? The Nokia E7 Protege Project can shape you into the next Donnie Tantoco of Shopwise or the next Johnlu Koa of The French Baker, as they will serve as your mentors if you become a part of The Protege Project.

If you're interested in becoming a part of The Nokia E7 Protege Project, click here to download the application form.

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Photo: Thinkstock

by Matthew Toren, Entrepreneur.com

You could start a business, lasso funding and already have top-tier clients, but, because you're young, some people still won't take you seriously. What's worse, some may even try to take advantage of your youth.

Having co-owned a series of businesses with my brother since I was 7 years old -- we sold stunt airplanes at a festival with my grandfather -- I've seen my share of that kind of discrimination. For our first decent-sized venture out of school, we purchased a struggling pool hall in Vancouver, B.C., which we bootstrapped with money that we had earned with a few small, successful business ventures we launched during high school. Although we eventually turned the place into a thriving hot spot, we faced a number of challenges along the way. From the initial purchase transaction to setting up accounts with vendors, we learned quickly to be on guard from people who assumed we didn't have to be taken seriously or that they could

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