MBA Diary: Prize Fighting
In his MBA diary published in the Economist, current MBA student Khiem Vu shared his experience of taking part in the 2015 Hult Prize Challenge, and the key lessons he and his teammates took away.
Current MBA student Khiem Vu took part in one of the regional finals of 2015 Hult Prize Challenge in London this summer. In his MBA diary published in The Economist, he shared his experience of taking part in the competition, and the key lessons he and his teammates took away. The MBA team from The Chinese University of Hong Kong included Vu and his three classmates: Vicky Gong, Vaneet Gupta and Bonnie Liao.
There were around 50 teams heading for London. Only one would represent each region and go to the New York finals. Winning this round would take Vu and his team to New York to present their idea to Bill Clinton, former United States president and sponsor of the competition.
Competitors had been asked to build a business to help educate students aged one to six year olds in poor areas. Vu and his team suggested building a low-cost yet high-quality private-school chain for these underprivileged children. They proposed partnering with local schools and technology firms to achieve economies of scale by, for example, broadcasting live classes online. The proposal would mean a good education for each student with a cost as low as US$6 per month.
Unfortunately, the team did not win a place in the New York finals. The judge commented that “they needed a professor consultant to keep them focused on one solution.” Vu admitted that they had forgotten that “even the best needles are not sharp at both ends,” a simple concept they learnt in the CUHK MBA class. He admitted that the team should have focused on a single solution and made it sustainable, rather than provided too many solutions at once… Read More (PDF)
Source: The Economist
Date published: 4 May, 2015