Beedie students in podium finish at APEX

From left to right: Olivia Griselda, the team’s Singapore Management University team host, John Wu, Emily Chua, Carlo Inigo and Dr. Kamal Masri

Students from SFU’s Beedie School of Business finished amongst the top three teams at the recent APEX Biz-IT Global Case Challenge.

The competition, hosted by Singapore Management University from 29 April to 3 May, featured 19 teams from top universities across the globe. Each team was tasked with developing working strategies for growth for Brand Karma, a tech start-up company based in Singapore.

The Beedie team finished in third place in this year’s competition and consisted of students Emily Chua, John Wu and Carlo Inigo, along with their coach, Beedie lecturer Dr. Kamal Masri. In addition to the team’s podium finish, John Wu received an honourable mention from the judges as best speaker among all competitors.

The podium finish for the team is the third time in the past four years where a Beedie team has finished in the top four in this global-class competition.  

The APEX Biz-IT Global Case Challenge invites undergraduate students from universities across the world to propose solutions to real-life scenarios focused on Information Systems solutions, corporate transformation imperatives and business impacts. Teams are given 24 hours to develop a business recommendation before presenting to a panel of judges.

This year, the first round of the competition required teams to develop a marketing strategy for Brand Karma to attract high valued clients. The 12 teams who successfully negotiated the first round were then asked to analyze and discuss the technology strategy which would be needed to attract these clients.

The Beedie team joined three other teams in the final round, where they were charged with developing a long-term strategy for the company. This round also featured a lightning round, requiring teams to respond to an emergency by a potential client.

“The APEX Biz-IT Global Case Challenge was a great experience for the team and for them to finish in the top three out of such a strong field is a magnificent achievement,” says team coach Masri. “All members of the team presented strongly, both in delivery and content in each round, and they should be proud of their performance.”

For more information about the APEX Biz-IT Global Case Challenge, visit http://apex.smu.edu.sg/