The final of the HSBC Challenge, an international competition organised by the SKOK, took place

International High School Business Challenge knows the winners of the national round! On 26-28 May 2023, the regional finals of the popular business competition for high school students took place, which is organized annually by the SKOK student association in cooperation with the Polish association European Foundation for Entrepreneurship Development and student associations in Slovakia and Hungary. The competition was supported by the Visegrad Fund and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic.

The competition is aimed at secondary school students in Central and Eastern Europe who face entrepreneurial challenges over three stages, where they have the opportunity to test and develop their knowledge and creativity and gain experience in entrepreneurship. During the competition, students have the opportunity to participate in specialised workshops related to banking, consulting or insurance. Participants in the international final, in which the best teams from Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic will compete, which will take place in Warsaw, have the opportunity to receive a prize from a prize fund of EUR 6 000.

About the competition

About the competition

The High School Business Challenge is a V4 competition supported by the Visegrad Fund. Competitors in the competition solve real business case studies and usually have to come up with an original idea that can be implemented, create a financial plan and some kind of marketing strategy. SKOK manages the entire organisation of the competition within the Czech Republic, including promotion on social media and in the media, visits to secondary schools, obtaining patronage, translation and creation of case studies, etc. The competition has an online round, then a national round (with Ms Volfová, Ms Mokrejšová and Ms Křečková as judges) and in early July the international round will take place in Warsaw, where the best teams from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland will advance. This year, the Czech Republic was represented by the HODL team from the Catholic Grammar School in Trebic.

Based on the national round, the top two teams were selected to advance to the international finals, which will be held July 4-8. In addition, the Faculty of International Relations will reward the most successful participants with admission to the Bachelor of International Business or the Bachelor of Tourism and Hospitality Management without entrance exams.

As every year, the participants from among high school students solved several tasks in the form of assigned case studies. Not only was the content and written output evaluated, but also the ability to present their recommendations to a panel of judges. The jury this year included colleagues from the Department of International Business. Ing. Zuzana Křečková Kroupová, M.A., Ph.D., Ing. Veronika Mokrejšová, Ph.D. and Ing. Jitka Volfová, Ph.D.

More information about the competition can be found on the official website.

The final of the HSBC Challenge, an international competition organised by the SKOK, took place