Marketplace Simulations has partnered with National Secondary School Entrepreneurship Competition (NSSEC) for their 2018 simulation competition in Trinidad and Tobago. In all, 575 students and 70 teachers participated in the competition.
Competition Information
In Trinidad and Tobago, the students competed against each other using Marketplace’s entrepreneurship simulation, Introduction to Business and Strategy. The competition was aimed at being inclusive and accessible to all secondary schools. The competition did not require any previous business experience and was open to all students from the age of 14-19. The competitive nature of the simulation competition led to students innovating and engaging as teams competed for scholarships.
Eight groups from different regions were drafted into teams of five players. Game-play was organized into eight decision-making periods over a quarter in real time. Decision making periods were one to two weeks apart to give students adequate time for collaboration and group analysis.
“All the participants developed some valuable entrepreneurship skills to help them in their future careers,” explained David Stone, director of 3Stone Research and Consulting. “The excitement embodied by students is proof of the success of technology in educating and empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs across the globe. Through this experience, students gain the leadership, collaboration, and soft-skills demanded by employers.”
Balanced Scorecard Approach
Teams were scored based on a balanced scorecard approach, which encompassed ten measures of performance including:
- Financial performance
- Investment in the future
- Human resource management
- Marketing effectiveness
- Manufacturing efficiency
- Market performance
- Wealth
- Asset management
- Financial risk
- Total performance
Competition Results
The competition concluded on November 13, 2018, and the winning group was Presentation College, San Fernando. The team was awarded five full scholarships to the Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business.
One student summed it up: “This was the best educational experience I have ever taken part in. I am absolutely going to consider entrepreneurship for my future career path, I wouldn’t have said that before experiencing the NSSEC simulation. Thank you for this opportunity!”
