Heard of the Bowater Business Challenge? 2020 finalist Jess explains why you should give it a go
The Deakin Bowater Business Challenge (DBBC) is a competition for undergraduate business and law students, who work in a team to research and develop a presentation on the future of a selected industry.
2020 finalist Jessica Wayne says that it’s a fantastic way to develop your problem-solving skills, graduate employability and industry networks – and it looks great on your CV. Oh, and you can also win some cash along the way!
Below, Jess shares what it was like to take part in the 2020 DBBC during the height of COVID-19 restrictions and how the competition has helped her career aspirations.
If you haven’t done or even heard of case competitions, don’t worry, because neither had I before last year. I was nervous but also intrigued about the opportunity, so I applied and have never looked back.
I was randomly assigned into a team with three other students and we got to work on the theme. We met up online, became the ‘Cyber Safe Sistas’ and put together our presentation for the preliminaries. To our surprise, we were chosen as a finalist team! We were assigned an academic mentor and a month later competed in the challenge final where we placed second!
It was challenging, but also extremely fun and an experience I’ll never forget. Despite being all online, it gave me three new friends, grew my post-COVID problem-solving skills and showed me that being online doesn’t mean you have to miss out on experiences.
Working with people I didn’t know in a group situation was nerve-wracking at first! But I didn’t want that to be the reason I didn’t take part in the challenge. COVID stopped a lot of opportunities but fortunately the Bowater Challenge was still able to go ahead, and it was a great opportunity to meet other students but also socially interact beyond class.
Delivering the presentation via Zoom presented technical challenges but nothing that couldn’t be overcome. From an academic perspective, the presentation was extremely useful. It builds your communication, problem-solving and public speaking skills.
I can’t stress enough how beneficial it is to have academic case competition experience on your resume. It stands out and will give you something to speak about in interviews. It was one of my key talking points in my New Colombo Plan application and helped me obtain a scholarship!
Interested? Here’s how it works
The DBBC is open to all current undergraduate business and law students. Working in teams of four, you’ll research and develop a presentation on the future of a selected industry. This year’s theme is ‘Augmented Reality Adoption in Overseas Markets’.
You can enter as a team of four or as an individual – we’ll allocate individuals to a team. Winning teams will be awarded cash prizes.
Timeline
- 11.59pm, Monday 26 July: applications close.
- Week beginning Monday 9 August: registered teams compete in the Preliminary Round, where a University panel will rank each team’s recorded 10-minute presentation.
- Friday 13 August: four finals teams announced.
- Week beginning Monday 23 August: Briefing day, where finals teams meet with industry partners and academic mentors to understand the problem in more depth, and a site visit to 2021 industry partner INHAABIT.
- Week beginning 6 September: Challenge Final, either via Zoom or in person.
Applications and more information
Hurry – apply online by Monday 26 July.
Need more info or have a question? Email [email protected] or visit the DBBC webpage.