Over the newly extended two-month winter break, students on campus can participate in an international conference held for a week at KAIST. BizAsia is a conference organized primarily by the KAIST International Student Association (KISA), with generous sponsorships from local organizations inside and outside of KAIST. The KAIST Herald met with the Managing Director Rana Islamiah Zahroh to further discuss the event.

What is BizAsia?
BizAsia is an annual entrepreneurship conference to encourage and share new ideas. It is also a place for potential young entrepreneurs worldwide to meet, build, and sustain collaborations among them.

BizAsia originated in the National University of Singapore and has expanded into a partnership with universities in Korea, China, Taiwan, and Japan. Students are able to expand their relationships with all of these universities. This coming year, KISA will be the host of this event. It will start from January 3 to 10 of 2013.

How did you become involved with the BizAsia conference?
We first became involved with BizAsia when the Technology Business Incubation Center (TBIC) in KAIST organized an International Entrepreneurship event that brought student entrepreneurs from other countries to KAIST. At that time, we met the president of NUS Entrepreneurship Society and ASEANpreneurs, an organization dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship in Southeast Asian nations, and started discussing the possibilities of organizing this event. Following a meeting with OASIS, TBIC, and our advisor Professor Suh In Soo, we all agreed to go for it.

What kinds of participants are you looking for? Do they have to be knowledgeable about business?
We are looking for people that are obviously interested in entrepreneurship. If they are interested, we hope that they have at least some basic knowledge about key concepts concerning entrepreneurship and business. At BizAsia, you can learn about business while networking with students from other top Asian universities. BizAsia is an opportunity for KAIST students to know more about the importance of entrepreneurship and youth leadership. Joining BizAsia will motivate and inspire you to break limitations and embrace your dreams in entrepreneurship. Even though KAIST is mainly an engineering school, students should try and learn something different, and BizAsia is a great place for new experiences!

How can interested students register for the event?
Registration for the event can be completed online. For more detailed information regarding the daily schedule, students can refer to the posters around campus or contact one of the organizers using the contact information found at the bottom of the posters, or students can email me at ranaiz@kaist.ac.kr.

Depending on the success of this conference, would you be considering any future events in collaboration with NUS?
This is the first time that KISA has organized an event of this magnitude, working internationally with other schools. Obviously, it will be a good opportunity to extend our cooperation with NUS and other universities to globalize the campus.