‘It was a great opportunity!’ Meet the winners of the 2023 Bowater Business Challenge!
Our annual Deakin Bowater Business Challenge has been run and won!
The finals were held at the Burwood Corporate Centre in September, with students researching and problem solving to address the industry partner’s business problem. This year’s theme was ‘Fully Promoted: Customise or Standardise?’.
Following a preliminary round in August of fourteen teams, four advanced to the finals joining an academic mentor to support their presentations and research.
Teams visited the site of the company itself, where they explored show and production rooms for inspiration before presenting their solutions on Thursday 14 September.
Congratulations to the winning teams:
1st prize: $2000 awarded to Southwest Consulting: Sebastian Good, Sharna Jenkins, and Ben Mcleod
Academic Mentor: Prof. Michael Polonsky
Southwest Consulting: Sharna Jenkins, Sebastian Good, Ben Mcleod, and Prof. Michael Polonsky
2nd prize: $1500 awarded to Promoholic: Quoc Bao Phan, Lara Angela Oana, Darren Simbarashe Shonhai, and Henry Fung
Academic Mentor: A/Prof. Sagarika Mishra
3rd prize: $1000 awarded to Munchies: Viet Huy Nguyen, Victoria Soong, Clive Chiew, and Sonia Graciela
Academic Mentor: Dr. Adnan Yusuf
4th prize: $500 awarded to ZGC Consulting Group: Zoe Elise Armitage, Chad John Gai Jal, Geshna Devi Seeram, and Jagveer Singh
Academic Mentor: Dr. Joseph Griffin
‘What challenged me most about the experience was developing practical and unique strategies to improve the financial, marketing and economic performance of a real business,’ says Sharna Jenkins of the first prize winning team, ‘it was rewarding to know that our recommendations could actually be used to help a real business flourish’.
Arun Marappan, Director of Fully Promoted Mount Waverley, found great value in providing this year’s challenge and said his franchise will consider the suggested recommendations.
With the challenge now in its 14th year, Deakin thanks Bowater Trust for its continued support to our students. We also want to thank Fully Promoted Mount Waverley for providing the challenge, our academic mentors and the judges who had the difficult job of picking the winners. Congratulations to all our participating students!
Sharna says, ‘I gained a lot from the experience, such as enhancing my problem-solving skills, and my ability to work and communicate as part of a team … who I had lots of fun competing with!’.
If you are interested in competing in our 2024 challenges, keep an eye out on the Deakin Bowater Business Challenge.
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