In recent weeks, the University of Memphis has been very successful in competitions on a regional and national stage. From the football team being nationally ranked in the Top 25 in the country, to the men’s basketball team and women’s soccer team achieving the same accolade. Now, the UofM is aiming its sights on academic competitions, with students from the Fogelman College of Business and Economics having placed second overall in the Tennessee Valley Authority Business Case Competition.
This year, students Caleb Carter, Eugene Edwards and grad student Joshua Ezell represented the UofM in Knoxville, Tennessee, against 24 other schools such as Ole Miss, Mississippi State University, Western Carolina University and the University of Kentucky. Students were tasked with creating a successful long-term capital growth portfolio. The portfolio would then be graded on different guidelines, such as containing a minimum of 20 holdings and not being under the minimum allocations in an economic sector, which is 3%. The portfolios then had to be presented to judges, 48 hours after being assigned the project.
Graduate student Josh Ezell said that each of the team’s jobs had more than component to them. He said that this year’s premise revolved around the Tennessee Valley (spanning the entire state of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and Mississippi) and providing electricity at the lowest rates.
“Our goal was to find the most ideal site in the Tennessee Valley for a new electric bus manufacturer to set up shop,” Ezell said. “We had to investigate numerous potential sites, perform various forms analysis on the site of our choosing, and sell the site to judges in the form of a presentation.” For the plan, it was based on a 20-year time frame.
Throughout the UofM team’s presentation, the group talked about environmental and economic benefits, such as having three ponds and a couple of drainage areas. For the economic benefits, the presentation mentioned working with major companies like Google, FedEx and Nissan to create more than 200,000 jobs for the project.
Ezell said the competition came with a variety of benefits, such as sharpening teambuilding and presentation skills. He said that the competition was a welcome challenge for him.
“Overall, the competition was a great challenge for our team,” Ezell said. “We expected to be tested and questioned on our material and the judges did not disappoint. It was a wonderful opportunity to network, practice presentation skills on a large scale, win a scholarship and get to know some awesome teammates.”
For the reward of placing in second at the competition, each of the students was given $3,000 scholarships.
