The victory in the second “Metafrax Group” case championship was won by a team of students from Moscow universities
In December 2023, “Metafrax Group” together with B1 company held the final of the second “Chemistry of Business” case championship. For the first time, the case clubs of the Higher School of Economics (HSE), the Moscow State Technical University named after N.E. Bauman (Moscow State Technical University named after N. E. Bauman) and a Financial University under the Government of Russia were involved in organizing the competition.
The participants of the competition were undergraduate and graduate students with a specialization in economics, finance, management and mathematics. More than 100 people from Moscow, St. Petersburg, the regions of the Russian Far East, as well as from Italy, Holland and Georgia took part in the case championship. 5 teams entered the final, which included future graduates of the country's leading universities: Moscow State University, HSE, MSTU named after N.E. Bauman, Financial University under the Government of Russia. The winners and prize-winners received memorable prizes from the organizers and the opportunity for priority consideration when selecting for open vacancies in the companies of “Metafrax Group”.
The contestants faced a difficult task of developing an optimal solution for a new direction of production or market for the company's products. The work required the participants to analyze the data in depth, as well as take into account possible risks on the way to achieving the company's goal. The students presented their decisions to the judging panel.
The jury of the final included top managers of “Metafrax Group” and B1 company. According to the results of the voting, the "Musicians" team, with representatives from the National Research Nuclear University "MEPhI" (NRNU MEPhI) and the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, became the winner. A potential solution proposed by the leaders of the championship was a model for the production of propylene glycol from glycerin. The jury members noted the cohesion, a thorough approach to analyzing the current activities of the company and the non-triviality in solving a business problem. Particular attention was paid to the fact that this solution fits perfectly into the ESG agenda of the “Metafrax Group”, aimed at using modern technologies and minimizing harmful emissions by various methods, in particular, by processing bio-renewable sources of raw materials.
- It's great to see such a large number of interested young people, the degree of their immersion in the selected topics. There were, of course, assumptions in the submitted works, but they are quite understandable due to limited resources, and the efforts invested by the students in the midst of the educational process deserve great respect," one of the jury members, financial director of Metadynea Andrey Kondrashov, told about the event. – At the same time, the teams were not only from different cities of Russia, but also international. It is nice to see that young people see the potential for their development in our country – both in education and in career terms. And, even if not all participants of the case championship will link their professional careers with the B1 company team or the “Metafrax Group” team, but the fact that the professional business community will eventually be replenished with new young and initiative specialists inspires confidence in the successful development of our economy.
Within the framework of the championship, representatives of the organizing companies also organized a master class for the participants. The speaker on the part of Metafrax was Evgeny Gavrilov, Director of Strategy and Investments at JSC Metafrax Chemicals, with a report on the specifics of portfolio management. B1 Associate partner Gleb Khimichev, in turn, spoke about the components of a successful presentation.
It should be noted that a member of the winning team, a 4th-year student of the MEPhI National Research Nuclear University, studying Economics, is already starting an internship at the “Metafrax Group” Strategic Development and Investment Department in January.
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The “Case Championship” project is aimed at creating an opportunity for students to apply academic knowledge in practice, and for the company to arouse interest in the industry, and in the future to recruit young specialists. Several participants of the championship from MEPhI and FU under the Government of the Russian Federation have already expressed interest in completing an internship at “Metafrax Group”.