Southampton students reach semi-finals of UBC competition

The UBC offers a unique opportunity for undergraduate students to improve their knowledge of business putting their theory into practice and developing skills in team-working and leadership.

Teams from universities and colleges across the UK took part in the challenge, competing to achieve maximum profit, acquire new business and enhance customer satisfaction.

The Southampton team was led by Civil Engineering student Tom Brown; the team also included Mechanical Engineering student Nana Okra Abankwa and Aerospace Engineering students Paul Trouton, Reetam Singh and Paul Johnston.

Team leader, Tom Brown comments: "I had been going over my cv last summer and felt it was a little bare in places so I saw an email asking if anyone would be interested I thought it seemed like a great opportunity to do something about it. I wasn't entirely sure how it would go but I didn't have anything to lose so I went for it."

The first round of this year’s UBC was internet based and involved making a series of business decisions each week in response to different scenarios. The team came 2nd in their group of 8 and were offered a place at the semi-finals held at the Proctor & Gamble (P&G) headquarters in Weybridge. During the semi-final the team had a number of small business challenges to complete, giving presentations and making posters. The team didn't quite make it into the final round but finished 5th out of 10.

Tom adds: "Throughout the competition we have had great opportunities to develop our team working skills and during the semi-finals in particular we were working against the clock and had to organise ourselves effectively to meet deadlines. We also had the chance to network with recruiters at P&G and present some ideas we had to them and this will hopefully stand us in good stead for future interviews and assessment centres.

"I’d definitely recommend that other students take part in this competition. It's been a great experience and hopefully given me something a bit different on my cv as well as the chance to get to know a great group of people."

Joy Moloney, Senior Education Development Fellow, comments: "Okra, Paul, Reetam, Paul and Tom have worked in an extremely effective manner to complete against other University teams where students were often studying for a Business Studies degree. They have been superb ambassadors for Engineering and the Environment."

"The team has worked extremely hard together and they represent the entrepreneurial culture we have in our Engineering students- very well done to them." Comments Professor Simon Cox, Associate Dean for Enterprise.