By: Valentina Viduka
Four Carleton commerce students placed fourth overall, against teams from around the world in the renowned Network of International Business Schools (NIBS) Worldwide Business Plan Competition.
Carleton’s Innovation Hub selected and coached commerce students Suvansh Chhabra, Quinn Cunnane, Nicole Gluzman, and Adam Nizar, who formed a team to compete with approximately 25 teams from the NIBS network. Teams were tasked with improving an existing product or service, or conceiving of a new service or product offering.
The Carleton team pitched a concept called Faraway, an e-commerce business that would allow consumers to purchase traditional handmade goods from around the world with the goal of empowering remote communities and supporting local artisans.
“Our team came from different backgrounds and we realized that there was a bit of a gap between us, Canada, and the connection to our roots,” said Gluzman. “We thought it would be a unique way to empower remote communities while also being able to serve customers globally and give them an opportunity to connect to their roots or learn about different cultures.”
The competition challenged students to think analytically and creatively to create a business plan and concept video pitch aimed at persuading potential investors to finance their prospective business.
“We went into NIBS with a simple mindset of performing, but also having a good time and having fun with it,” said Nizar. “We took the competition as a learning opportunity, treating it like a real-world scenario where we wanted to create a business that was new and unique. We were very happy with the scoring and glad the judges recognized the social value behind our service.”
The Sprott team was selected as one of the top four to advance to the final round. Finalists answered an additional series of questions from the judges and were then ranked. The winners were announced on May 10 during the NIBS Annual Conference in South Korea. UC Leuven-Limburg (Belgium, Team: eConnection) placed first, followed by LAB University of Applied Sciences (Finland, Team: Lascerna), and Technological University Dublin (Ireland, Team: Panga Surf).
Although Carleton has a longstanding history with the NIBS Case Competition, winning first place in 2014, 2016, and 2017, as well as hosting the competition in 2015, this is the first time the university has reached the finals in the Business Plan Competition.
“I’m proud to have supported such an incredible team of students,” said John Nelson, Director of the Innovation Hub. “They fine-tuned their individual skills and made the project work as a team. Placing fourth in an international competition is an amazing accomplishment and this is just the beginning.”
Watch Faraway’s pitch video