Autorenprofil
After wrapping up our first semester in Frankfurt School’s Full-Time MBA program, I had the great pleasure of joining a team of five energetic competitors to represent FS at the Financial Times MBA Quiz in London. I met my teammates, from the Finance and International Business masters programs, shortly before the trip. We fielded an impressively diversified team hailing from Australia (Thomas Nichols), Hong Kong (Samantha Wong), Germany (Marius Klee & Sandra Schöenhage), and the US (yours truly).
Our cruise director for our journey was none other than Emma “Roo” Camoni, who joined the FS staff in 2015. She’s clearly off to a great start, and gave us the VIP treatment efficiently ushering our team via the Heathrow Express to our accommodations to suit up for the evening competition. Somehow the ladies on our team managed to suit up in about half the time it took us guys, though we did have to tame a vicious rust spewing clothing iron which I think is a valid defense!
After arriving at the Financial Times headquarters per-competition, we were again feeling like VIPs with Emma’s video crew miking us up while she thoughtfully grabbed us all some nourishment from a nearby eatery. With other teams arriving, we chatted with our fellow competitors and the dedicated folks from the event’s benefiting charity – the International Rescue Committee UK.
With ten teams competing this year, we made our way to the venue and met our charming Financial Times table referee Maggie Ibiam. With the event coinciding with the last day of London’s Fashion week, we solicited Maggie’s thoughts on the possibility of our team finding our way to a fashion week after party. (She seemed to indicate that perhaps our talents would be better suited to the MBA Quiz).
The quiz kicked off with four rounds of questions drawn from the Financial Times World News, Companies, Life & Arts, and Business Education sections. Our team posted a strong early performance, getting all five round one questions correct. Recent FT news pieces, such as Santander’s cloud computing offering, helped us in rounds two and three. Round four proved difficult, with some inside baseball questions about Canadian, Nigerian, and Chinese business schools.
An intermission before the last three rounds gave us a bit of time to chat with fellow competitors. The team from Cass had been rounded out by two recent MBA graduates, and it was a great chance to hear about career prospects post-MBA. The break ended too quickly, and we were back at our table to resume the competition.
The final three rounds were drawn from the FT Lexicon, FT Data, and FT Illustration categories. Questions ranged from bitcoin (“Blockchain”) to tax avoidance (the “Double Irish”). And illustrations spanned the globe from Dianne Feinstein to Vladamir Putin (Ukraine Ceasefire). The competition culminated with the “buzzer round” between Imperial and St. Gallen. Congratulations to Imperial for their win, and to all teams for a great evening. We were happy to learn that the UK government agreed to match the money raised at the event netting the IRC charity £40k.
A surprise was waiting for us after the competition. Emma had arranged a team dinner at a cool spot named Bounce, where we refueled amidst flying ping-pong balls. Once we finished our meals, our team grabbed padels and joined the fun. What a great way to spend 24 hours in London!
Time with the team at Bounce in London
After returning home, another suprise was waiting for me. While I was gone my wife had visited Rothenberger – a German Mittelstand pipe tool and machinery firm. Rothenberger gave her some stellar company swag, which she has graciously allowed me to add to my tool collection. Kudos to Rothenberger, which reminded me of our MBA opening day lecture from Prof. Nils Stieglitz about Mittlestand companies and how SMEs are the backbone of the German economy. With my first semester in the MBA program completed, it has come full circle.
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