VIU MBA Students Take First Place in First BC MBA Games

Students in Vancouver Island University’s (VIU) MBA Society took first place in the inaugural BC MBA Games in Nanaimo on the Oct. 16-18 weekend.

Students in VIU’s Masters of Business Administration (MBA) programs competed against MBA teams from Thompson Rivers University (second place winner), University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University and University of Victoria. More than 100 students came together to test their skills and team initiative in academic, team sport and spirit competitions.

“VIU had an amazing team, and overall we had great participation from everyone who took part from all five universities,” said Omar Karim, President of the VIU MBA Student Society and Chair of the Games.

VIU took first place in the team sport competition – involving spirited dodgeball and dragon boat ‘tug-o-war’ games – and also in the spirit competition, which involved raising funds for the Autism Society of BC and the Canucks Autism Network. VIU raised $10,000 for the two organizations.

VIU’s MBA students also hosted a public event titled “Embrace Autism” Oct. 17 which involved a panel discussion with families living with autism.

Teams competed in three “case” competitions. UBC came first in the strategy case competition, with TRU second. SFU came first in the social enterprise category, with UBC second. VIU came first in the “Pecha Kucha” (“chit-chat” in Japanese) competition, which engaged participants in the art of storytelling, making a presentation alongside a slide show of 20 images shown for 20 seconds each.  TRU came in second.

Karim said a key objective for the BC MBA Games was to promote the spirit of volunteerism and community fellowship. It also provided MBA students in BC an opportunity to practice their skills in preparation for the National MBA Games in January 2016.

MBA program director Brock Dykeman said students in the VIU MBA Society showed great initiative and dedication in organizing the first BC MBA Games, and were great hosts for the visiting MBA students.

“There was so much work that went into this by our MBA students and our faculty and staff, I was really impressed,” Dykeman said. “We’re very proud of our team.”

Winners of the competition were announced following an awards ceremony at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre on Sunday, Oct. 18.

Students in the VIU MBA Society are hoping to create a legacy of hosting the BC MBA Games in Nanaimo in future years, said Karim, adding he’s excited to lead students in VIU’s MBA program as they prepare for the National MBA Games hosted by York University in Toronto Jan. 2 to 4.

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More Information

For more information on the BC MBA Games, see www.bcmbagames.ca

 MEDIA CONTACT:

Shari Bishop Bowes, Communications Officer, Vancouver Island University

P:250.740.6443  C: 250.618.1535 E: Communications@viu.ca T: @viunews