On stage in front of a live audience and a panel of five judges, 16 of SA's youngest business celebrities battled it out in an idols-type event at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in Sandton recently, to be South Africa's representatives at the global final in Mumbai, India in August.
The winning team, calling themselves Halt Financial Services - Thubelihle Mbete, Lisa-Marie Landman, Annetjie van Rooyen and Hanrè Erasmus - beat three teams from the University of Johannesburg (UJ).
All four team members are currently studying BCom Financial Sciences and intend to complete their honours in taxation or financial management.
Said Zahra Cassim, head of CIMA South Africa: "South Africa had a bumper year of entries this year with 196 teams registering, from 21 campuses in South Africa, of which 191 met all the criteria for consideration. This is almost double the number of teams that registered in 2013. In addition, we had 83 reports submitted up from 40 last year, so more than double the number of teams successfully completed stage one of the competition.
"For the first time we have received entries from Durban University of Technology, University of the Western Cape and, most pleasingly, from the University of Venda and the University of Zululand, showing that awareness of CIMA is spreading to more campuses across the country."
During the event, the final four teams each presented their business case on this year's case study, which revolved around a luxury boat manufacturer and answered questions from the panel of judges, which included Malcolm Furber, who is the current CIMA president; Dr Mabouba Diagne, MD of Barclays southern Africa; Cheryl James, CEO of FASSET; Brett Clark, CFO of Unilever; and Catherine Chettiar, senior manager of Toyota.
Said Cassim: "The competition sponsored by Barclays and organised by CIMA, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, started in China as a way to highlight young business talent and give undergraduates experience in developing business recommendations on a case study, and presenting their findings and recommendations to a panel of judges and in front of a live audience.
"We are confident that with the quality of our undergraduates, and based on our experience of the competition, that this team will perform equally well when it comes to the global final. If this is the quality of future business leaders in South Africa, I am encouraged that as a nation we have a bright future."
The global final takes place from 4 to 8 August in Mumbai. The South African team will go head to head with teams from 23 other nations.
Other teams taking part in the global final will come from: Australia, Bangladesh, China, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, the Middle East, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the UK, Vietnam and Zambia.
The other African teams, Ghana and Zambia, are in their third year of the competition with their finals scheduled for June.
