2nd place at Business Sustainability Case Competition!
A couple of weeks ago, the University of Guelph held a Business Case Competition that focused primarily on sustainability. There were a total of 10 teams competing including 1 team from Wageningen, Netherlands.
The case was based on a company that was looking to invest in solar and thermal technology in order to reduce reliance on the grid and become sustainable leader in their industry. It was a fair comprehensive and lengthy case written by Professor Francesco Braga and judged by a variety of professionals including a Professor from Italy. The competition included a very inspiring keynote speech from Frank Valeriote, the MP for Guelph.
Our team was selected as the top 3 finalists, and in the end we placed 2nd overall! The competition was a great experience, and definitely much different from the accounting case competitions I have done in the past. There was also some international networking with the team from Netherlands and the Professor from Italy.
The Professors also selected the top 8 individuals from the competition to represent the University of Guelph in Shanghai for a case competition in June, and I was one of those individuals selected! Very excited about this opportunity, a great way to wrap up my undergrad career. Preparations are already under way and we are practising every week for this great event, looking to take home the gold on an international level! Read more
CMA Case Competition 2012
Over the weekend University of Guelph sent a team to compete at the CMA Case Competition against schools from across Ontario. The competition was held in Hamilton, Ontario at McMaster University.
It was a simulation case where the teams had to make accurate and timely decisions in order to guide the company to success. The company in the case was struggling due to the dynamic and rapidly changing environment they were competing in and their current strategy and vision was simply outdated and required change. The teams had to enlist several different strategies and tactics in order to navigate the company to a sustainable future. There were 2 constraints the teams had to comply with; time and money. Both limited resources forced the teams to choose each tactic wisely and ensure that they are administered at the right time and in the right situation.
Although our team did not have a podium finish, it was a great experience nonetheless. The time-sensitive teamwork environment is always fun and great to reflect back on. It was also nice doing a CMA case for a change as I am used to doing CA cases, different perspective for sure.
Below are a some pics from the competition (click to enlarge):
Eurotrip round 2!
Over the holidays I decided to travel to Europe to visit some family. My cousin, who attends University in U.K. is on a 1-year work term in Paris. After touring Paris we decided to make a road trip to Ghent, Brussels, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The entire journey was such a great experience, I just can’t get enough of Europe! Below are just some of my experiences and pictures, enjoy!
I visited the main tourist attractions in Paris including the obvious ones: Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Élysées, Panthéon, Sacré Cœur, Montmatre, Musée du Louvre, Notre Dame and my personal favourite… The Palace of Versaille. The Palace was simply amazing, the architecture, paintings, gardens, massive rooms and the overall history behind it is just breathtaking. It is an understatement to say that Louis the 14th was living lavishly, I mean come on…. he had an entire hall full of just mirrors.
We also visited some not-so-popular tourist attractions. Bastille, which was right near where we were staying, and I would definitely recommend the area to anyone visiting Paris. There is some great history behind Bastille relating to the French Revolution. Today there are many great cafes and pubs that attract a younger crowd, it is very lively on weekends! Another area I really enjoyed, but wasn’t your typical tourist attraction, was Oberkampf. The neighbourhood had very small, narrow streets filled with cafes, pubs and kebab shops!
French dining was simply amazing, not just the food but the whole experience of a traditional French restaurant. Almost every morning we would start the day off with a shot of espresso and either a croissant or a pain du chocolat. Plenty of escargot of course, the most cliche French appetizer around. It was delicious, a nice addition to any meal, however my cousin thought escargot was repulsive. And we can’t forget the most important part of any French meal….a nice glass or two of wine (okay, maybe not with breakfast). I was never a big wine drinker, but I definitely grew a taste for red wine after having a glass with almost every meal. I would have to say that one of the most memorable experiences was enjoying some champagne under the Eiffel tower on New Year’s Eve, just remarkable.
The first thing we did when we arrived in Brussels, Belgium was indulge ourselves with Belgian waffles and Belgian chocolates. Every other store in the city centre was a either a chocolate shop or a waffle shop, so how could we possibly resist? The chocolate shops all had vibrant displays in their store front that would just tempt you to at least take a few seconds to glance. We visited Grand Place, which was in the centre of Brussels. It was a marquee tourist attractions with many interesting buildings all with captivating architecture. Brussels was one of the locations where the European Union meet, so there were a lot of government buildings and EU flags everywhere. We visited several cathedrals and historical buildings, each telling a rich story.
Amsterdam is a very beautiful city. Every street had a canal running through the middle, and the different coloured buildings made for a unique sight. We stayed at the famous Hotel Van Gogh, which was right beside Van Gogh’s museum. I would definitely recommend staying there because it was walking distance from Dam Square, which made for a great location. One thing we learned really quickly was: ditch the car and grab a bike. It is part of the culture in Netherlands to ride a bike everywhere. Not only is it easy to get to places, but you also save a ton of money because parking in Amsterdam was ridiculously expensive. Surprisingly, everyone in Amsterdam spoke very fluent English, which was very convenient.
Below are just some of the pictures I took (click to enlarge).
France:
Back from Germany, still jet-lagged
I took a couple weeks off, before starting school, to travel and visit some family in Germany. First I toured Frankfurt then travelled to Mannheim and finally to Hamburg before heading back home. It was an amazing experience, I really enjoyed the laid-back European lifestyle, much different than what I am used to, that’s for sure!
