by Kevin Urbani, Nicholas 2009

You are a finalist!

I am a student in the Corporate Finance and Investment Banking Specialization at the Wisconsin School of Business MBA program. I recently participated in a worldwide business plan competition. The premise of the competition was to create a business plan which would provide a small island the resources to power the island with windmills. I was excited about the broad scope of the competition because it required me to think about multiple aspects of business not just the finance piece. I entered this competition just before Thanksgiving break in 2008. That Friday I received a message from the competition committee with four simple words in the subject line, "You are a finalist." I could not believe it! I was invited to fly to Copenhagen to compete against business students from around the world. It was then I realized how the University of Wisconsin MBA program prepared me to compete on an international level.

As promised I met with students from all around the world. A student from the University of Singapore made the trip as well as students from Berlin and Ireland. There were quite a few Americans there but, there was also an American studying in Spain, and an Englishman studying in New York. I did not get the opportunity to see the other competitors' presentations, but simply looking through their slides I realized that I was competing against some of the smartest people in the world. While I did not win the competition, I can truly say that it was an honor just to have the opportunity to compete against these individuals.

I believe the University of Wisconsin prepared me for that day as well as any of the other schools represented. My focus on finance allowed me to create a plan to finance the business. In addition, the core curriculum that I received equipped me to tackle other business problems such as marketing and strategy. I am grateful for the experience that I was awarded and thankful for the preparation that I received.