Five Lincoln International Business School, (LIBS), undergraduate students reached the semi-finals of the 2023 Universities Business Challenge, (UBC), having worked hard to simulate running a business over several trading periods.
The talented group ranked in the top 10% of the first round in this national competition, leading to their invitation to the semi-finals hosted by the University of Westminster, London.
On the 26th February, Aleesha Kumari, Alexine Macpherson, Molly Gidney, Elena Gilbey and Oscar Allison along with Senior Lecturer James Wright and Global Experiences Officer Jordan Day, travelled to London with the opportunity for some sight-seeing before heading out early on Monday morning to Regent Street and the location of the event.
Competing against nine other semi-finalists, the strategy for the Lincoln team was to simulate a social enterprise, the running of a juice bar, with the main aim of being to make the most profit at the end of a fictional three-month trading period. Interspersed between each ‘trading period’ were different exercises, (including a strengths analysis) and talks delivered by industry experts.
The day was incredibly busy and a valuable experience for the students with networking, professional insight and the chance to put into practice all that they’ve studied in lectures and seminars. Although the team didn’t progress through to the finals, the students agreed that the skills gained along the way were equally as important.
Oscar commented.
“The semi-finals took me out of my comfort zone and encouraged me to think on the spot, use my initiative and network with others in a peer-to-peer environment. I would advise future contestants in this challenge to just give it a go!” with Molly adding, “…the talks from successful individuals were inspiring and motivational…”
Academic James Wright said,
“It’s fantastic to have had our University Business Challenge team reach the semi-finals with students representing degree programmes from all of the LIBS departments. A special mention as well to Charlotte T, Jordan D and Judy T for all of your support to the team throughout the trading periods helping us to reach this stage of the competition. The London event provided a fantastic networking opportunity for the students to engage with other undergraduates and entrepreneurs to highlight not only the opportunities of placements and graduate schemes, but also the possibility to begin their own venture”.
If you are a Business School undergraduate student and would like to take part in a future University Business Challenge, then please follow our Global Experience team on social media or lodge your interest with James Wright. In the meantime, we wish the LIBS postgraduate team all the best in the UBC final! (stay tuned for updates!)