Ivey FinTech Club and Western Founder’s Network partnered this year to host the IBM Case Competition, featuring a local start-up from London Ontario called Loan Connect. Loan Connect aims to be Canada’s premier online loan search and approval institution. They’ve partnered with various lenders across Canada and use proprietary algorithms to allow borrowers seeking a loan to search an array of pre-approved loans offered from various lenders. The company had been experiencing growth issues and wondered how IBM Watson’s Application Program Interfaces (APIs) could help them learn more about the customers that used their service. This would allow Loan Connect to provide a more tailored experience for their customer, and develop products around their customers’ needs.
On Saturday March 25th, 216 students representing Western, Ivey, Ryerson, U of T, Waterloo and Laurier competed in a case competition at Ivey Business School. In the end, 3 teams took home cash prizes from IBM of $500, $200, and $100 for first, second, and third places, respectively. Our winning teams developed clear recommendations for Loan Connect outlining which APIs were the most relevant to their business, while considering trust, data storage methods, and security of customer data. The viability of the ideas presented were also strongly considered.
First Place Team (shown above): Amy Li, Katie Chen, Jenny Zhang, Shivam Dubey
Second Place Team: Curtis Yu, Kanwar Singh, Colin Yip, Tina Tran
Third Place Team: Krishnan Nair, Matthew Bell, Michael Hoskins, Connor Mahony
Some of the judges at this year's competition, from left to right: Chris Healy, COO, Loan Connect; Michael King, Co-Director, Scotiabank Digital Banking Lab at Ivey; Adam Rice, CEO, Loan Connect; Eric Bujold, President, Ivey FinTech Club
Overall, the event provided Loan Connect with valuable ideas on how to take their business to the next level. Adam Rice, CEO, and Chris Healy, COO, are armed with an array of solutions to their various needs. What will they do now?
For more information about Loan Connect, visit their company website here.