Winners of the Deloitte Micro-Tyco Student Challenge are welcomed today at the firm’s London office to start one week’s work experience. During the UK-wide competition in February, students from 37 universities* were challenged to turn £1 into as much money as possible in just four weeks. Teams were partnered with a Deloitte ‘coach’ and encouraged to use their entrepreneurial skills to grow their seed capital, with 45 students from the top 10 teams going on to win the work experience.
Deloitte sees the Challenge as a way of identifying young, talented people who are highly motivated, have an entrepreneurial business mind and transferable skills to make a career for themselves at the firm. Previous participants have since gone on to gain full time graduate positions at Deloitte.
Stevan Rolls, Head of HR at Deloitte, said: “It is great to see new faces at the firm this week, especially knowing the exciting challenge they have competed in to get here. During the Challenge, each team is offered a business support coach from Deloitte, who provides business advice, workshops and networking opportunities to help the teams invest their pound wisely and make it grow.
“Deloitte’s Micro-Tyco Student Challenge inspires an entrepreneurial environment that unleashes participant’s talents and reveals skills they never knew they had. These are the types of transferable skills we look for when recruiting at Deloitte, and we look forward to working with the new joiners over the coming week.”
During the weeklong work experience at Deloitte, the students will participate in workshops that will include skills training, case studies, business games and work-shadowing, whilst learning insights into the range of career opportunities available at the firm.
As part of its commitment to social mobility and developing young talent, Deloitte also coached 20 schools during the nationwide challenge, offering work experience this summer to pupils from five of the top teams.
Collectively, the university and school teams generated over £31,000**. This will be reinvested by social enterprise WildHearts, a Deloitte Social Innovation Pioneer, who use the money to fund microfinance in some of the poorest countries around the world offering women who are trapped in poverty a small loan to start their own business.
**Case study
The University of Nottingham team generated £2,507.30 through the following means;
- Immediately boosted their seed capital by buying a book of raffle tickets for £1, persuading friends and family to donate prizes and selling tickets on campus. This was a source of revenue throughout the challenge.
- Capitalised on Chinese New Year by cooking a dinner for friends and receiving Red Pockets of cash and donations in return.
- Organised a bingo night and after party, working with a local events company and leveraging donated prizes, including work experience with a barrister.
- Used their own skills by holding Russian and English Language classes on campus (£20 per student).