Teams of students from Humber Polytechnic as well post-secondary institutions from the United Kingdom, Slovenia and Germany showcased their talents in an international collaborative challenge as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week.
In previous years, Humber hosted virtual events that invited students to hear entrepreneurs share their stories and experiences as part of the week. This year, it was expanded to include a virtual hackathon where students tackled real-world business challenges. The theme of this year's hackathon was internationalization.
Susan Kates, a coordinator and professor with the Business Management - Entrepreneurial Enterprise program, said the hackathon had the Humber team along with teams from the University of Salford in the United Kingdom, GEA College in Slovenia and CBS International Business School in Germany evaluating the viability of bringing German company Nieno's rosé wine to their respective countries.
Humber's team consisted of Business Management - Entrepreneurial Enterprise students Christine Faith Velarde, Hsin-Rong Lee, David Kwewum, Lisa Migory and Thi Xuan Thao Nguyen.
"The hackathon was a golden opportunity to challenge myself while learning about the global business world," said Nguyen. "I learned a lot from it while getting hands-on experience and an opportunity to work with industry experts while developing important skills."
"It was a great experience getting to network with the other schools, students and classmates while learning about the process of internationalizing a product," added Migory. "We can take what we learned through this and apply it to our future careers."
The team approached a wine expert for their insights, which Kwewum said proved to be spot on and very helpful. Kwewum said, while it sounds like common sense, the group saw firsthand the importance of consulting with specialists in a field before going into any business venture.
Kwewum added the group developed important skills including teamwork and presentation while Nguyen said her time management was enhanced through the project. Migory added that being fluid and adaptable when issues arise and coming to compromises is a big part of group work, which was reinforced through the hackathon.
The hackathon, which was part of a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project, was hosted virtually. Expert guest panelists Rohit Jaitly, Paul and Roozbeh Babolian Hendijani provided feedback as students presented their internationalization strategies.
Kates said the students considered a variety of factors when evaluating the product's viability in their markets. Are there existing regulations, what's the target market for the product and is their room for growth in the rosé market, among others.
Kates said the project was valuable for the students as they developed skills such as critical thinking, time management, communication and others. Kates added that it also helps the students' employability as they can show prospective employers that they were able to successfully undertake and complete a market assessment for a real-world product.
"It can really help set them apart," said Kates.
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