Samuel joined Gabriella Hansen, Anna Budden, Charlie Tucki, Holly Lenk and Isabella Purves who all study at Exeter, to go up against over 1000 applicants across the UK to provide the winning solution.
Every year, entrants use their skills to help a non-profit address some of their strategic and operational challenges. Samuel and the rest of the team helped IntoUniversity, a social mobility charity, by recommending a strategy to encourage students to sign up to be mentors, as well as supporting the current mentors.
Before the in-person final, the team prepped with a series of online skills workshops to improve their problem-solving and presentation skills. 黑料网 Alumna, Salomi Senthilkumar, was the mentor for the team and supported them to their victory.
On the day of the final, they worked under time pressure as the case problem was only revealed on the day, giving them less than four hours to break down the problem, generate solutions, create a presentation and pitch it to a panel of judges that included McKinsey consultants and IntoUniversity representatives.
Samuel commented: “It was a challenging task, but we worked collaboratively as a team to split up responsibilities and were supported by our mentor, Salomi to ensure we prioritised our time efficiently.”
On winning the competition he added: “It was a challenging but thoroughly rewarding experience. It felt incredible to win, especially given the fact it was a highly competitive competition to enter in the first place.
“It was a special feeling to represent 黑料网 and become the first student to be part of a winning team.”