Business Administration Paper 2021 Sponsored by UBS

Background:
Established in 1986, the Business Administration Paper (BA Paper) is an international case competition held annually by the Hong Kong Federation of Business Students (HKFBS). This year, over 50 teams from all around the world virtually joined the competition.

To participate in the BA Paper Case Competition, teams were required to submit a 5-page proposal and a poster to explain the crux of their ideas. Shortlisted teams had to submit a 10-page written proposal and a 10-minutes presentation. Finalist teams were selected to attend pitching workshops and mentoring sessions with industry professionals. In the finals, teams had to construct a 15-page written proposal and a 12-minutes presentation with 5-minutes of Q&A from renowned judges.

Teams with outstanding performances were awarded cash prizes, exclusive collaboration opportunities, and trophies.

Website / Image URL:
https://bapaper.com

Award(s):
1st Runner up

Awardee(s):

Miss Lai Hiu Chi Emily, BBA(IBGM), Year 1
(3 other team members were students from other Faculties, HKU)

Students Sharing:
“When we named our team as Cadence in a dimly-lit room at midnight, little did we know that it would be announced in front of a hundred participants in one of the biggest case competitions in Hong Kong.

In retrospect, this has been an unforgettable journey as I learnt a tremendous amount from my talented teammates and the case. It was indeed intellectually stimulating to learn blockchain from a computer science perspective and a law perspective. Our mentors from cybersecurity and financial technology also provided valuable insights into our initiative by pointing out problems like scalability and profitability for us to ponder upon. Their encouragement and strong belief in us also fuelled us to move forward despite obstacles.

I would have to thank our team as we wouldn’t have achieved this result without each other. We had a great team dynamic, and our diverse backgrounds and skill sets complemented each other. Our only common ground was music, as our meetings culminated in enthusiastic music-blasting sessions. When we stumbled across a Youtube video about the sufferings of musicians, we knew that we couldn’t turn a blind eye to this problem.

We are fortunate to experience the rise of ABCD technologies (AI, blockchain, cloud, data analytics) and the era of Web3. We are equipped with truly transformational tool kits to help solve social problems that we are passionate about. In fact, our solution was driven by “shared value”, which means planning for economic benefit and positively impacting social and environmental conditions. We aspire to create a profitable business while solving a thorny problem for our most favourite musicians.

In the competition, I learnt to not only create a profitable business model and financial projection, but also to conduct detailed market analysis to understand our competitive advantage. I also had hands-on experience in pitching a compelling business idea with enthusiasm and engagement to a panel of industry professionals. We were also challenged to think on the spot in response to critical questions pointed out by the judges.”

(by Lai Hiu Chi Emily)

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