Consultants Hone Skills in Contest
Students from universities across the country took a first step into the realm of business planning and entrepreneurship Thursday at Georgetown’s second annual Business Strategy Challenge, hosted by Hilltop Consultants, an undergraduate financial consulting group.
“Goldrush,” a team of four Georgetown students, defeated competitors from Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pennsylvania, who took second and third place respectively.
To kick off the challenge, eight teams of four or fewer students spent two days familiarizing themselves with the real-life problems of Women in Film and Video, an organization that promotes the professional development and achievement of women in media. Two teams from the University of South Carolina, and three additional teams from Georgetown comprised the remaining pool of competitors.
After studying the case and presenting suggestions for improving the group’s financial situation on Saturday morning, three teams were selected to advance to the final round in the afternoon.
A panel of judges — consisting of five members of Women in Film and Video, a professor from the University of Maryland, a professor from George Washington University and several business professionals — chose the “Goldrush” presentation as the most viable business solution, announcing the winner at a banquet Saturday night.
Win or lose, players expressed enthusiasm and excitement during the course of the competition.
“I like that this is a real organization in D.C.,” said Scott Roberts (MSB ’07), a member of the winning team. “They can actually take ideas that all the teams gave them and implement them. These ideas make a difference.”
Carnegie Mellon junior Denene Crabbs, vice president of development for Women in Film and Video, applauded the efforts and presentations of each student group and said that the winning team would be asked to present their solutions to the company’s entire board of directors.
“I thought everyone demonstrated hard work and diligence in creating solutions,” Crabbs said. “The ones that went into the final round had specifics. The winning team had the most practical ideas that we could implement immediately without changing our structure.”
The event took place despite repeated fundraising difficulties and scheduling problems, organizers said.
“It was difficult to get funding,” competition organizer Neil Agarwal (MSB ’06) said. “Almost at an absurd point we thought it wasn’t going to happen — but it did.”
Financiers included the MSB undergraduate office, the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity, the Student Activities Commission, and MSB Dean George Daly.
CORRECTION: The article "Consultants Hone Skills in Contest" (THE HOYA, March 28, 2006, A5) misidentified Denene Crabbs, vice president for development at Women in Film in Video, as a junior at Carnegie Mellon.