The Babson Collaborative Student Challenge 2018: 14 projects were presented by AlmaU students

On March 5 a local stage of The Babson Collaborative Student Challenge 2018 international competition was held at Almaty Management University which is annually held among the partner institutions of the Babson Collaborative.

The Babson Collaborative Student Challenge is a competition where students of any specialty united in one team represent business or social projects contributing to achieve the UN sustainable development goals.

The winner of the local stage was "Construction of ecological housing" project submitted by the team of third-year students of "Finances" specialty: Andrei Kolysha, Marina Frolova, Amirlan Suleimenov and Ksenia Godovanova. Mentor of the team is Serikbaeva Zhanna Dauletovna. This victory gives the team the opportunity to participate in the global stage of the competition and represent AlmaU, the main prize is a full scholarship to participate in two-week Babson Build entrepreneurial program in the USA in July 2018.

The results of the competition can be found at: https://goo.gl/4TtXbV

The competition was attended by 48 students representing all AlmaU schools, including Faculty of Basic Preparation, which presented 14 projects. Developed projects covered all 17 UN goals for sustainable development.

The students presented their projects of diverse profile and scope of activity: from providing opportunities for deaf and dumb students to building affordable housing.

All 14 teams were recommended by the jury to take part in KZ Pitching challenge, 8 teams (Building ecological housing, Understand me, Smart Angel, 4U, Big Data, Dias and Company, Cosmos) to take part in “STARTUP"BOLASHAK": MY DREAM” contest, 2 teams (Understand me, Be you) to start implementation of projects within Enactus AlmaU, and also  4U project to take part in MassChallenge competition.

AlmaU Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Development highly appreciates the work of the team mentors and expresses gratitude to: Rakhimbaeva Zhanar Saparovna, Tyutyunnikova Marina Vladimirovna and Serikbaeva Zhanna Dauletovna.

The jury spoke:

• Ksenia Yuzhaninova, Director of AlmaU Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Development  

• Aigerim Kaumenova, Director of International Development Department of AlmaU / Arad Davar, Director of Center for Innovative Educational Programs

• Vlastimil Samek, representative of United Nations Department of Public Information in Kazakhstan

The main task of the jury is to assess viability of the proposed business concept aimed at achieving one of the UN's goals in the field of sustainable development of the world. Although this is not a complete business plan, it can serve as the basis for a more comprehensive study and business plan.

Organizer of the local stage:

AlmaU Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Development (CEID). The aim of the Center is to develop an entrepreneurial and innovative ecosystem at the university and to create conditions for active involvement of students, teachers and employees in innovative process, creative thinking and entrepreneurial activity in the process of commercializing the results of research and ideas.