CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - A team of business students from UPEI recently took second place with a dramatic comeback at the Alberta International Business Competition, hosted by the University of Alberta in Jasper.
The international competition featured teams from 11 universities from around the world.
UPEI’s team was made up of Jacob Ezeard, Ethan MacFadyen, Ellen Ross and Andrew Stetson.
“This was a phenomenal opportunity to compete in an international competition,” said Ross. “It was a week filled with personal growth, team work and career-building experiences. Meeting so many amazing people made it that much more memorable.”
“After a sub-par presentation during the first day of competition, and lots of feedback from the judges, we rallied together to make the necessary changes to ensure we were ready to succeed during the 30-hour case.”
-Jacob Ezeard
Teams were divided into three divisions and tasked with developing and presenting solutions to two cases, with five hours and 30 hours, respectively, for each preparation period.
In each round, after presenting their solution to a panel of judges, teams received scores and were ranked. The teams with the highest cumulative scores in their divisions were invited to the finals, which included UPEI, Concordia University, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, and Thammasat University from Thailand.
UPEI rode a rollercoaster through the first round, placing last in its division after the five-hour case. The team, however, made a comeback with its second case, which boosted it to second place in its division.
Each second-place team participated in a “challenger round,” giving a five-minute pitch to describe its 30-hour case solution. UPEI won this round, earning a place in the finals.
The team presented its solution three times in the span of fewer than two hours (with only minutes in between the challenger round and the final) and performed so well it achieved a second-place finish overall.
“I think our team learned a lot about perseverance and adaptability during the competition,” said Ezeard. “After a sub-par presentation during the first day of competition, and lots of feedback from the judges, we rallied together to make the necessary changes to ensure we were ready to succeed during the 30-hour case.”
“It was awesome to interact with like-minded people from all around the world and to have the chance to use everything we've learned in our classes in real-world business situations,” said Stetson.
“It was our first international competition as a team and coming home with a second-place finish makes it that much sweeter,” said MacFadyen.
