Otago team wins inaugural Indigenous Business Case Competition

It took three swift hours for three solution-savvy Otago students to edge their opponents out and win the inaugural Indigenous Business Case Competition 2024.

Hosted by the University of Auckland in late September, the competition marked a new chapter of collaboration between two of New Zealand’s leading universities.

Team coach Antonio Seiuli (Commerce Pacific Projects) explains the genesis of the competition and the good seeds it seeks to sow.

“Our team received an invitation from the University of Auckland to participate in this inaugural event and we hope it will become a regular fixture between the institutions. The competition aimed to foster Indigenous entrepreneurship and build stronger networks within the business sector.

“It reflects the importance of Indigenous perspectives in modern business and highlights the increasing role of Indigenous communities in shaping the future of the New Zealand economy.”

The triumphant Otago contingent consisted of Lachlan Williams (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou) Bachelor of Commerce in Finance; James Bennett (Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou) Bachelor of Entrepreneurship, majoring in Management; and Leuotele Tamati (Samoan) Bachelor of Applied Science, with a minor in Entrepreneurship.

“A huge congratulations to our incredible team of young men who represented us with skills and pride. They displayed exceptional teamwork, strategic thinking, outstanding composure and great presentation skills,” Antonio says.

James thinks the competition’s snug timeframe – and all its attendant adrenalin – was perfect.

“We were given three hours to unpack and discuss the case. This was enough time for us to put together a timeline of what we needed to do before we presented, which was a key element to our team's success. I feel that if we were given more time, it would have dragged out the competition.”

Lachlan similarly relished the pressure cooker element of the face-off and thinks the time constraint allowed for a truer measure of each team’s innovative thinking.

“It increased the tension. I feel like a longer case would just devolve into who's the best at making PowerPoints.”

The students credit the invaluable support of the Otago Case Consulting Club, Dr Nataliya Podgorodnichenko from the Doctor of Business Administration programme - who organised a three-week training programme to put the students through their paces - and the Business School’s Pasifika and Māori teams.

The trio’s collective smarts were enhanced by that hard-to-quantify special sauce – great team chemistry. Then there was the sterling coach.

“Matua Antonio gave us great insight as a team to be a cohesive unit on the floor,” James says.

Lachlan agrees.

“Our coach secured us the win. He was incredibly helpful. He highlighted to us that we needed to put a lot of focus on how to format our case properly. We couldn't just use empty buzzwords but rather needed clear specifics on how to do what we wanted. Besides that, Antonio was awesome to be around and made sure all of our admin was sorted.”

Though the competition was a head-to-head affair, the Auckland versus Otago atmosphere was highly collegial.

“E tuku ana mātou i ngā mihi nui ki ō mātou hoa ki Tāmaki Makaurau mō te pōhiri me te whakahaere pakari o tēnei kaupapa. A big thank you to our Auckland friends for the invite and for the opportunity to compete. We are deeply appreciative of the support and the opportunity for our students to demonstrate their skills and potential,” Antonio says.

Lachlan says he’d love for Otago to host the competition next year to help the Indigenous league expand further. James is thoroughly case-competition hooked, too.

“I would 100 per cent love to have the opportunity to do a case study competition again. It created a lot of great memories for me in such a short amount of time. I’d like to thank my wonderful teammates, Lachlan and Tele for working with me and winning the competition together. Mauri ora!”

Kōrero by Claire Finlayson, Communications Adviser (Otago Business School)