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Mozcom PayEasy and UnionBank Launches Search for Best E-Business Ideas

Budding entrepreneurs from top universities in the country are invited to join this rare opportunity to show off their technical genius and business acumen in the development of innovative e-business ideas. The country's most comprehensive online payment system, Mozcom PayEasy, and the country's leading e-commerce bank, UnionBank of the Philippines, co-present the "First Entrepreneurial E-Commerce Excellence E3 Awards".

This e-commerce advocacy campaign is open to all duly enrolled college or post-graduate students from reputable schools. Each contestant must submit an E-commerce entry or - any business project that would require an online payment or transaction component. Business concepts developed for the competition may use commercial or open source development tools andplatforms.

"We strongly believe that the growth of the Philippine economy hinges on encouraging more entrepreneurial activities to prosper. We want to encourage the youth to get more involved with starting businesses even at a young age.Our PayEasy Online Payment System empowers micro entrepreneurs and small-and-medium scale business to compete, not only, nationally, but globally," says Robertson Chiang, Mozcom COO/CTO. "We are very excited that UnionBank shares in this same vision and has joined us to co-sponsor this event".

"UnionBank's competitive space as an institution is in innovation. We aim to bring our customers to the 21st century using new methods to do banking. The young customers especially are multi-products buyers and willing to try new electronic channels for their banking needs", says Hermie Pugeda, Executive Vice President for CorporateProduct Banking.

Individuals or groups who wish to join the competition must complete the online entry form (http://www.payeasy.ph/e3.asp) together with the product/service write-ups sent to Mozcom, Inc. on or before November 15, 2006. A single party may submit more than one entry. Pre-screening of entries will be conducted from November 16 to 20 to determine the finalists. Implementation of the finalist's projects will take place between November 2, 2006 and February 28, 2007. Finalists are required to present their entries to the Board of Judges for the initial presentation. Final awarding will be held on March 15, 2007.

The criteria for judging will be based on the following: originality, innovativeness, usefulness, market potential and implementation.

Aside from the technical support PayEasy will be providing to these lucky contestants, other prizes also await the winners. The first prize includes a P50,000 in cash plus trophy, P20,000 cash plus plaque for the runner-up and plaques for the finalists. These winners will enjoy a contract with Mozcom PayEasy for the continued commercialization of the winning entry, which will include hosting, payment processing, backend support, marketing and advertising. They will alsobe featured in the PayEasy and Mozcom websites.

PayEasy was developed by Mozcom, the country's first commercial ISP. It serves as a sure and simple solution for the corporate world's problems on fraudulent deals and incompatible clearing houses used for various purchase activities online. It provides a unified interface to all merchants using the system and can handle major credit card and debit card transactions. These include Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB, Diners Club and Discover credit cards, as well as, BancNet and MegaLink ATM cards, proprietary currencies like PayPal, UnionBank's PORT (Payment Online Real Time) electronic facilities and UCPB my1Time, plus, mobile currencies Globe G-Cash and Smart Money.

While many banks went for size and market share through large balance sheets, UnionBank has followed a highly focused differentiation strategy that emphasizes innovation and service with a clear technological bias. It has achieved success in B2B and B2G, creating electronic communities for multinational and domestic corporations and key government institutions.In 2004, the bank achieved a breakthrough in B2C through its eCard for 1.4 million members of the Government Service Insurance System.

Present at the Sponsorship Agreement signing were (L-to-R) Kristine Loya of Mozcom PayEasy, Dick Chiang - COO/CTO of Mozcom Payeasy, Hermie Pugeda - UnionBank Executive VP for Corporate Product Banking and Ramon Duarte - UnionBank Head of e-Channel Solutions Management.