Triumphs in Business Competitions
In the realm of academic achievements, there are moments that shine like beacons, illuminating the path for students to strive to become better. Recently, several students from our school have once again distinguished themselves in economic and business competitions, achieving outstanding results! How did they prepare for these competitions, how did they stand out in the fierce competition, and what guidance and support did their teachers provide? Let us uncover the stories behind these awards together.
Charlotte participated in SIC (Student Investment Challenge) and BPA (Business Professionals of America), earning the following awards: China’s overall team gold ; China’s best stock analysis report team gold; China best investment allocation team bronze; China’s best investment allocation individual bronze; Global best investment allocation individual silver; Global top scoring challenger in U-FEB QUIZ silver; Global best investment allocation team silver in SIC; Global best strategy showcase team silver; and Global overall team silver. Charlotte also received the Individual Regional Bronze in BPA.
“From February to August, these two competitions lasted for about six months, and our preparation process also followed the competition process. We gradually learned financial and business knowledge, learned different models and quantitative analysis methods, selected companies worth investing in to write investment reports, and later conducted report presentations and financial ability assessments. The strategy we use is to develop proactive, long-term plans and always do periodic self-assessments.
“The two biggest challenges I encountered in the competition were that, first, as the leader of the team, I needed to coordinate the work of the team members and follow up on their progress. This was very challenging because my team members and I come from different schools in different cities, and we could only complete our work through online communication. Therefore, it was necessary to work more efficiently by coordinating and communicating within our time constraints. Secondly, my teammates and I were all beginners in finance, so we needed to spend a lot of time studying finance and improving our speaking skills. Fortunately, the result was very good. Regardless of the outcome, the efforts we had put in over these six months were enough to show our growth. I hope we will have a smooth journey in pursuing our dreams in the future.”
At the NEC (National Economics Challenge), Audrey won the 'Regional Top Scoring Team Award in International Economics and Current Events' and the 'Regional International Economics and Current Events Individual Distinction Award'.
As early as Y11, Audrey made her first attempt to participate in the NEC competition (Pre Division, which is the beginner level), and she successfully advanced to the finals. Then, in Y12, she took on the more challenging Adam Smith Division, which is the highest level set by NEC. "It includes the entire A-Level economics curriculum, general economics knowledge, and international current affairs. It was a bit challenging for me as I had just started studying AS, but luckily, I still qualified to participate in the China finals."
Recalling her competition experience in Y12, Audrey mentioned that because she had chosen the more challenging highest level and couldn't find suitable teammates, she eventually formed a team with other economics students she had met from different cities during her participation in the International Economics Olympiad. She said, "The NEC official website is actually a great learning platform. It provides a lot of summaries of different fields and explainer videos, along with real-time news related to international economic development for contestants to study. Of course, my school's economics teachers provided me with a lot of assistance during this process. I had to try my best to grasp the AS and A2 materials in two to three months, which was quite overwhelming. My economics teachers often helped me fill in the gaps after school and continually reinforced my understanding. This support, including from the other economics teachers in our department, played a significant role in my advancement to the finals. I'm truly grateful to the entire economics department at DHSZ for their unwavering support!"
Before entering the NEC China finals, Audrey had to simultaneously prepare for the KC2 exam and a Model United Nations (MUN) conference. She mentioned, "The entire process was filled with challenges, and dealing with time pressure and communication difficulties became the norm. However, my economics teacher was by my side throughout, offering support and assistance. I remember one day, after attending the MUN event during the day and returning to the hotel, my teacher found a corner in a nearby convenience store to help me study key concepts and paper content. I must express my heartfelt gratitude to my economics teachers; it was with their guidance that I made it step by step."
“First of all, I am honored to participate in this national business competition. It was a very new experience because it was my first time participating in an official business competition.
