U of T Engineering students Tarek El Fedawy (IndE 1T3 + PEY), Kazem Kutob (IndE 1T3 + PEY), Layan Kutob (IndE 1T2 + PEY, MEng 1T4) and Alberto Picard-Ami (IndE 1T3 + PEY) recently finished second in the Wharton Consulting Competition.
The win marks the third consecutive year the team placed second, surpassing competitors from universities, including Harvard and Northwestern.
The competition took place at The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, one of the top business schools in North America and the world. This year, the theme of the competition was ‘Global Operating Expense Transformation.’
The challenge: a bank that had to reduce over $1-billion in annual operating expenses over three years. Teams were required to build a strategic plan that would facilitate the creation of a roadmap to deliver operational savings and expense transformation.
The U of T Engineering team proposed a framework and strategies that tackled, assessed and prioritized deficiencies in areas of labour, technology and the bank’s operating model.
Participants were judged by major sponsoring firms including Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Accenture and L.E.K. Consulting. Though first place went to the University of Pennsylvania, U of T has maintained its impressive track record in the contest.
“Being a finalist and placing second, three years in a row, in such a tough competition is an achievement that the team is very proud of,” said El Fedawy. “It is a testament to the quality of education and extracurricular activities at U of T, and how well it has groomed us to solve real-life, complex business problems.”
“On behalf of the Faculty, I congratulate the team on their tremendous success over the past three years,” said Cristina Amon, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “Their second place finish demonstrates how our engineering students are developing the skills and experience to make an impact on the world and become tomorrow’s business leaders.”
The Wharton Consulting Conference is organized by the Wharton Undergraduate Consulting Club. Now in its third year, the event has grown to include 18 participating universities from across North America.
