Impacts Solutions were the 3rd prize winners in the 2014 Global Business Challenge (GBC).
Team Impacts Solutions was a company with a vision of transforming communities through the delivery of water purification solutions in a way that represented the company’s principles of sustainable enterprise – People, Planet and Profit.
These Core Values – The 3Ps – ensured that the company is not only a provider of clean drinking water but was also able to bring greater economic benefits, address ecological sustainability and enhance inter-generational equity within the host community.
The GBC team recently caught up with this team and asked, “Where are you now?”
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Describe your participation in the 2014 Global Business Challenge. What was the experience like for you and your team members?
The 2014 G20GBC was the first business case competition that any of us had ever entered. It gave us all the opportunity to work in a truly inter-disciplinary environment with an international setting. - What is the name of your company? How did the Global Business Challenge help you to build upon it?
Our company was known as Impacts Solutions at the time, but after the competition we changed our name to 3rd Step Enterprises and entered into two more international business case competitions, traveling to Thailand and the United States. We placed third in “The mai Bangkok Business Challenge 2015 @ Sasin”, which is the largest international business case competition in the Asia Pacific. - How have your progressed since the GBC? Have you raised any capital, started selling?
During our trip to Texas for the Global Venture Labs Investment Competition, we secured an agreement with a Texan firm to import their new generation sustainably-powered generators into Australia. - What are your plans for the future?
We are currently in the process of securing partners and clients for the distribution of the generators we are importing from the United States. - Are there any tips that you would like to give future contestants?
Live the competition as if it were a real business. You will no doubt need to make sacrifices of your time during the preparation for the competition, but it is definitely well worth it.
About the Global Business Challenge
A QUT initiative, the GBC is the first global graduate business case competition aimed at developing solutions to global problems. The Global Business Challenge is being conducted as a partnership between QUT, The University of Queensland (UQ) and Griffith University and with the support of government and industry.
Uniquely, the GBC encourages collaboration between business schools, universities, the research community and industry – irrespective of their location – in formulating proposed solutions to address the challenge. This means flexibility in team composition (we encourage both business and technical graduate students) as well as the inclusion of multiple proposed technological solutions from any technology provider.
The inaugural event (the 2014 G20 GBC) was a formal part of the lead-up program to Australia’s Presidency for the 2014 G20 Leaders’ Summit. The GBC has now firmly established itself as the pre-eminent competition of its type in the world. The university partners have committed to host the event for an initial seven-year period. This will see the GBC become the new benchmark in graduate case competitions with a focus on delivering implementable and practical solutions to the world’s biggest challenges.
The challenge for the 2017 GBC is renewable energy.
Full details at www.2017gbc.org.
Future partners and sponsors
It is our aim to continue to grow this competition with a focus on innovative ‘real world’ practical outcomes with the potential for global impact. As such we would like to invite industry organisations and corporations, with an interest in the theme of the 2017challenge, to take the opportunity to partner with us in 2017.
For details contact Dr Peter Beven email peter.beven@qut.edu.au.
