Team Cognitare, SMU’s business case club, has achieved podium finish at the Thammasat Undergraduate Business Challenge (TUBC) for the third consecutive year! The team, comprising undergraduates Wong Qixuan (Year 3, BBM), Raymond Wijaya (Year 2, BBM), Anuhya Bharadwaja (Year 2, BBM) and Jared Tjo (Year 2, BBM), clinched the 2nd runner-up title at the highly esteemed case competition (which exclusively invites top business schools from across the world.
Held from 14 to 18 October, this year’s challenge – TUBC’s 27th edition – saw participation from over 20 teams representing universities across Asia, Europe and North America, including the Asper School of Business, Norwegian School of Economics, and University of South Carolina.
Commenting on the win, team leader Wong Qixuan, said “I am immensely proud that we have achieved such an outstanding result, especially considering that it was Jared's and Raymond's first international case experience. With three juniors on the team, we were among the youngest participants, yet we were able to leverage our collective strengths and abilities to rise above the challenges!”
Indeed, the SMU team’s journey to victory was far from breezy. Faced with an intense 28-hour competition, they had proceeded to the final round among an extremely competitive division with dedication, grit and ingenuity. Teams were tasked to devise innovative strategies to enable Krungsri Bank, which is one of Thailand’s leading financial institutions, to become the leading regional bank in sustainability by targeting corporate customers (for the greatest impact) in reducing Scope 3 emissions in Category 15, also known as ‘investments emissions’.
The SMU team impressed the judges with their creative and comprehensive plan that targeted corporate companies by introducing its own carbon trading platform, as well as a holistic sustainable supply chain financing solution. They stood out amongst the finalists, beating out notable institutions such as University of California Berkeley and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The judging panel, which comprised C-suite executives including those from Krungsri Bank, also commended the team for their strong display of teamwork and exemplary presentation skills.
“We are grateful for the generous support from our school – Lee Kong Chian School of Business, our faculty advisor, Dr Ma Kheng Min, and senior members of Cognitare for their steadfast support and guidance in our training. We deeply appreciate the invaluable advice and encouragement from everyone who contributed to our competition preparations,” said Qixuan.
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