Indonesians students reach final in business competition

A team from the University of Indonesia’s School of Business has earned a spot in the grand final of a global business competition for students in Paris.

The team beat 15,000 teams from 22 universities around the world to reach the finals, scheduled for April 22.

University spokeswoman Devie Rachmawati said the achievement was a major boost for the institution as for the past two years the university team had failed to make it to the final stages. 

The team, named VOC, comprises of Ronald Munaiseche, Fakrul Fulvian and Fajar Indra.

“Now we have managed to make it back [to the finals],” she said.

The VOC team will compete with seven other teams from Peru, Israel, China, Finland, Spain, Germany and Canada in the final stages of the competition.

Sponsored by France-based cosmetics and skin care giant L’Oreal, the competition aims to measure business school students’ sense of creativity and readiness to face realistic market  competition.

The competition also acts as a gateway for students wishing to enter the company’s recruitment system.

Called the L’Oreal E-Strat Challenge 2009, the competition pitches student teams against four virtual companies selling cosmetic products over a two months period.

Many participants said one of the hardest tasks was convincing the board of experts from the company about their marketing strategies.

Last year, two teams from the Bandung Institute of Technology won four prizes in the same competition.

The teams, named Power Up and Malaikat (Angel), managed to defeat 177,000 students from around 2,000 universities in 128 countries.(The Jakarta Post)