Smith Students’ Winning Ways

Comm’18 students Alexis Frey, Abigail Chau, Nicolas Bernal and Stephane Gosselin placed first at the 2016 KPMG International Case Competition in Dubai, UAE, in April. The Smith team was among the more than 390 university teams from 22 countries that applied to participate in this year’s competition. The foursome was invited to the international final after winning the Ace the Case National Competition. This marks the first time that the Canadian team has won this prestigious international competition. 

Commerce students Serena Li, Tusaani Kumaravadivel, both Comm’16, and Amit A. Kumar, Comm’17, took top honours at CASE IT, an international undergraduate business case competition focusing on Management Information Systems (MIS). This annual competition, hosted by Simon Fraser University in February, drew 19 teams from around the world. Competing schools included Iowa State University, Copenhagen Business School and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Four members of the Queen’s Master of International Business (MIB) Class of 2016 finished first at the fifth edition of the International Graduate Competition, held at HEC Montreal in April. Pictured with MIB Program Manager Jennifer McNeely (centre) is ‘Team Gael’: Kinya Gitonga, Krystle Li, Amina Saigol and Natalya Karabelska. They prevailed over teams representing Concordia University, EMLYON, University of Lausanne, HEC Montreal, University of Florida, University of Sheffield, RMIT University and the University of Waterloo.

Maggie Shi, Comm’18, was awarded the top prize in this year’s Paul and Tom Kinnear Business Plan Competition, held at Goodes Hall in March. Established in 2008 by Dr. Tom Kinnear, BCom’66, LLD’02, the final phase of the competition saw four teams vie for a $5,000 prize to support the establishment or ongoing operation of their business venture. Maggie’s idea of a subscription-based campus lunch-delivery service stood out among the finalists’ submissions. She plans to use her winnings to develop her business over the summer months before launching the venture, named bnto, this fall.