CEMSie wins the 2015 Solvay Business Game

CEMSies across the globe are gaining recognition for their high performance and we’re reaching out to these high flyers to discover the secrets to their success. The Solvay Business Game is the biggest Business Game in Europe. Organized by students of the Solvay Brussels School, it’s a 2-day competition, gathering 400 participants from 25 different nationalities and 52 universities.
Solvay Business Game Picture

During the competition, we faced six challenges in teams ranging from establishing a new marketing strategy for Unilever’s brand Lipton to helping McKinsey tackle the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Solving those challenges requires an adequate combination of hard and soft skills, coupled with the ability to work under pressure with multicultural teams.

The added value of my CEMS experience taught me how to negotiate and communicate as a part of a team in a multicultural environment, all skills that proved useful for this competition.

In the end, we managed to win two cases in addition to the final McKinsey Eloquence Challenge opposing the four best teams of the competition. The SBG is definitely an incredible experience. You get challenged in a very competitive environment, meet a lot of great people, and mostly learn how to tackle the tough challenges that await us in our future careers.

My partner, Marine Van Halle and I left Brussels extremely happy and proud, with the hands full of gifts and the head full of memories. The Solvay Business Game team is building a network of topline business games in Europe, so watch out for HGB at HEC and BGSG at St.Gallen. I encourage all fellow CEMSies to participate in such competitions as it is a great way to challenge and prove yourself, get the attention of major companies and increase the visibility of the CEMS programme.

 

Jérémy Denisty

CEMS-MIM ‘15

Louvain School of Management