Last week, I got an opportunity to participate in a Client Challenge competition organized by Strathclyde Business School as a team. We participated as a team of five, calling ourselves Fantastic 5!!
The client was Headstrong – A wee company based in
Glasgow working in therapeutic counselling for young people.
The
challenge presented to us by the founder Mr. Brian Costello is given,
How do we build a business that
delivers the great work helping young people (and parents and staff) in a way
that isn’t a constant anxiety that each June everything will disappear. Is this
about clever marketing and making us a ‘voice’ in the sector? Is this simply
the nature of the beats and something we have to accept? Or are we missing key
opportunities to sign longer contracts, to access better funding sources, and
to build some security into the future of this part of the business.
After two days of brainstorming, debates
and discussions we presented a new product for the company analysing their strengths
and taking into account their resource restrictions. Even though, we could not
win the challenge, it was a great experience for us. It gave us an opportunity
to apply our learnings from MBA in a actual scenario. Our idea of new product
was well appreciated by the judges, the application of Multi Criteria Decision
Making to optimise the resource allocation in the current business was
applauded by the founder.
While
we did not win the challenge, the journey was a testament to the power of
collaborative innovation and strategic thinking. It underscored the importance
of applying academic insights to solve real-world problems, and we are grateful
for the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to Headstrong’s mission. This
experience has certainly equipped us with deeper insights and enhanced our
readiness for future professional endeavors.
