NEWS

On Saturday, December 20, 2025, APU students achieved outstanding results at the Oita Student Business Plan Contest 2025 organized by Oita City. The contest aims to foster entrepreneurial spirit among students and to discover and nurture new business ideas and future founders. This year, 24 teams (52 participants) applied, and six teams advanced from the first-round screening to present their business plans during the second round held at the Niage Public Complex.

Following a rigorous evaluation, APU students secured top awards. The Grand Prize winner received ¥300,000, and the Excellence Award winner received ¥100,000 in startup support funds. In addition, winners were granted special benefits such as hands-on support for utilizing crowdfunding, opportunities for proof-of-concept trials with partner companies, and business matching opportunities.

Hayato Honda (College of International Management 1st year), who won the Grand Prize, has been steadily refining his business plan—created based on his core beliefs shaped by personal experiences—by participating in various business competitions. At the same time, he has presented academic papers based on survey analysis results and collaborated with Oita National College of Technology to develop an application, dedicating his efforts to making the plan more concrete.

Grand Prize

HONDA Hayato (College of International Management 1st-year, Japan)
Business Plan: “MyShoku” – A Platform for Visualizing Food Allergy Information

Comment from Mr. Honda

I am truly grateful to receive this award. As a first-year student and with MyShoku still in its early stages, this is just the beginning. From here in Oita, I want to dedicate my life to developing MyShoku. I sincerely hope to solve food-related challenges, so I greatly appreciate everyone’s continued support.

Excellence Award

SAKAMAKI Yamato (College of International Management 4th-year, Japan)
OME Shugo (College of International Management 4th-year, Japan)
TANAKA Soichiro (College of International Management 4th-year, Japan)
SUZUKI Yuta (College of International Management 4th-year, Japan)
Business Plan: “ComBi” – A Student Tourism Matching Service

Comment from the team:

While we are grateful for receiving the Excellence Award, we also feel a strong sense of determination to aim higher. Over the past three months, we have grown tremendously, but this is only a stepping stone. Our goal is to become a company that represents Beppu and Oita Prefecture and contributes to revitalizing this region. Thank you for your continued support.