Ontario Tech teams earn medals, including a gold at major business competition

Ontario Tech students collected a pair of medals recently at a large and prestigious business case competition hosted by the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University in Kingston. The event is one of the oldest and largest of its kind in Canada.

Students from Ontario Tech’s Bachelor of Commerce program competed in three categories the Inter-Collegiate Business Competition (ICBC): Business Policy, Accounting, and Human Resources, earning a gold and bronze medal against strong national and international competition.

In Human Resources, Hannah Oegema and Colleen Linton put together the most complete solution to the case of any other school and won the gold medal, edging out the other medalists from Denmark’s Copenhagen Business School and Concordia University in Montreal. This represents Ontario Tech’s first-ever ICBC win.

The competition consisted of two rounds. Oegema and Linton worked tirelessly in the fall to build a well-presented case report on issues human resource (HR) departments may face as they transition employees to a new normal. After placing fourth in the preliminary rounds, they had just over five hours to prepare a detailed 15-minute presentation for a group of C-Suite HR executives on major workplace issues a company was facing.

The Accounting team of Malika Singla and Ariane Kisanga completed one of the most thorough analyses and won the first medal for Ontario Tech at the ICBC: a bronze, behind perennial powerhouses University of Calgary and Concordia.

In the Business Policy competition, the judges commented that Trish Peters, Ilsa Sajid and Victoria Hassell had the most innovative solution and a strong presentation. The team just missed out on the podium.

Quotes

“The ICBC competition challenged me to step out of my comfort zone, take risks, and use the knowledge and skills I have acquired as a student at Ontario Tech. It was one thing to make it past the preliminary stage against hundreds of international competitors, but winning it all as graduation nears has given me a newfound faith and confidence in myself that I never had before.”
-Colleen Linton, Ontario Tech ICBC gold medal recipient

“As someone who wants to own their own business one day, I understand the importance of having a great balance of technical abilities and soft skills. It was thrilling to represent Ontario Tech on the world stage. The ICBC competition taught me we can always learn something new, such as learning about a different aspect of business, or learning how to improve presentation skills. ICBC showed me that we are capable of much more than we realize.” 
-Hannah Oegema, Ontario Tech ICBC gold medal recipient

“Thank you to our FBIT faculty for guiding us through the whole journey and pairing me up with an amazing partner, Ariane Kisanga. I am grateful to the entire FBIT group for continuous support and motivation. Ontario Tech University gave me this amazing opportunity to grow and learn with other universities across the globe.”
-Malika Singla, Ontario Tech ICBC bronze medal recipient

”The teams of students representing Ontario Tech made us very proud as they put their knowledge and skills to the ultimate tests. This result exemplifies how under the support and guidance of hard-working faculty members, Ontario Tech University’s FBIT programs provide our talented students with the tools to compete and win against the best in the world.”
-William Thurber, Associate Teaching Professor, Faculty of Business and Information Technology

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