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UP Accounting Team Tops Global Challenge

By on August 13, 2011

They almost did not make the trip, but they still managed to bring home international fame.

Faced with passport and visa processing problems, four accounting students of the University of the Philippines-Visayas (UPV) College of Management in Iloilo left the country in the afternoon of July 22, just a few hours after they secured their documents.

UP Team Scion members with Prof. Arthur Barrido Jr. Photo Credit: Inquirer.net

They reached their hotel in China around 2 a.m. the next day. With little sleep, they competed in the 2011 Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (Cima) Global Business Challenge (GBC) held in Chengdu on July 23-24.

After two rounds, Jerard Megg Cordero, Marra Francillan Cordero, Dominique Dabad and Ordisi Osonio of the UPV’s Team Scions won, besting 16 other countries. Singapore was second and Australia, third.

Team Scions

On its third year, the GBC is an international competition among young business leaders on their skills in managing companies and responding to challenges. It is organized by the Cima, the world’s leading and largest professional body of management accountants, with 183,000 members and students in 168 countries.

Team Scions, which represented the Philippines, bested nearly 9,000 international applicants to emerge as global champions. It won over teams from host China, Malaysia, Bangladesh, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Russia, Vietnam, Indonesia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates.

“This is the fruit of hard work. We prepared for six months for the national and global finals,” said Prof. Arthur Barrido Jr., the team’s coach who was left behind due to the delay in the processing of travel documents.
Team members said they were unfazed despite coming in late and competing even if they didn’t have their coach with them and had only a few hours sleep.

“We just thought that the challenges were signs that we will eventually win the competition,” Osonio said.
The Cima said the Scions “provided innovative and feasible solutions that balanced attention to detail with the appreciation of broad strategic issues.”

Its presentation on a hypothetical business case was assessed by a panel of experts from international business organizations, including Barclays, Shell, L’Occitane en Provence, Tangs Department Store, TRW and Cima.

Andrew Harding, Cima managing director and head of the panel of judges, lauded the Filipino team.

Continue reading at Inquirer.net