With “FinMate,” an ITS Bright Scholarship Recipient Wins First Place in the Social Project Category at the 2026 Brighter Jamboree

BANDUNG — A Bright Scholarship recipient from the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS), mentored by the YBM BRILiaN Regional Office (RO) in Surabaya, won first place in the social project category at the Brighter 2026 Jamboree. The ITS team presented FinMate, an artificial intelligence-based app designed to help students manage their daily finances.

The Jamboree took place in Bandung, West Java, from Thursday (10/29) through Sunday (11/1). The event was attended by Bright Scholarship Batch 12 awardees from 22 YBM BRILiaN partner campuses across Indonesia. The YBM BRILiaN Head Office management team and the YBM BRILiaN Executive Director were also present at the event.

Supporting Students’ Financial Independence Through FinMate
As part of the mentoring program, each group was asked to identify issues in their local communities and develop a social project proposal to address them. The scholarship recipients also had to explain who would benefit, how the project would be implemented, and what would serve as a measure of its success.

The ITS team chose an issue closely related to students’ daily lives: managing their finances independently. Through FinMate, the team designed an app that combines financial education with artificial intelligence so that students can apply this knowledge when managing their money.

Recognition for the Social Project and the ITS Team’s Hopes
The evaluation took place in two stages. Three judges assessed the participants’ social project proposals. The six best groups then presented their ideas before a panel of judges. At this stage, fellow awardee groups also provided their evaluations.

For their FinMate concept, the ITS team received a prize of 6 million rupiah as first-place winners. The University of Indonesia team took second place, followed by the University of Mataram team in third place.

“The hope is that FinMate can be expanded to include students from various universities and eventually reach the general public—such as workers, families, and small and medium enterprise (SME) owners,” said a representative of the ITS team during their presentation leading up to the finals.

Through the Bright Scholarship mentoring program, YBM BRILiaN provides a space for awardees to practice leadership and collaboration. In this jamboree, the students put these skills into practice by developing social projects based on the needs of their own communities.