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AUT Wins National Title for Third Time
AUT Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) will represent New Zealand in Singapore
this October after scooping the 2008 SIFE New Zealand National Competition
championship title.
This is the third recent national win for SIFE AUT.
In 2005 they took home the top trophy and were placed 20th in the world. In 2006
they came second in the national competition, and last year they again
represented New Zealand and came in the top 16 global teams at the SIFE World
Cup in New York – out of around 1800 teams worldwide.
SIFE is a
not-for-profit global community of self-managed voluntary tertiary students. The
groups create and implement ethical business enterprise projects to improve the
success and well being of their communities.
SIFE AUT’s projects have
included Pro-Activ – a speed-interviewing employment event to enhance the
employability of graduating students; Networx – an education project aimed to
teach business skills to underachieving high school students and presenting them
with recycled computers; and WorkNZ – an educational project aimed to motivate
women who have been out of the workforce to get back into employment. Its
business development arm, Consulting Project Team has also helped businesses to
design and implement business plans.
SIFE AUT comprises around 60 AUT
students from across the university but mainly those studying for a Bachelor of
Business Degree. The group’s Vice President Michael Teoh says it’s an honour to
represent New Zealand at the SIFE World Cup.
“This is a great opportunity
for us as Kiwi business students from AUT to network with the world's best
business leaders and other students from across the world,” he says.
“More importantly, it’s a chance for us to showcase what our team of
students has done in New Zealand to make positive changes in our own
communities.”
He adds that making a difference is the driving force for
SIFE AUT volunteers.
The national competition was held at KPMG in
Auckland last weekend. Judges included business executives from KPMG, Gallagher
Group, HSBC, Fletcher Building, Watties, BIC, Harcourts Group Limited, Finsia,
Sealed Air, Conceive, the EMA and NZTE.
Judges commented that SIFE AUT
had sleek presentation, measurable business project outcomes and had made a
significant impact to their communities.
SIFE AUT was also informally
named the crowd's 'Most likely and favourite' to win the New Zealand
Championship based on the overwhelming response the AUT team received from the
audience following its presentation.
The SIFE AUT winning team, now named
‘Team New Zealand’, includes Dawn Badham, Ken Choong, Clare George, Saengtip
Kirk, Ekaterina Melnikova, Michael Teoh, Dianna Woollard and Stephanie Yost,
with SIFE AUT mentors, AUT academics Mark Le Fevre and Helene
Wilkinson
Team New Zealand will head to Singapore this October to pit
their skills against 45 other national tertiary teams.
“And this time,”
says Teoh, “we’re going to bring home the World Cup.”
Last updated: 17 May 2009 4:41pm