Oxford Saïd Team Wins IESE Business School Impact Investing Competition

What happens to MBA students thrown into a situation of having to wrap up a business deal all within 12 hours? A five-member team from Saïd Business School of the University of Oxford took up the challenge and went on to win the IESE Business School Impact Investing Competition.

This was the third consecutive victory for the School, SBS said in a press statement. Allison Gates, Jayanth Kashyap, Maegan Moore, Juan Pedro Fernández Cueto and Daniel Stokley won the €1000 prize after competing against ten business schools from across the world. The event was held at IESE’s campus in Barcelona.

The competition, which saw the teams named after renowned painters to mask their identities from each other, required the participants to listen to real entrepreneurs pitch their businesses before conducting due diligence and negotiating an investment offer, all within 12 hours.

“Some of the pitches were very slick, and made the companies look fantastic. But when you actually got down to the detail, some were not all they seemed, so it really came down to scratching below the surface,” Allison said.

However, a careful eye for detail and the ability to ask the right questions paid dividends. The lessons we have learned at Oxford Saïd were immediately applicable to the competition and helped give us an edge,” Jayanth said.

“Particularly the elective in entrepreneurial finance, which we had only just been studying,” he added.

“Some of the pitches were very slick, and made the companies look fantastic. But when you actually got down to the detail, some were not all they seemed, so it really came down to scratching below the surface,” Allison said.

Allison talked about the good team dynamics. “None of us were too opinionated or pushing too hard either way. We were all comfortable debating and reaching quick decisions, as well as dividing up the work and trusting each other. It all happens so quickly, you can’t get bogged down in arguments, you have to move fast,’’ she pointed out.

Asked about how it felt to win the competition, Jayanth replied that it was “tough to maintain decorum. We felt so relieved. But it’s a competition right? You’re entitled to celebrate a bit. It felt like we really accomplished something, especially as we have maintained Oxford Saïd’s winning streak.”

‘I hadn’t been that enthusiastic about competitions, but actually I was really glad I did this,’ said Allison.

“You learn all these things about due diligence and term sheets in the MBA, but when you actually do it from start to finish in one day it really brings it altogether and makes it real. It’s like a crash course in how it all fits together,” she added.

“I felt like I learned so much in 12 hours’ said Juan. ‘It was an intense experience but fantastic to win, and being in Barcelona to celebrate was the cherry on top,” Allison said.(Image Source:Google.com)