State college team places second in business competition

Three Idaho students landed $800 and offers for internships after placing second in an international business competition.

A team from Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston came in second, and only .75 points behind the first-place winner, at the International Accreditation Council for Business Education Student Case Study Competition.

According to LC State, the competition was held entirely online, with 190 students in 54 teams representing 20 schools from around the world. The teams had one month to prepare for the competition, and it’s the first year that LC State had a team entered.

The Idaho team was William “Cy” Wareham, Kenneth “Teak” Wareham and Espen Williams. Assistant Professor Jennifer Uptmor was the team’s coach.

“We are so incredibly proud of the team and how they used their wide variety of disciplines and degrees to work together so well,” said Jenny Scott, LC State interim chair for the Business and Computer Science Division. “This achievement is the result of hard work, research, creativity and collaboration, and to do this well the first time through is outstanding.”

Each year, the competition challenges competitors to develop marketing strategies to help a company reach its goals. This year’s company was WealthFluent, which had a goal “to connect with early-career professionals to promote financial literacy and disrupt the traditional wealth management industry by making financial planning more accessible, tech-driven and empowering.”

After several meetings and research, LC State’s team had to provide a virtual presentation to the company’s executive team. Only the final 12 teams presented their pitches.

William Wareham is working toward a double major in business administration and computer science; software engineering. Kenneth Wareham is earning double associate degrees in natural science and mathematics. While Williams is pursuing a double major in sport management and business management.