Dubai – May, 22, 2014: After three months of planning, strategizing and forethought, the Desert Gurus team from Namshi, the Middle East’s leading online fashion destination, outwitted more than 60 teams to clinch the title: UAE Global Management Champion. Desert Gurus, the winners of the first edition of UAE Global Management Challenge, the world’s largest strategy and management competition, will now implement the practical business skills learnt in the competition at their company.
The challenge consisted of a management simulation in which teams of three to five people, comprising university students and young professionals, were given complete control of a virtual company with the objective of obtaining the highest investment performance for its shareholders. Competitors analysed financial and economic indicators, expanded their views on corporate strategy, interacted within functional areas of a company and gained an in-depth understanding of the market conditions in which their companies competed.
“This was a really unique training programme for us. It wasn’t an 8am – 5pm course – we had to dedicate our weekends and after hours in order to emerge successful,” said Taras Kozyk, team leader and strategic project manager at Namshi. “When going through this challenge, I’ve got a deeper understanding of the business as a whole and how decisions taken in one department affect work in other divisions of the company. My team members and I were taking decisions as senior level managers in marketing, operations, human resources and other areas of the business that we managed during the competition. As a result I am now able to discuss various matters with people within my company more effectively. The UAE Global Management Challenge enabled us to have this type of inter-departmental relationship.”
Kozyk and his team members, Sahil Dhingra and Sezen Sayoglu, studied the 70-page manual before taking on the challenge. The team decided that they would first understand the rules and theory before practically implementing it. The studying proved a success and the team members are using the theory to help in their jobs at Namshi.
“What made this competition completely different compared to others was that it was realistic. We were required to work in a competitive global market environment based on decisions of all participating teams. Our main focus was on thinking strategically and planning ahead and in order to win our company had to show the best investment performance at the end of last quarter of the competition. From a business and training point of view this was a truly fascinating experience,” continued Kozyk.
“This proves to us that the competition equipped all participants with the knowledge of running a company and the skills used to develop careers and enhance businesses here in the UAE. Congratulations to Namshi on being the UAE’s first Global Management Challenge champions”, stated Mian Muneer Uddin, managing partner of Beaufort Associates, the consulting and advisory services firm that brought the Global Management Challenge to the UAE.
The Desert Gurus will now represent the UAE in the international competition for the world title, to be held in Sochi, Russia in September this year.
bout Global Management Challenge
Global Management Challenge is the largest Strategy and Management Competition in the world with participation from more than 30 countries. In excess of 500,000 university students and company managers have participated in the competition over the past 30 years. The challenge comprises a program wherein teams of managers and university students manage a virtual company in competition with each other, with the objective of achieving the highest investment performance. The simulation offers a rare opportunity for students and professionals to manage a company, without running real-world risks while taking strategic and senior management decisions. Global Management Challenge normally consists of two to three national rounds; the winning team then competes with winners of several other countries in a Global Management Challenge for a world title that is played every year in a different city across the globe. Global Management Challenge UAE is operated by Beaufort Associates, a management consulting and advisory services firm, based in Dubai Internet City.
For more information visit: www.managementchallenge.ae
About Namshi
NAMSHI.COM is the Middle East’s leading online fashion destination. Featuring a vast portfolio of over 15,000 styles of apparel, accessories, and footwear for women, men and kids from over 500 international and local brands, NAMSHI provides an unparalleled shopping experience to its customers – with free and fast deliveries in the GCC, 24-hour delivery in the UAE, a 14-day exchange policy and the option of cash on delivery. For more information visit www.namshi.com