CMU-Q launches Business Innovation Challenge for high school students

Doha, Qatar: Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU Q), a Qatar Foundation partner university, hosted the inaugural Business Innovation Challenge, a...

Doha, Qatar: Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), a Qatar Foundation partner university, hosted the inaugural Business Innovation Challenge, a two-day competition designed to introduce top high school students and school counsellors to the university’s rigorous Business Administration programme.

The challenge saw 78 students forming 26 teams from 15 public and private high schools across Qatar. The participants tackled a business case that presented a real-world challenge: developing a financially sustainable and operationally practical solution to reduce single-use plastic and paper cups in Qatar.

The student teams worked to devise solutions, and top teams advanced to a final round where they presented their ideas to a panel of judges.

The event underscored the quantitative, analytical approach central to CMU-Q’s Business Administration programme. The degree programme has been offered at CMU-Q since 2004, and graduates are now working across Qatar in leadership roles in government, business and non-profit organisations. Three alumni—all executives at Qatar Investment Authority—served as judges in the final round.

“This weekend, you worked on a business case based on a real-world problem, and this is exactly the type of challenge we present to our students,” said Dean of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Michael Trick at the closing ceremony.