Students from the University of Winnipeg’s (U of W) Faculty of Business and Economics  received numerous awards at a recent business competition. The university’s team attended JDC West, Western Canada’s largest business competition, and were awarded first place in debating, third place in operations management and overall participation, as well as the executive of the year award.

The JDC West business competition is a “three-day event that showcases academics, athletics, debate and an out-of the-box social competition,” according to their website. Forty-six U of W students traveled to the University of Regina in January to compete against students from business schools across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

“It is a good opportunity for the university to showcase what our business school is all about,” Jordy de Oliveira, the U of W team co-captain, says.

One benefit of the competition is that it allows students to use the knowledge and skills learned in the classroom.

“If you just go to your class and go home, chances are you’re not applying those skills anywhere else, because you might not have the opportunity,” de Oliveira says.

“Through programs like JDC, (students) can put those skills to action,” he says, specifically mentioning public speaking, critical thinking and teamwork.

Sophia Hershfield, the team’s other co-captain, points out that JDC is “such an incredibly unique competition.”

“One day of the competition, you’re wearing a suit in front of important businesspeople, and then the next day, you’re decked out in purple glitter cheering for your school,” she says.

The competition’s different categories are accounting, business strategy, entrepreneurship, finance, human resource management, international business, business technology, marketing, not-for-profit business strategy, operations management, debate, athletics and social.

“This competition is for people who want to go out of their comfort zone,” de Oliveira says.

David Teffaine, a second-year business student at the U of W, was a member of the entrepreneurship team.

“My experience was really unparalleled,” he says, adding that he has only positive things to say about the competition.

Teffaine encourages all interested students to get involved in this annual event.

“The No. 1 inherent quality you must have is a willingness to do public speaking,” he says.

Hershfield believes the main reason the U of W was so successful this year is the people involved.

“This year, we were lucky to have a really strong executive team, a lot of involvement from our faculty advisors, a lot of support from the dean and also just a really strong team of delegates” she says.

“Our two captains this year are really responsible for our success,” Teffaine says. They were, in fact, recognized by the competition as JDC West executives of the year.

U of W students interested in participating in future JDC West competitions can apply at uwinnipegjdcwest.com.

Published in Volume 74, Number 18 of The Uniter (February 13, 2020)