Business Hive 2024: Resist the temptation to become enamoured with the initial idea

Over the weekend of March 15th to 17th of 2024, the School of Economics and Business University of Ljubljana (UL SEB)held the 13th edition of the Business Hive competition, expertly orchestrated by the Management Group student association. Drawing participants from diverse backgrounds and nations, Business Hive stands as an international beacon for case-solving brilliance, welcoming students spanning economics, engineering, mathematics, IT, design, and creative disciplines to collaborate on real-world business challenges.

The competition serves a dual purpose: providing students with invaluable experimental learning opportunities while furnishing companies with fresh, innovative solutions to their pressing business dilemmas. This year, the event attracted 200 students from a multitude of countries including Slovenia, Serbia, Sweden, Romania, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia. The participants also came from different academic disciplines, mostly from UL SEB, followed by the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Faculty of Computer and Information Science, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and more.

Manca Zelen and Filip Matko, both students at UL SEB and esteemed members of the Management group, inaugurated the event with a warm welcome, extending best wishes to all participants. Subsequent speeches were delivered by Manca Šmid, the president of the Management Group association and the leader of the project, Full Professor Mojca Indihar Štemberger, PhD, the vice-dean for Academic Affairs of the UL SEB and Matej Lino Pirc, the President of the Student Council of the UL SEB. Adding to the wealth of the welcome ceremony, Aljoša Bagola held a ”Purpose or Pure pose” workshop, while Charlotte Taft later shared her expertise on crafting a successful pitch. At the closing event, they were greeted by the Full Professor Mateja Drnovšek, PhD, the vice-dean for development.

The esteemed case providers for this year’s competition included Atlantic Grupa, Generali, Knauf Insulation, Lek Sandoz and IXtlan Team. Following case presentations, participants were allowed 72 hours to devise solutions before presenting their ideas to company representatives. The winning teams were bestowed with a reference letter and a substantial financial prize of €1,200.

In the end, Gregor, a student at UL SEB, told us that he and his team usually have a strategy of asking themselves ” How can we get the best results with the least amount of resources?” Throughout the weekend, they learned most about teamwork and time management and also improved their presentation skills. He also offered us a valuable piece of advice for aspiring competitors in next year’s competition: ”One must resist the temptation to become enamoured with their initial idea instead, they should focus on refining and enhancing it.”

Klara Lebeničnik, Efnews

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