Plantastic 5's Reflections:

What motivated you to join the case competition?

Isabell: As an SGFIN student, I was drawn to the opportunity to challenge myself and think beyond ideas alone. In sustainability, there is no shortage of promising solutions, technologies, and innovations. Yet the real challenge often lies in scaling them: turning strong concepts into commercially viable and widely adopted solutions. This is the kind of problem I hope to engage with more deeply. Beyond that, NUS has been my academic home for the past five years, from my undergraduate journey to my time in SGFIN. I saw this as a meaningful opportunity to conclude this chapter with purpose, growth, and a final challenge that would truly stretch me.

Callista: The career services office briefly mentioned to me about this case competition before, and I thought it would be nice to join to be able to gain more insights about sustainability and also the implementability of our solutions in the real-world context. I wanted to go beyond academia and test out and innovate with different solutions to try to make an impact on the world, which is why I ended up joining this competition for exposure too.

Sambridha: From my experience, sustainability conversations often default to the idea that being sustainable means consuming less or limiting ourselves. I wanted to challenge that framing. Joining this competition was an opportunity to apply what we had learned in the class to a real problem and to explore whether thoughtful, creative solutions could be both sustainable and genuinely improve people's lives, rather than simply asking them to give things up.

Michael Lyu: A case competition for me is a comprehensive test, where you have to show off all you’ve learned and sell out all you feel confident about. As a SGFIN student, I want to be impactful and insightful so as to convince others of sustainability. I’ve taken a few case competitions before, and I want to improve.

Avyanna Hu: As an SGFIN student, I wanted to join the case competition because it gave me a chance to apply what I learned beyond the classroom. I was interested in exploring how sustainability ideas can be turned into practical, scalable solutions in the real world. The competition also allowed me to challenge myself, work with different perspectives from my teammates, and think more critically about implementation.

How did you arrive at your idea or solution?

Isabell: Initially, I was exploring the idea of solar energy. The inspiration came from something very ordinary: I saw one of my dad’s watches lying around and realised that it was solar-powered and needed sunlight to charge. That made me wonder whether a similar concept could be applied to electric vehicles, for example, using solar panels on top of cars to support charging. After looking into it further, I realised that this was not very feasible because the amount of energy generated would not be sufficient to meaningfully charge an EV. However, that thought process made me more interested in the broader question of energy, especially given the current volatility in global energy markets and Singapore’s dependence on imported energy. As an SGFIN student, I was naturally drawn to the intersection between sustainability, renewable energy, and real-world scalability. One day, while walking past an EV, I had a eureka moment and started thinking more seriously about how renewable energy and EV charging could be connected in a more practical way. I then brainstormed the idea with a friend, and from there, the concept developed further.

Callista: We were thinking about recycling at first, as we were inspired by Marcel’s speech on droppie, but after much discussion, we realised that the gap that exists in EVs would be much more profound and feasible to pitch to the audience as compared to recycling, which is why we eventually settled for the solution. I think when it comes to sustainability, it is important to be able to come up with solutions that would be able to deliver both feasibility and impact. As for the former solution on recycling, a lot of incentives have already been executed in Singapore, and we thought that venturing into a new space, such as that of EVs, would be a much more novel and interesting angle.

Sambridha: Once we had the idea, we needed to make sure it was grounded in reality. We looked into whether there was an actual gap in Singapore's EV charging infrastructure, whether the financials made sense, and whether the solution was practically feasible. That research gave us the confidence to develop and pitch it seriously.

Michael Lyu: Repetitive and everlasting brainstorming…

Avyanna Hu: We first considered areas like recycling, but later realised that EV charging and V2G had a clearer gap in Singapore and stronger potential for both feasibility and impact. After researching the market, infrastructure challenges, and financial practicality, we felt this direction was more realistic and meaningful. The final solution was therefore developed through a mix of personal observation, group discussion, and checking whether the idea could work in the real world.

What challenges did you face, and more importantly, what excited you most about your solution?

Isabell: Personally, the biggest part of the process was thinking carefully about all the stakeholders we needed to involve, and more importantly, understanding their intrinsic motivations. In our case, this meant looking at players such as SP Group, car companies, and consumers. To me, the logic was simple: scalability can only come from partnerships, and partnerships only work when there is mutual benefit. We could not simply propose, “Let’s partner with X,” without first asking what each stakeholder actually needs and why they would want to participate. From there, we were able to think in terms of a demand-and-supply model: what each party can offer, what each party needs, and how value can be exchanged between them. Only when these incentives are aligned can a real market mechanism be formed. That is what allows an idea not only to scale but also to be sustained over time.

Callista: I think that the challenges that we faced from the start were choosing which topic to work on. It was either an individual level, or it's more of a corporate level. If we wanted to partner with Grab, this would mean that all the chargers would be only for Grab drivers, which did not make sense. This led us to detour back to make our installation of bidirectional chargers available to everyone in the public to use, and for the SP group to benefit from it.

