SCB Future Leader Challenge 2019

SCB Future Leaders Challenge is the world’s largest and Thailand’s first business case competition for Master’s students, organised in collaboration with Siam Commercial Bank and Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn University to promote learning and develop the potential of next generation’s leaders. This year, 114 teams from 16 countries participated in the preliminary round, including University of Cambridge and National University of Singapore.

Our SMU Team Oasis; Florine Bruijn, Clara Nonie Susanto, Veronika Radicova and Zhang Liansheng; were selected among 12 teams to go to semifinals and finals in Bangkok, Thailand. During the week-long competition, our team received outstanding feedback by the panel of judges for our presentation and analysis. After an intense Final Round, we are proud to win 2nd place overall, finishing behind University of Cambridge MBA Team and ahead of the NUS MBA Team.

The competition was fast paced with real-life business case that challenged participants to generate practical and scalable strategy recommendations, and teams were evaluated by a panel of judges, including top business leaders, industry experts and academic professionals.

After a worldwide preliminary round, 12 teams were invited to Thailand for the semi-finals, namely a 5-hour case, 99-second pitch, and a 24-hour case. Four teams were then selected to go to the Final Round to present on a 20-hour case. Participants were judged on the merit of their ideas as well as performance during Q&A session.

This year, participants were challenged to provide strategic recommendations for sustainable adaptation in this age of digital transformation, with a focus on retail and baking sector.

Using the tools and knowledge we learnt through our classes and our internship, our team identified key pain points through extensive analysis, from macroeconomic factors to consumer behaviour analysis, which then served as building blocks for our final recommendations. Our team’s synergy and teamwork, coupled our rigorous performance during the Q&A sessions were especially praised by the judges throughout the rounds in the competition.

Thoughts from our students:

"It was a steep learning curve for us to perform in such a demanding and competitive environment, and after passing through to the finals we were pushed to our limit in terms of ideas, strategies, analysis and presentation. Despite this, our team showed great teamwork and through the skills learnt from SMU MiM and our internship experience, we managed to win 2nd place overall.

It was, by all accounts, a gruelling yet memorable experience, and one that could not have happened without my teammates."

- Clara Nonie Susanto

“Participating in the SCB Future Leaders Challenge provided an unforgettable experience on all fronts. Competing with international teams from prestigious universities, provided for a culturally rich and exciting experience. Solving cases under immense time pressure and with very little sleep has showed me that with incredible team dynamics it is possible to rise to unmeasured levels of performance if you challenge, complement and support each other. I am proud of the steep learning curve that each of us gained on a diverse range of industries, from Retail Transformation to E-commerce and Banking, as well as for bringing home the 2nd place.”

- Florine Bruijn

“Participating in a case study competition is a great way to enhance one’s problem solving skills in a real-life scenario. Not only did we learn about different industries, we also learned about the utmost importance of a strong team. I am very glad I had a chance to solve those challenging problems with my team members from SMU who made the entire experience very enjoyable. Furthermore, thanks to SCB FLC, we were able to meet other motivated students coming from all over the world and having various educational and professional backgrounds. By all means, it was a memorable experience and I would advise any other business student to go the extra mile and take part in such case competitions.”

- Veronika Radicova

“SCB FLC was an impressive journey for me, through which I discovered insights that I never imagine I would. At the beginning, there were just four of us with no working experience, but only a passion in consulting. I still remember the week of the first round when we met every day at SMU after work around 7 pm. Grabbing food on the way, we discussed the structure of the deck and explored the potential strategies. To be honest, we really didn’t know how to do it well, we “just tried to do our best”. On our way back home around midnight, Veronika wondered “what if we entered the semi-finals”, and we just laughed. When I found out we did enter the semi-finals, I was elated. I really enjoyed the way we solved different cases. We worked as a team and we got to know each other more. All those no-sleep nights were tough, but they became meaningful with my friends, teammates, and brought us to the final round where we won 2^nd place. I was excited by the opportunity to meet and share ideas with experienced students from all over the world. I am really proud to be able to represent SMU in Bangkok and to gain such a valuable skillset. Last but not least, I am very lucky to have such 3 warm, positive and supportive teammates.”

- Liansheng Zhang