Time waits for nobody!
Markovskaya E.I., PhD (Economics), Associate Professor of the Department of Finance:
The purpose of the business game this year was to present the investment projects prepared by teams of students to potential investors. Teams of students, as well as invited business experts, served as potential investors. This year, we did not limit the students. They could present their own projects (start-ups and their already implemented projects), develop a project idea based on an already operating company. Also, students were not limited in choosing the type of project - they could present a socially oriented project or a commercial investment project.
The projects were presented in the format of a pitch session. Initially, students were given the task of presenting the project and basic information about it for the investor in the format of a 3-minute pitch. Of course, this proved to be a difficult task. The game showed us that it is very important to learn how to manage time. This is one of the most important competencies of any employee now, in an era of dynamic changes. After all, it is so important in business to give feedback to colleagues or clients on time, to provide partners with the necessary information on time to maintain their trust. Time is a very valuable resource that requires careful handling.
At the end of the game, we usually exchange feedback. Our business experts provide valuable guidance to students. Students evaluate each other's projects and share their impressions. Here's the feedback we exchanged this time:
Gelezetdinova Adelina, Zaplatina Aleksandra, Kalugina Anastasiya, Tereskina Tatyana, БЭК -175 (‘Golden Seeds’ – Investment company):
«Our team represented an investment company (Golden Seeds). It was very exciting to try yourself in this role due to the fact that you consider different investment ideas and evaluate their attractiveness, then choose at the end. It was very interesting to listen to Andrey Udalov, director of the Agat Investment Fund, because of his criticism of investment projects from a practical point of view. In general, the game was very well organized, a huge advantage is the invitation of practitioners to evaluate our work, a lot of useful information was received.»
Polina Gorshenina (БЭК 176), Svetlana Zueva (БЭК 177), Kseniya Kosorotova (БЭК 177), project Way Ray:
“Presentation of investment projects in the format of a business game with the opportunity to get the expert opinion on work has turned out to be a rather effective way of working. Several questions were asked about our project. It was helpful to receive feedback and expert advice to improve the presentation."
Anna Brusnik, Tatyana Chernousova, Valeriya Ivanova, Evgeniya Malinskaya, Yana Sidikova ( БЭК 177), project Yandex-Mentor:
«The game was a really interesting experience for us, as we had an opportunity to train our pitching skills and receive feedback from the experts. The feedback was very useful and the questions asked by experts highlited the weak parts of the projects and points to grow. Also, we want to thank one of the experts, Anastasiya Moskvina, for her advices on accelerators that we could participate in with a real startup.»
Voronova Olga, Head of Marketing, «Lengiprotrans» JSC, http://lgt.ru/:
Each year, the games are completely different as well as the projects that the participants present. It's nice to see real startup ideas that students come up with and even implement. In business, as well as in life, there is nothing better than the desire to create something real and your own. But the projects that are chosen for benchmarking are also surprisingly interesting - this is a different approach to future activities in the business world, and it is also promising.
Udalov Andrei, director of investment foundation «AGATE», https://spb.agatefund.ru/:
“The students have chosen interesting and useful areas for investment – environmental protection projects and plastic recycling. The presentations were prepared at a good level, sometimes excessive in terms of complexity of perception and volume of information. Less text is the main tip. Traditionally, I draw the attention of students - at the investment session on projects there should be a clear appeal to the investor, what he will receive in the end and how the project may interest him. It is very important that the figures for the project in the presentation logically complement each other and be from the same reality in terms of the scale of the project. There should be a correlation between the final calculations in the presentation. I liked the performance of the role of an investment company by the student Adelina (group 175) – serious and competent questions to the projects. In general, all the teams were great, they actively defended their project and their vision of the problem and its solution."
Meriam Cherif, Senior Client Success Manager, Tools for Brokers, https://t4b.com/ru/:
«The Business game has been well prepared and organized, it was an opportunity for the students to apply what they learned with real cases and peer review each other .The format of such tasks is interesting for students and allow them to do further research beyond what they already acquired and learned before.»
Vladimir Vuicheisky, Head of Technical Support Department, Tools for Brokers, https://t4b.com/ru/:
«From my point of view, the business game that I joined as a guest is primarily a great opportunity for students to imagine the real business workflow and maybe to train their ideas before they start implementing them. I think it is a good example of the project work that every student should do during their education, but the way it is realized by the professor, the way students involve each other in the game, inspire me the second year in a row!»
Carlos J. Rincon Hernandez, investment consultant:
«I enjoy observing student's attitude in this kind of activities. They showed they learned quite a lot in the course. My recommendations for the students:
· To pay careful attention to forecasts,
· Enthusiasm makes a difference when presenting your work,
· Presenting your offers upfront (at the beginning of the presentation) is always better».
Dmitry Radushinsky, PhD (Economics), business consultant Intellect Challenge Ltd:
«The practice of business games aimed at obtaining the skill of pitching investment projects is advanced and has great prospects. An important element of it is the attention of speakers, experts and the organizer to various aspects of project work - financial, technological-production, marketing, the possession of which can increase the level of skills of those who defend the project.»
Moskvina Anastasiya, PhD (Sociology), researcher of the Center of Social Entrepreneurship and Social Innovations, Higher School of Economics, expert of the Center of Non-for profit organizations Development recommended students of the team Yandex-Mentor to participate in the social accelerator . She expressed her emotions in the following way:
«Excellent students! Interesting projects!»