Working in Partnership with Other Nations

SFU Represented at Worldwide Business Competition

Sixty-six teams comprised of seven contestants in four countries went head to head at the 2008 Global Enterprise Experience, an international business competition aimed at developing skills in managing across cultures, time zones, world views and levels of wealth and poverty.

The contest was supported and developed by the New Zealand Government to encourage future leaders to work in partnership with peoples of many nations. “The challenges of international trade are many, but in my experience, the most vital is the need to communicate effectively across cultural and political agendas,” explains Mike Moore, former Director General of the World Trade Organization and Prime Minister of New Zealand. “If we can give our business graduates real-life experiences working with others from the full range of trading backgrounds, then we’re really helping to propagate a more mature and effective trading world.”

Eleven SFU Business students were part of over 460 graduate and undergraduate students from around the world who participated.

With a prize of $750 for each member of the winning team and an additional $750 for the best one-page journal, competition was stiff. Each team was challenged to write a six page, compelling business concept proposal addressing the topic of fostering a sustainable environment. Using only interactive technology such as MSN, Yahoo! Groups, and Google Groups to communicate, the students had 21 days to research, discuss, and prepare their proposals for submission to a panel of international judges.

Out of the top six teams in the competition, two included undergrad business students from Simon Fraser University. Vivian Kwong, Raman Gill and Timothy Coleman were recognized for submitting Highly Commended Reports. Other SFU BBA participants include Nimalan Pavananthan, Zico Fernandes, Cody Watson, Herwin Gill, Shohei Kato, Carson Yeung, Sonia Kaur Paul, and Jolly Ann Maulit.