Business in the Bay Competition seeks to enhance students’ employability

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Swansea University School of Management will hold its annual two-day Business in the Bay Competition for students from February 22-23, at the city’s Liberty Stadium.

The competition, to enhance students’ employability skills, is organised by the School’s Careers Team in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Swansea City AFC Community Trust.

Business in the Bay Competition 2Teams of five students from a range of universities, including Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff Metropolitan, Swansea, and Loughborough Universities, will compete to win the top prize of £1,000.

Each student team will be partnered with a mentor from industry and tasked with solving a business problem set by PwC. The main skills the students will be judged on include communication, teamwork, planning and organisation, problem solving, and professionalism.

This year’s competition brief will be revealed to the student teams on the morning of Wednesday, February 22, when they gather at the School of Management, at the University’s Bay Campus.

The teams will then travel to the Liberty Stadium, home to Swansea City FC and the Ospreys, where they will be given a tour of the stadium before beginning work on their projects, supported by one of this year’s team mentors who include Graham Smith, Premier League Enterprise Coordinator and Ben Davies, Enterprise Learning Coach, from Swansea City AFC Community Trust, and Swansea-based business consultant Tim Hawkes, formerly of Silverwing UK Ltd.

Business in the Bay Competition 1On Thursday, February 23, the team swill head back to the Liberty Stadium, where they will continue to work on their projects before pitching their findings and conclusions to a panel of judges from industry, including Sue Mortimer, Chris Richards, and Iain Morland from PwC; Hannah Eames, Head of Marketing and Julie Parienti, Marketing and Communications Co-ordinator, from Swansea City AFC Community Trust; and Dr Jafar Ojra, Lecturer in Accounting and Finance, from Swansea University’s School of Management.

‌Competition organiser Jess Loomba, Careers Officer in the School of Management at Swansea University, said: “Our Business in the Bay competition, which is now in its second year, provides an alternative method for university students to enhance their employability skills outside of academia.

“For some students who haven’t had the opportunity to complete a course module that includes practical elements, or who are lacking in work experience, the competition is a good opportunity for them to gain experience working in a team and to enhance their employability skills.”