A team of entrepreneurial undergraduates from Newcastle Business School (NBS) are competing against ten other universities in a national and final showdown of the most talented business brains in Britain.
Yomping the Nations is a national enterprise competition in which students from universities across the UK must demonstrate their creativity, strategic thinking, innovation and instinctive business nature in a 'Dragons Den' style situation.
The team from NBS won the regional heat last month, beating Durham University, Sunderland University and the University of Teesside.
During the final, the student teams will be given scenarios for new business ideas from which they must develop a business strategy including aspects such as finance, marketing and operations activities, culminating in a pitch to a panel of business experts, in front of rival students, and a demanding question and answer session.
The 6 strong team from Northumbria University; Katie Symes, Carolyn Limbert, Laura Oldfield, Oliver Wolfenden, Duc Tranhuv and Tuan Truong, are all in the final stages of business related courses.
Katie Symes is currently in the third year of the innovative Corporate Management degree at NBS. Entailing one year of study and two years' practical work-based learning, Katie will be one of the first graduates of the Corporate Management programme when she completes the course later this year.
Katie said:
"We were absolutely delighted to win the regional round where we faced very strong competition from other universities in the region. To compete in the UK final is a great achievement for us all and adds to the many fantastic experiences we have enjoyed whilst studying at Northumbria University. We'll be doing our very best to bring the title home to the North East."
Katie Symes, Corporate Management, NBS
Date Posted: 19.03.07