From left to right: Samantha McIntosh, Russell Hume, Graeme McLean (senior tutor), Arta Tilgale, Jaszmina Szendrey (senior tutor), Sarah Jansen, Rebeca Jamieson, Sara Dabour, Thomas Forsyth, Ciara Flaherty, Darroch Campbell, Emily Campbell, Jonathon Wong, and Rachel Wilson
Front row: Louise Hunter, Maxmilian Tichy, Tiago Botelho (senior tutor), Simon Mrkva, and Lisa Baird
During the second semester the students in MDP1 were tasked with coming up with an idea for an app for smart devices and then preparing an initial business plan for it. The research process involved analysis of the market, competition, financial viability and involved risks. The project culminated in a competition sponsored by Barclays, a market leading multinational banking and financial services company. The top three teams, selected from 73 teams, presented to five senior Directors and VP's at the Barclays Aurora Building in Glasgow on May 28. All three teams handled difficult questions confidently under intense scrutiny from the five Barclays Judges, demonstrating their understanding of the importance of creativity and potential problems in developing a SmartApp in the 21st century. Congratulations to the students who participated in this final round (around 3% of all students in MDP1). All of the finalists received a Barclays branded certificate.
Andy Cunningham (Director, UK Head of Operational Risk, Barclays Wealth & Investment Management) said, "We are delighted to play our part developing talent in our community, and our judging panel were blown away by the quality and confidence shown by first year students. Our intern and graduate programmes aim to secure high calibre students and those we had the pleasure of meeting would make welcome additions to this programme should they select Barclays as their employer of choice."
Viktor Dörfler, former Director of MDP, said, "Our students benefit greatly from the opportunity of performing in front of senior managers from employers, which is why we maintain close working relationships with selected companies, such as Barclays. This year our first year students ventured in to the area of tomorrow's technology, and they were able to come up with not only innovative business ideas but also with novel ways of pitching these ideas, and make their stand in face of difficult questions. They make us proud."
The first prize was awarded to team 9C for their business plan/pitch for their SmartApp idea 'Find Your Night'. The winning team consisted of Darroch Campbell, Emily Campbell, Sara Dabour, Ciara Flaherty, Thomas Forsyth, Wan Muhammad Shafiq Bin Wan Abdul Rahim, Rachel Wilson and Jonathon Wong (senior tutor Jaszmina Szendrey). They won the judges over with their well-executed market research and innovative animated video pitch.
The two teams sharing the second place were: team 4D (Ioana Negret, Martina Maglicic, Sarah Jansen, Rebeca Melgar Jamieson and Pavel Hristov - senior tutor Tiago Botelho) for their app idea 'Traveler', and team 7D (Lisa Baird, Russell Hume, Louise Hunter, Samantha McIntosh, Simon Mrkva, Maxmilian Tichy and Arta Tilgale - senior tutor Graeme McLean) for their app idea 'Worldie'.