NBS girls beat 132 students to win the Singapore Business Case Competition x African Challenge 2023

The competition was intense and the calibre of competitors very high. Pitching their idea under the rubric of a fictional consultancy firm called TPG, Nanyang Business School (NBS) freshmen Rui Ying Lim, Megan Tan, and Cindrea D’Cruz beat 33 other teams of 132 student from 11 institutions all over Singapore.

They proposed three recommendations that tackled three critical issues faced by the agricultural sector in Nigeria. This included erratic weather patterns, insufficient supply of fish fingerlings in the aquaculture sector, and a lack of green pastures for cows. Their solutions could not only help Olam Agri differentiate themselves from their competitors but also help tackle food insecurity, climate vulnerability and farmer-herder conflict in Nigeria. Their work (and that of their competitors) was particularly impressive as their work was based purely on secondary research and had to be completed in less than two weeks.  “None has ever worked in the agriculture sector” observed Amit Jain, Director NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies. “But what they presented was practical and implementable. It was a real-world solution for a real-world problem.” 

For the first time in its 14 year long history, the Singapore Business Case Competition was centred on Africa. It was launched on 25^th February 2023 and ran for a period of two weeks. The challenge to the team this year was to solve agricultural challenges in Nigeria by leveraging climate-smart solutions. Participants had the opportunity to test their knowledge, analytical thinking, and communication skills by solving real-life business problems. 

Nine teams advanced to the semi-final round and the top three competed in the Grand Finale, which took place at Nanyang Technological University on 11 March. The event was sponsored by Olam Agri and the NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies. Rui Ying, Cindrea, and Megan won the gold medal, a cash prize equivalent of US$1100 (S$1500) and an all-expenses paid trip to Nigeria. “This journey has been an amazing and unforgettable one. Not only did it allow us to delve deeper into sustainability issues in the real world, but it also trained our confidence and public speaking skills,” said Rui Ying Lim. Marcus Lee Mun Seng, Ming Wei Sin, Ryan Ng Kai Kiat and Chin Joon Fai took the silver and US$900 (S$1200) in cash prize, while Yuyi Eng, Divij Singh Rathore and Marcus Ching Yong took the bronze and US$750 (S$1000).