Lo Kwan Ho (Jason), a year 3 Accounting and Finance student, has recently won second place at the first-ever DB-SNU Business Case Competition. Jason believes that the presentation skill acquired at HKU was tremendously helpful towards his team’s performance.

The DB-SNU Business Case Competition was held from18 to 21 August 2019 in Seoul, organised by the Seoul National University Business School and DB Group, one of the largest Korean conglomerates focusing on financial services. The theme of 2019 was “Business and Start-up Cases” with over a hundred teams participated. Jason formed a team with 3 classmates of his major at HKU and built a case based on an Indonesian startup Eco Evo which proposes using seaweed-based products to replace plastics.

“We were overwhelmed at first as we never anticipated to present in the final round, but the fact that we did not rehearse much made our presentation more natural - it turned out to be in our favour."

As one of the selected teams, Jason enjoyed a 5-day free stay in Seoul, participating in the competition, visiting Korean conglomerates and experiencing the vibrant Korean culture. They were also given the opportunity to experience classes at Korea’s top national university.

This was Jason’s first case competition and he did not expect to win an award initially. Facing fierce competition with the top pan-Asia universities, Jason never thought that they would be selected for the immersion experience in Seoul, not to mention advancing to the final. “We were overwhelmed at first as we never anticipated to present in the final round, but the fact that we did not rehearse much made our presentation more natural - it turned out to be in our favour."

Jason is particularly grateful for the learning experience sponsored by the organiser, and the opportunity of meeting with other students gave him a sense of “fellowship through learning”. The USD$3,000 prize was just icing on the cake.

Written by:
Truston Yu
Year 3, Faculty of Social Sciences
April 2020