“What impressed me the most was that in the middle of the race, our CEO started letting us buy products from other companies. And my position is Product Manager. I feel very happy when I go to each company and buy other companies' products at a higher unit price than the price given by the government because more than half of the companies in the market sell their products to us, and some even make these products just to sell them to us. The reason that impressed me was because I felt that our company was ahead of others in a different way, and few people knew why we bought their products in large quantities and at higher prices. This feeling is very vivid in my memory.
“The second is our company. In fact, the day before the competition, we and the other three members in our company had just met and were very new to each other. But luckily, we had a great CEO. He led our entire company, and it was his initial venture (which started with a lot of loans) that allowed us to turn our money around. Not only was he clear about the distribution of our responsibilities, but he also troubleshooted the system in the middle of the game when things went wrong. I'm glad I participated in a team like this because it's not common. Our team also worked well together and it's nice to get to know them.
“Finally, I would like to say that business racing is not as boring as it may sound. It's exciting when you're working on your company, such as negotiating prices with others and following government announcements because all of you in your company work together.”
"The most noteworthy thing is that at the very beginning of the competition, our CEO decided to take out direct loans and invest a lot of money in advertising. At first, our team members thought this strategy was too risky because no one dared to do it during the school trial. However, it was surprisingly effective, and the result greatly exceeded our goal of 1 billion yuan and was far ahead of the second place, with a final revenue of 8.1 billion yuan. We were very proud and admired the courage of our CEO. Another thing that impressed me was the preparation of the project speech. It took more than an hour of intense discussion before our team came up with an innovative product, and several hours of speech preparation, PPT writing and logo design until 3 am. It was a good opportunity for me to cooperate with my friends and teammates.
“Through this business competition, I have a further understanding of teamwork. First of all, I am very grateful to our CEO for his dedication to the team. Whether it is his leadership in the face of assigning work or making transactions, I felt the importance of leadership in our team. Secondly, our team was also very collaborative. Everyone was helping each other. When we needed any items in the competition, our operations manager quickly responded and helped me and another product manager solve them.
“Finally, I am very grateful to the school for giving me the opportunity to participate in the simulated business competition, so that I have a great interest in business competition! After participating in the event, I found that it was not as serious as I had imagined. After the event began, the venue was very lively, the training was very detailed, and the prerequisites for participation were not too high. Any student who has the time and interest to participate in this business competition would find it very interesting.”
In Yoyo's opinion, effective teamwork was the key to their success. “Business competition is a test of team collaboration. I was the ‘Operations manager’, so most of the time I listened to our CEO and tried to do my job well. We had a visionary leader, two Product Managers, and several other hard-working team members , our solidarity led to our success.”
This experience has made Yoyo realise the importance of making good decisions: “The most important thing is to make good decisions which can support the growth of your company in the future. Don’t be afraid of failure, but also don’t spend too much precious time trying and making mistakes. Make timely adjustments.”
Jessica Law, our Economics Teacher, thinks that the key to the students’ success is their motivation to achieve excellence. “Even though our school did not offer Business as a subject, our students showed great interest in this area and proved that they're truly talented.”
“My main role is to inspire them during lessons. I'll do my best to relate the topics learned to their everyday life. This helps to cultivate students' interest Economics and Business-related topics and slowly develop their business/economics acumen, which ultimately drives them to willingly spend extra effort to prepare for the competitions. This cannot be achieved without their commitment and perseverance. I'm really touched and proud of them.
“In addition, I'll promote suitable business or economics related competition in class from time to time or encourage specific potential students to participate. I'll do extra tutoring after lessons from time to time to give some guidance to them. Like I said, success is impossible without their hard work and commitment. They have fully exhibited the Dulwich values of excellence, responsibility, collaboration, and creativity.”
Our students' achievements in these competitions are not only a reflection of their academic excellence, but also a demonstration of their many strengths in diverse areas. Their skills of teamwork, problem-solving, and creative thinking are honed in these competitions. We are excited to see the limitless potential of our students being realised and look forward to them going on to meet more challenges and achieve more success.
