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Western students win case competition for tackling non-profit's strategy

Apr 5, 2023

L-r: Ella Chiang, Andrew Sun, Carolyn Zhu, Mankaran Pahwa.

L-r: Ella Chiang, Andrew Sun, Carolyn Zhu, Mankaran Pahwa.

A team of four first-year Western students won the 2023 Business Foundations Case Competition for their ideas on how a local non-profit organization might move forward when faced with two potential projects. The team – including Ella Chiang, Andrew Sun, Mankaran Pahwa, and Carolyn Zhu – was among three finalists chosen from 72 groups that presented to a panel of judges at the competition at Ivey on April 3.

Two other teams shared honours as runners-up. One team included Danielle Cooke, Hanisha Dhoofar, Hillary Jacobs, Ellie Martin, Kylie McLennan, and Selena Zhang. The other included Aaron Austin, Kendra Harrington, Krish Kodali, Sarah Picciola, Jonah West, and Taio Yacht.

The teams tackled a case on Youth Opportunities Unlimited and whether the social services organization should consider opening a new youth shelter or focus solely on its largest capital project to date.

The competition’s judges included Chad Callander, Executive Director of Meals on Wheels; Mano Majumdar, MBA ’16, Senior Consultant at Deloitte LLP; and Darren Meister, Associate Dean of Faculty Development at Ivey.

More about the competition

The Business Foundations Case Competition originated in 1978 and was created by Ivey faculty. Hosted by Ivey's Business Foundations department, the competition is open to first-year Western students enrolled in Business Foundations courses and is completely voluntary. Those interested form their own groups of four to six students to participate.