There have been some interesting competitions, but this one takes the cake – or ice cream.
Ben & Jerry’s has always been known for having amazing ice cream with interesting names, and one of them may be the name of Singapore-grown startup, PlayMoolah, since co-founder Audrey Tan won Ben & Jerry’s Join Our Core competition.
Join Our Core is Ben & Jerry’s annual, global competition that celebrates young people who are creating new models for sustainable business to help make a difference in communities. Audrey Tan, the 27-year-old co-founder of PlayMoolah, was crowned Singapore’s top young social entrepreneur at this year’s competition, which came with a large variety of prizes, the most interesting of which is that they will get to see their business logo featured on an exclusive Ben & Jerry’s product that will be sold in Ben & Jerry’s stores in 2015. They will also get a chance to determine the name of that ice cream, so a PlayMoolah ice cream is very possible.
Her company, PlayMoolah, is a financial education company that enables young people to develop a positive relationship to money via digital tools, educational programmes and community experiences.
“Winning the competition is really a great affirmation for the company and the work that we are doing,” said Tan. “I am really excited and looking forward to naming a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream after PlayMoolah or brainstorming some even crazier names! We will continue to get better at what we do, developing a lot more programmes and curriculum, as well as community experiences for young people and children.”
Other than the brand new ice cream, her win will bring her company a €10,000 unrestricted grant, invaluable mentoring from members of the world’s leading network for social entrepreneurs Ashoka, and additional training from US based entrepreneurs and socially responsible business leaders in Ben & Jerry’s birthplace – Vermont, USA.
PlayMoolah was created during the financial crisis of 2007-2008, where Tan and her co-founder Lee Min Xuan first realised that there was a great need for young people to have positive relationships with money from a young age. According to Tan, they will be celebrating their 4th year since the official opening of PlayMoolah’s operations very soon. They are the company behind children’s fin-lit platform MoolahVerse and young adult’s simulation app WhyMoolah, a long with several education programmes for youth and young adults.
“There was some very tough competition in this year’s Join Our Core, but PlayMoolah really stood out for us. It was exactly what we were looking for – an innovative values-led business with a strong long term plan for financial sustainability and scalability,” Ilaria Ida, Global Social Mission Manager, Ben & Jerry’s said. “That said, all of the finalists were outstanding, and we can’t wait to see what they all go on to do.”
