In the past two weeks, V-Cred forgot we were PETRONAS momentarily and participated in RHB Get Your Hack On: ASEAN 2023 Virtual Hackathon. We chose to tackle the theme, "How might we help RHB make SME financing easier?”, figuring that it’s somewhat in line with what we’ve been trying to do.
Open round
With the mindset of exploration and learning, we joined another 90+ teams in the open round on Jan 13 Fri morning. Within a timespan of 48 hours, we thought about forecasting POS data for loan recommendations and proved the concept is feasible. That got us into the finals round, set two weekends after.
Finals round prep
We refined and polished our idea further, demonstrating more concretely how POS data can be used for loan recommendation and loan monitoring. We featured three real SME datasets to prove our point, developed a credit scoring metric based on the POS data we have, and showed how our idea can fit into RHB’s existing SME product lineup.
Finals round
On Jan 28 Sat, we presented an airtight presentation to RHB’s ELT, clocking in just 2 seconds below the time limit. The Q&A reflected tangible interest in our idea. Their Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer noted that our idea is “very relevant to them”, “has been a difficult to crack problem”, “has been on [our] radar for a bit”, and asked us about operationalization plans. The Group CEO applauded our efforts in on-the-ground problem discovery and research, and the efforts taken to speak to customers. Ultimately, we walked away with a top-2 finish.
We were easily one of the least sophisticated teams in the hackathon. Demo-wise, teams were showing complete web apps and mobile apps, while we rolled out a simple one-page dashboard with plots. Presentation-wise, teams were showing off slides so tastefully designed they can win Michelin stars, while we didn’t even think of changing the default Calibri font. But through efforts taken to interview customers and bankers, scrounge market reports, formulate a realistic alternative credit rating system, and scrutinize real-world feasibility, we broadcasted to the judges that, We. Mean. Serious. Business.
Stay true to the customer, their pains, their problems. Stay true to what we can bring to the table. A grounded, plausible solution that can delight everyone just might exist in the intersection of the between.
Abbrev: POS – Point-of-Sales, SME – Small Medium Enterprises
