ICABC support of junior achievement helps BC team win 4th in global business challenge

the first step in deciding to become a CA is often an emerging interest in business. The Junior Achievement Business Game, which is offered to interested BC schools through a partnership between Junior Achievement of British Columbia and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of BC, provides this opportunity to high school students. Each year Institute members volunteer time and experience to help students learn the business management strategies critical to the game. This year, Business Game graduates took the challenge to a whole new level, taking fourth place in the Global Business Challenge sponsored by Hewlett-Packard Company.

The Hewlett-Packard Global Business Challenge is international, web-based and competitive. Competitors are recent graduates of JA programs like the Business Game. Here Junior Achievement students run the finances of virtual corporations, and for the first time in the Challenge's fiveyear history a Canadian team made the finals this year. The tension-filled last round, held on August 17 in Palo Alto, California, had the mythical companies immersed in an international import/ export industry with different currencies and economic conditions. They had to consider price, production levels, marketing expenditures, capital investment, and R&D costs in making their decisions.

`Bellmare,' a Burnaby team, made the best showing of any high school team in the Challenge, where first, second and third place teams were made up of college and university students from Mexico, Guatemala, and an international CYBER team represented by players from Latvia and Argentina. Lithuania came fifth, and Honourable Mentions went to Japan, Belarus and a second team from Mexico.

"We're proud to have placed among the top five teams world-wide, in a competition with so many strong contenders, " says Barb Jones, Program Manager for Junior Achievement BC, "Only eight teams made it to the last round, out of an original field of 876 teams from 57 countries."

The Burnaby North team is comprised of James Wong, Alan Sye, Sammy Mak, Calvin Lee and Albert Tam. Supported by business mentor Jennifer Tokarek of Ellis Foster Chartered Accountants and teacher Roy Bilson, the students worked their way through three competitions to reach the highest level of international play.

Team captain James Wong, who along with Alan Sye was picked to play the final round for Burnaby North, says, "The final round competition was very intense and the play was on a much higher level than we'd expected. But we want to go back and try again." "Some of the time we were making decisions by instinct," adds Sye, "You'd get a feeling about what the other companies were going to do."

The team's business mentor, Jennifer Tokarek, who credits her own JA experience in high school with encouraging her to pursue her CA designation, believes the Business Game's hands-on approach to the Challenge is a definite success. "It's amazing to see the impact this competition has had on my students," she says. "I've seen them develop business skills not usually attainable in normal business education programs. And as for myself, this past year of competition has truly been a rewarding experience. It's been a great opportunity for me to extend my financial skills and knowledge to others."

Roy Bilson, the team's business education teacher at Burnaby North, was impressed with his students' ability to put the economics and accounting concepts they've learned into practice. "It's been wonderful to see a friendly rivalry develop. They've shown a lot of maturity and have built a strong team," he commented. "They have no hesitation in helping each other do well. And the support from Jennifer Tokarek, Kim Arnott, and the management at Ellis Foster has been very important to them."

The Burnaby team returned home in late August, following an exciting tour of the San Francisco area with other international players from the Challenge. Team members are now off to post-secondary programs, most connected with some aspect of business.

Junior Achievement of BC is part of an international organization dedicated to teaching young people about the principles of economics and business, offering schools a variety of grade-specific programs in business education. With support from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of BC and the Canadian Pacific Charitable Foundation they organize the JA Business Game and Challenge for senior high business students in BC.

The next BC Business Challenge takes place in November 2000, and classes are looking for mentors and coaches. For information about volunteer opportunities with Junior Achievement's Business Game, contact Barb Jones at 688-3887, EX. 2 or barb.jones@jabc.org

Copyright Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia Oct 2000
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