#TeamMDX strikes gold in international entrepreneurship competition
#TeamMDX strikes gold in international entrepreneurship competition
26/04/2019
A "dream team" of four MDX MSc students won team gold, and individual gold medals at the second International Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, sponsored by SimVenture, on Wednesday 3rd April.
The Middlesex team were 29 year old Jordan Andrews (captain), Carolina Pizzo, also 29, Cristian Dina, 30, and Hamdan Javed, 21, all studying for the MSc in International Innovation and Entrepreneurship. They triumphed over rivals including LSE and Lancaster University after multiple early setbacks: a loan refusal and a debilitating recession in the game's virtual world, and a computer freeze in the real one forcing them to restart.
Maximising efficiency of their virtual employees, with attention to details such as ensuring only allocated salespeople attend to customers, helped them beat the other UK universities taking part, Jordan believes.
The team gave themselves specific roles matching their strengths, with Jordan and Hamdan focusing on playing the simulation, and Carolina on the virtual company's marketing and comms function and on delivering the presentation to the judges.
Jordan, a former personal trainer studying part-time alongside his job as Deputy Operations Manager of Middlesex's Fitness Pod, is considering becoming a consultant, or starting a business that helps people improve their soft skills.
The students would be keen to take part in more entrepreneurship competitions if the opportunity arises. Cristian has previously won gold in a Royal Horticultural Society business competition at Hampton Court Flower Show. He praised his Middlesex tutors, Senior Lecturer in Eco-Entrepreneurship Dr Chris Moon and Senior Lecturer in Management Dr Simon Best for their "very welcoming and helpful" approach to their subjects.
Peter Harrington, CEO of SimVenture said: "To win Gold at the 2019 International SimVenture Competition Finals is a huge achievement and the whole Middlesex University team, including their lecturer Dr Chris Moon, deserve huge praise. Middlesex were the outstanding British team and were clearly very well prepared for the event".
Chris Moon said the MDX students were a "dream team" and had performed better than any previous UK university side in the competition.
He picked the four for the skills they had demonstrated using SimVenture software as part of the Venture Development module he teaches. "If we just rely on giving students a lecture, they will be passive students. With interactive software, they will learn from their mistakes," he said.
#TeamMDX strikes gold in international entrepreneurship competition
A "dream team" of four MDX MSc students won team gold, and individual gold medals at the second International Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, sponsored by SimVenture, on Wednesday 3rd April.
The Middlesex team were 29 year old Jordan Andrews (captain), Carolina Pizzo, also 29, Cristian Dina, 30, and Hamdan Javed, 21, all studying for the MSc in International Innovation and Entrepreneurship. They triumphed over rivals including LSE and Lancaster University after multiple early setbacks: a loan refusal and a debilitating recession in the game's virtual world, and a computer freeze in the real one forcing them to restart.
Maximising efficiency of their virtual employees, with attention to details such as ensuring only allocated salespeople attend to customers, helped them beat the other UK universities taking part, Jordan believes.
The team gave themselves specific roles matching their strengths, with Jordan and Hamdan focusing on playing the simulation, and Carolina on the virtual company's marketing and comms function and on delivering the presentation to the judges.
Jordan, a former personal trainer studying part-time alongside his job as Deputy Operations Manager of Middlesex's Fitness Pod, is considering becoming a consultant, or starting a business that helps people improve their soft skills.
The students would be keen to take part in more entrepreneurship competitions if the opportunity arises. Cristian has previously won gold in a Royal Horticultural Society business competition at Hampton Court Flower Show. He praised his Middlesex tutors, Senior Lecturer in Eco-Entrepreneurship Dr Chris Moon and Senior Lecturer in Management Dr Simon Best for their "very welcoming and helpful" approach to their subjects.
Peter Harrington, CEO of SimVenture said: "To win Gold at the 2019 International SimVenture Competition Finals is a huge achievement and the whole Middlesex University team, including their lecturer Dr Chris Moon, deserve huge praise. Middlesex were the outstanding British team and were clearly very well prepared for the event".
Chris Moon said the MDX students were a "dream team" and had performed better than any previous UK university side in the competition.
He picked the four for the skills they had demonstrated using SimVenture software as part of the Venture Development module he teaches. "If we just rely on giving students a lecture, they will be passive students. With interactive software, they will learn from their mistakes," he said.