Blog

Hi! I’m Jaiden, an upper-year student in the Sustainability and Financial Management Program (SFM). When I first applied to SFM in grade 12, I was super excited, but a bit nervous. It was a brand-new program, and although I knew I would love my classes, I wondered how potential employers might react to this new degree offering.

We are a team of Accounting and Financial Management students from the University of Waterloo who had the opportunity to participate in this exciting Eclipse Case Competition open for undergraduate students across Ontario. Our team, consisting of Mohammad, Robert, Bryce, and Nathan, had an incredible time at the competition, and we’re excited to share our experience with you.

Our team (from left to right: Anshul, Baldwyn, and Rebecca) recently had the opportunity to compete in the Young Tax Professionals (YTP) Case Competition on June 16, 2023. We had a great experience where we got to use the tax knowledge, research abilities and presentation skills that we have learned from our undergraduate and master’s programs.

The 10th edition of the School of Accounting and Finance’s (SAF) Investment Research Challenge (IRC) brought anticipation and excitement. As a team of students who enjoy pitch competitions, we knew we had to try our best during the competition if we were to win the top prize. After weeks of preparation and a day of competing, we were incredibly happy to hear that we won first place!

After competing in several case competitions together, our team decided that the SAF Strategy Competition was an amazing opportunity for us to apply our skills at home in Hagey Hall.

For this year’s competition, we were tasked with developing creative strategies to help Tesla stay ahead in the electric vehicle (EV) market. With such an ambitious ask, our team took advantage of the room for creative freedom and presented a three-pronged strategy to tackle this challenge: addressing current issues in Tesla’s customer journey, launching a new brand to compete with lower-cost EVs, and establishing a strategic partnership with a rideshare company to drive further product awareness.

As the corporate relations team for the International Study Course Trip to Vietnam, our mission is to establish strong connections with industry professionals across the globe. With its dynamic business landscape, Vietnam has emerged as a promising destination for collaborations and partnerships. Despite encountering several challenges, our team has honed valuable skills and tactics to ensure our success in reaching out and arranging meetings with industry experts in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

From challenge to experience:

Each year, the Global Case Competition at Harvard University attracts over 3,000 finance and business students from 100 universities across the world to present their financial valuation and strategy-backed recommendations to a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) case. 

With the Indonesia trip around the corner, the corporate relations team has been busy finalizing which companies we will be meeting with while we’re away! After weeks of hard work and perseverance, our team has successfully filled out our meeting schedule.

Our trip to Vietnam in August is fast approaching, and the meals and logistics team has been busy planning various components of the trip. As our schedule fills up with meetings, activities, and everything in-between, the trip is really starting to take shape. Although we are so excited, a considerable amount of thought, planning, and research must go into making sure everything runs smoothly.

Since our introduction blog, the marketing and culture team has been hard at work searching for adventurous activities that we can take part in while exploring Indonesia.  It’s no secret that the country has a wide variety of exciting activities that allow for us to both take part in the deep-rooted culture as well as experience the breathtaking views that Indonesian nature has to offer.