Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Team Cognitare are champions at the Global Microfinance Case Competition (GMCC) 2022! This is a significant achievement, considering that it is only the second time that SMU was taking part in the competition.

Organised by the Melbourne Microfinance Institution, the case competition this year was held from 29 August to 12 September 2022. 13 university teams from the United States of America, United Kingdom, India and Singapore competed against each other to solve a real-world microfinance business case. The SMU team emerged as the champion, beating top universities including the University College London and the University of New South Wales.

The team, comprising second year Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB) undergraduates Eugene Choa, Megan Teo, Yew Jing Zheng and Darren Seow, was tasked to propose an investment opportunity for Ekphatthana Microfinance Institution (EMI). EMI is the first and largest licensed microfinance institution in Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) which provides sustainable financial services to low and middle-income households.

The SMU team impressed the judges with a focused solution of providing loans to farmers in Lao to install biogas plants with the support of a partner. This niche solution resonated well with the judges, including EMI CEO, Mr Somphone. He commented that the team’s solution stood out due to its simplicity as well as ease of implementation, especially given the scale of the company.

Team leader, Jing Zheng, was immensely proud of the team’s achievement. “Competing at the international level as an all-junior team was rather daunting. It was also a challenge for us to navigate a niche topic such as green financing for a microfinance institution in Lao PDR. However, through our hard work and with good advice from those around us, our team was able to put together a clear solution to present to the judges.”

“We are grateful to everyone who encouraged and guided us throughout this journey; our success today would not have been possible without their strong support. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the members of Cognitare; our faculty advisor, Dr Ma Kheng Min; and our school, LKCSB,” he added.

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