OCNews

Before the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt on major events and gatherings in the province, Okanagan College’s School of Business students enjoyed a winning-weekend as home and host team at the Western Canadian Business Competition (WCBC) in Kelowna earlier this month.

Attracting eleven teams from seven different institutions across the province, it was OC students Kitty Le, Nelson Denby, Sloane Mazza, Josee Edgecombe alongside coach Dan Allen, who captured first place in the Senior Division of the Top Strategic Plan category. Students Chandler Barron and Mazza also placed first in the junior and senior Top Individual categories respectively, while the College’s senior team also tied for Top Team Spirit.

WCBC is a comprehensive undergraduate business competition that sees students contribute their knowledge and skills towards a simulated business scenario. The scenario is stretched out over a hypothetical multi-year timeline, and students are assigned sectors of the industry to look after: Finance, Operations, Marketing, Human Resources, with one student assigned as the Chief Executive Operator.

Mazza says of the competition, “WCBC taught us a lot over the last two weeks leading up to it and the 48 hours of work during. Our experience was a roller coaster of emotions with perseverance, hardships, success and great memories.”

Judging took place on the merit of each team’s overall strategic plan, their scores based on running their plan through real life scenarios, which ran over the course of the entire weekend, as well as their ability to convey results to the judges in a presentation.

Teams worked to strike a balance between their efforts in the strategic plan and working through the actual simulation, something Mazza notes was a challenging point of the weekend.

“We started off feeling good about our strategic plan but ended up at the bottom in the simulation. Despite it all, we made some great friendships with the junior team and other schools around B.C. Best strategic plan, placing third individually, winning team spirit and having one of our teammates win the top individual award really showcased the hard work we put into this competition. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Okanagan College School of Business professor Stacey Fenwick adds that, “it was a pleasure to host each of the 11 teams and students worked hard and were rewarded with ‘real world’ advice and mentoring from our community leaders who serve as judges for this event. I am so grateful for our community leaders, student volunteers and staff that make this competition so successful each year.”

Over the course of the weekend, 19 awards were given away, over the categories of Top Strategic Plan, Top Simulation Score, Top Individuals, Top Teams and Team Spirit. In addition to capturing the Strategic Plan and Individual Awards, the Okanagan College School of Business senior team tied for the Top Team Spirit, alongside the College of New Caledonia junior Team.

The competition would not be possible without the support of Interior Savings Credit Union and McDonalds, both sponsors for the event. For more information on the Western Canada Business Competition, go here.