Georgetown Students Make Nationals in Professional Business Competition
The students of Georgetown University in Qatar’s (GU-Q) Business Society (GBS) recently gave seasoned professionals some stiff competition when they came in fourth at the national level of the Global Management Challenge (GMC) in Doha after having led in the first few rounds.
Now in its third year in Qatar, GMC is considered the biggest business competition in the world, and consists of assigning teams to a company management simulation where they have to make real-world strategic decisions to win the highest investment in the stock market. Now running for 30 years globally, more than 500,000 managers and university students from more than 40 countries have participated in it so far around the world.
The university submitted three teams to the GMC, but it was the team comprised of the leading members of the Georgetown Business Society – Mohammad Taimur Ali Ahmad, Muhammad Saif Kazi, Kareem Malas, Khawaja Ahmed and Owais Pervez Khan – that came out on top.
“Our team of students placed 1st place in the First Round and 2nd place in the Second Round, which in turn took them to the national finals. And though their final fourth place finish didn’t secure the top spot needed to go forward to compete in the international finals, their tremendous success against established organizations and business-people proves that Georgetown students posses the right mix of skills to perform as well or even better than seasoned working professionals,” said Dr. Nonneman, the dean of GU-Q.
Current club president and GBS founder, Muhammad Saif Kazi, a junior studying International Economics, described why the young students entered the competition and what that entailed over the 2 months, saying: “We really wanted to represent GU-Q and prove our students are more than suitable to work in the corporate world. Each round had a particular business and economic scenario. In the first round our business was struggling to survive while in the last 2 rounds we had established a well reputed business with favourable balance statements.”
Team member Owais Pervez Khan, a junior studying International Economics, stressed the importance of gaining experience from the competition, saying: “Regardless of one’s academic major, students need to understand the basic business framework of a firm, and students do not realize the importance of that until they actually step into the real work.”
And to gain that experience, the students decided to take the risk and compete with professionals, said Kareem Malas, a sophomore majoring in International Politics.“One of the Georgetown Business Society’s main goals is to promote a business atmosphere on our campus, and to do that we must have some kind of experience so we may expand on it. And what better way to do it than to compete in the best management competition in the world.” He is also Co-Founder and Vice-President of the GBS.
The university provided plenty of support, rescheduling class work and exams when they were in conflict.
But for Mohammad Taimur Ali Ahmad, an International Economics sophomore and Co-Founder of the student group, it was their academic background that propelled them to the head of the competition. “The wide array of courses at Georgetown, the ability to critically think, adapt to situations, go outside my comfort zone and be willing to learn new things all helped me in the challenge, and these are the things Georgetown tries to inculcate in it’s students.”
“You really learn how to hold your cool in bad times and to maintain your strength in the good times. I also learned a lot about businesses and about the corporate world,” said Khawaja Hamza Ahmed, International Politics sophomore and Co-Founder and Vice President of GBS.
The Georgetown Business Society’s (GBS) vision is to enkindle the corporate spirit on campus and equip all students who wish to join the corporate world, whether by working for an enterprise or by starting up one, with the necessary tools and skills to contribute to it successfully. It was founded by GU-Q students in April 2014.