Michael Lyu: We had a big picture, but we had to condense it into 15 minutes. I’m excited about how we delivered —- We had a top-down strategy, but we told the story from a bottom-up perspective. We wanted to identify why individuals felt hard to take action, and we roleplayed to comb the logic for a feasible solution. It's giving “use four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds” vibes lol.

Avyanna Hu: One challenge I faced was learning how to balance creativity with practicality. It was easy to come up with an ambitious sustainability idea, but much harder to make it financially reasonable, technically possible, with enough incentives for all parties, and simple enough for the audience to understand.

Sambridha: Balancing the competition with coursework and other commitments was a real challenge, but honestly, we enjoyed the journey. Every step pushed us to learn something new, whether about EV infrastructure, stakeholder dynamics, or just how to think through a problem under pressure. What excited us most about our solution was how it brought together creative engineering and smart design in a way that actually made financial sense. It wasn't just an interesting concept; it felt like something that could genuinely work in the real world and make a meaningful difference.

What were your key takeaways from the judges’ feedback and from observing other teams?

Isabell: I really enjoyed seeing how innovative the other ideas were. Listening to the presentations reaffirmed my belief that sustainable solutions do not always require us to “reinvent the wheel.” Often, the real innovation lies in making an idea scalable, feasible, and practical in the real world. To me, it is important to think about scalability from the very beginning, not only after the idea has been developed. Doing so can actually make the solution stronger and more innovative, because it forces us to consider implementation, adoption, and long-term sustainability. In that sense, scalability is no longer just a “good to have”; it is essential, especially for sustainability solutions.

Callista: I think one of the key takeaways from the judges' feedback would be a lot about feasibility. Innovation is one thing, while feasibility is another. One project can be very innovative, but it may not be feasible. What makes a project stand out is not some project that is “rocket science” but something that nicely pulls feasibility and innovation together.

Michael Lyu: To think from all stakeholders’ perspectives.

Avyanna Hu: My key takeaway was that a strong idea needs to be communicated as clearly as it is designed. From the judges’ feedback and other teams’ presentations, I realised that even a good solution can lose impact if the problem, target users, and implementation pathway are not immediately clear (when the presenters only focus on the technical level explanations).

Sambridha: One thing that stood out to me was the importance of confidence, not just in delivery, but in the solution itself. True confidence in a presentation comes from genuinely believing in what you're pitching. When you've done the research, stress-tested the idea, and worked through the details as a team, that conviction naturally comes through. Watching the other teams reinforced this: the presentations that landed best weren't necessarily the most complex; they were the ones where the team clearly stood behind their solution.

If given the opportunity, what would you do differently?

Isabell: One of the questions from the judges was whether this idea could generate profit. My answer was that, at this stage, it would likely still be a negative NPV project, which is precisely why government partnership is important. However, I also see that as an area with room for further development. Given more time, I would have liked to examine the business model more deeply and explore how the project could move closer to becoming financially self-sustaining, or even positive NPV, through stronger revenue streams, cost efficiencies, or better incentive alignment across stakeholders.

Callista: I think that if the group had more time to monetise the metrics of social benefits and welfare enhanced once this is implemented, it would be a much stronger presentation as it would show the positive benefits that could benefit Singapore as a country when it comes to advancing towards our Net Zero goals. This would allow us to show a direct comparison on how sustainability brings about positive externalities to the country, even if it's not priced in the market.

Michael Lyu: I would’ve worn dress shoes instead of sneakers.

What are your next steps, either in developing this solution further or in your broader career plans (e.g. internships, management trainee programmes)?

Isabell: I would love to further explore financing models for electric vehicles and bidirectional charging, particularly to understand why these solutions have not yet been scaled more widely in other countries. From there, we can identify the key barriers, whether they are financial, regulatory, technological, or behavioural. Financing is also an area that we have not fully addressed in this case. I think examining it more deeply could strengthen our thinking around scalability, because even if the technology is promising, it can only be adopted at scale if the economics work for the stakeholders involved.

Callista: It has definitely been a confidence booster for me to continue pursuing a career in the area of sustainability. This case competition has solidified my passion for this area, and I hope to be able to continue shining a light using creative ideas to make the world a greener and better place in the long run.

Michael Lyu: To put a dollar sign on impact is cool. I want to stay in the field of sustainable finance and to be more confident about what I’m selling with more solid knowledge and acumen.

Avyanna Hu: My next step is to continue building internship experience in sustainable finance, especially in the area that can support real-world transition solutions.

Sambridha: This experience reinforced something I had been sensing throughout my studies that understanding sustainable finance conceptually is only half the journey. The other half is implementation: knowing how ideas actually get built, financed, and adopted in the real world. That gap is what I'm focused on bridging now, through internships, work experience, and learning from practitioners who are doing this work on the ground. I believe learning doesn't stop in the class, and this competition reminded me to stay curious and keep seeking out those real-world perspectives.