Frankfurt was much like Toronto in terms of being a busy city with rail-cars everywhere and quite smoggy in some areas. Hamburg was a beautiful city with many tourist attractions. I visited the harbour many times and ate some amazing food from the FischMarkt. The University of Hamburg had a very nice campus and I would definitely love to do an exchange semester there. It was very nice to see my cousins, aunts and uncles it has been several years since I have seen them last.
Houses and apartments were all unique and old fashioned looking, packed with so much culture, no cookie-cutter suburb neighbourhoods. The culture was very unique, I enjoyed every bit of it. The food, the cars, the architecture, the people and just the overall lifestyle. I definitely plan to go back some time in the future and recommend any one that visits Europe to visit Germany!
Here are some photos I took (click to enlarge):
Connect Guelph Launch
Over the summer I have been working on a project called Connect Guelph. It is an organization I founded that is going to create a platform for University of Guelph students to increase their professional identities and create a unique brand for themselves. The 3 main tools that I wish to provide to students are business cards, portfolio websites and professsional photos. The business cards will have the College of Management and Economics logo on the front with the students contact information, and on the back a QR code linking the the students portfolio website. The student’s portfolio website shall contain all of their extracurricular involvements, work experience, references, photos etc. The professional photographs will portray the student in business attire taken at a professional location and edited to have their name/major on it and the College of Management and Economics logo in the corner.
I have recruited an elite team of students and together we will build and operate Connect Guelph for the upcoming school year. Stefan Kovacevic is going to serve as the Vice-President of Marketing, Swapnil Pradhan will be the Vice-President of Finance and Nicole Albanese-Stanhope will be the Vice-President of Administration.
We are very excited for our soft launch, which is scheduled to be August 15, where we will be inviting our friends, family, colleagues and co-workers to test out our service. There are 2 types of memberships available for students, including a free one! Check out our website for more information!
These are just some shots we took with our photographer as a test run:
CUTC 2011 was a great success!
The 2011 Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference (CUTC) was an absolute success! The 2 day conference included many keynote speakers, challenges/competitions, great networking and lots of prizes.
I had a chance to chat with Alexis Ohanian, Founder of Reddit and Evan Reas, Founder/CEO of Likealittle. Both are very interesting people and I learned so much from their presentations and our chats. The largest student-run conference in Canada consisted of 400 delegates from Universities across Canada. Despite the mass amount of people the conference ran very smoothly thanks to perfect planning and organization. Ample amounts of networking took place as every delegate had an ID tag with a QR so everyone could scan each other, rather than the use of traditional business cards. There were many intelligent keynote speakers and I feel that everyone must have learned a lot from their presentations, their stories and their visions.
Alexis Ohanian, Founder of Reddit
Evan Reas, Founder/CEO of Likealittle
Featured on TechVibes!!!
Read the full article HERE.
I was interviewed by Dan Verhaeghe, an author from techvibes, about school in the digital era. We were basically discussing issues on how it is becoming increasingly difficult for schools, particularly business schools, to keep up to the fast-pace world of technology and innovation. This was becoming a major concern for business schools because of how reliant business programs are on technology and innovation. I told him that a great solution for students to keep up with the latest advances in technology is to attend technology conferences. We specifically discussed the Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference, as I was a part of organizing/marketing the conference.
Although there is one mistake in the article, where he mentions I am pursuing multiple degrees. I told him that I attend both University of Guelph and Wilfrid Laurier University but for forgot to mention it was because of CA Course Requirement reasons.
The article appeared on the front page of techvibes for a while and got a decent amount of exposure. Overall I thought the article was well written and brings up a very valid point.
Director of Technology
I have obtained the position of Director of Technology with the Accounting Society of Guelph for the academic year 2011-2012. My role will require me to manage, edit and update the organizations website and promote events/updates through various social media platforms. I will also be expected to hold office hours, attend weekly meetings and collaborate ideas.
BUS*2230 review session generated positive feedback!
A couple days ago a colleague, Ahmed Rizk, and I hosted a review session to help students prepare for the Managerial Accounting (BUS*2230) final exam. We had students register beforehand to ensure that everyone got a seat, and all 400 seats were filled in! There were jokes and a little bit of entertainment in between review questions to keep the students engaged and to lighten up the mood a little bit. I found that doing this was very effective because I felt like I had the students undivided attention the entire time. The students were very proactive and asked really good questions.
Afterwards we had the students fill out a feedback form before downloading the answers to the review questions so Ahmed and I could analyze and improve based on the feedback.
We generated positive feedback from not only the students (see below), but the Managerial Professor as well.
Click here to view the Review Session feedback from students (unedited)
Event awarded 2nd place at College Royal!
Over the past weekend the event that I helped organize placed 2nd at College Royal 2011. The theme for College Royal this year was “Walk on the Royal Side”, and I incorporated that into our business game that we hosted for visitors. There were many rewards and prizes for the visitors who succeed in the business game. I also ensured that there were brochures, school supplies, mints and other various items that promoted not only the 3 accounting designations (CA, CMA, CGA) but the Accounting program at the University of Guelph as well. The event was a great success which looked really good on the ASG, as we are a fairly new organization. This was our first year officially participating in College Royal, impressing the judges and earning 2nd place.