The event was the 2nd Ten Inspiring Entrepreneurial Students (TIES) Awards held at the Market! Market! at the Fort. The students were given the chance to showcase their creative and ingenious businesses and provide the public a glimpse of how aggressive and entrepreneurial the Filipino youth can become.

Guest of honor Sen. Francis Pangilinan, a staunch advocate of youth development, stated "Do not be worried. There will come a time your P3,000 now will become half a billion in the future. There is no such thing as failure, only delay. You are the leaders, the future employers of the country."

Pangilinan emphasized the impact of entrepreneurship in the country, citing 70 percent of those working in the Philippines are employed by small and medium enterprises. "Many Filipinos look for jobs, but it is the entrepreneur who provides these jobs."

Judging for the 2004 TIES awardees took place during the exhibit proper. The board of judges included Prof. Jay Bernardo of the Asian Institute of Management; Bam Aquino, chair, National Youth Commission; Ma. Luna David, VP for loans, Small Business Guarantee and Finance Corp. or SB Corp.; Dr. Alberto Fenix, chairman CHED Technical Panel for Business Education; and Gladys Judan, VP for Incoming Exchange & Finance, AIESEC Philippines.