AUBG student Mihaela Kafedzhiyska Takes Part in Prestigious FTxBocconi Talent Challenge

“As AUBG students we have subscription to the Financial Times, so I have been following it since my freshman year,” says Mihaela. She was subscribed to different events and opportunities that the newspaper offers. One day she got an email about the Talent Challenge, which is a collaboration between the world’s leading global business publication Financial Times and the high-ranking Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. “I decided to participate because I have not taken part in a competition in a long time. I have always been active in the clubs of the university as an organizer and I needed to feel like a participant again,” Mihaela said. However, the application for the challenge was as extensive as “an application for a university” and the competition was very selective. “I was very excited when I got accepted,” Mihaela said.

The competition was supposed to be hybrid with 50% of the participants being present in the headquarters of Financial Times in London and the other 50% of them being online. The organizers later decided that it is better to switch entirely to online mode because of the COVID-19 pandemic and communicate through Zoom, WhatsApp and LinkedIn. “I got very emotional when I found out that all of us have to be online but I accepted the situation the way it was.”

The challenge brought together people from every corner of the world and this year they focused on solutions for the “Future Hybrid World” in the fields of work, health, entertainment and customer experience. The 200 participants worked together in teams and tried to solve real business and strategic challenges. They were mentored by alumni from Bocconi University throughout the event and had the ability to attend masterclasses and talks which were delivered by panels of experts from Financial Times and Bocconi University.

“The organizers were very specific when making teams, because they seek for diversity,” said Mihaela. Her team, for example, featured a German, Spanish, Brazilian, Italian and Irish person, all of whom had extensive experience and knowledge in the field of Business Administration and Economics. “We had some arguments but we were very nice and respectful to each other. The environment was very professional, healthy and productive,” Mihaela said. Her team got to work on the topic of health. “Our challenge was to find a developing nation and research it,” she said. “It was as if the government hires us and we are a consultancy agency that needs to prepare their national strategy for the next years on how they are going to manage a particular health problem,” the fourth-year student said.

“I learned a lot from the speakers and masterclasses in this competition,” Mihaela said. One thing that she really liked was that they had live sessions where all of their cameras were turned off, but they were able to submit a question in the chat. The participants with the best questions were chosen to ask them in front of everybody else. “Out of eight speeches in one day, my questions were picked up four times and I was very proud,” Mihaela said. She got to ask a question to the chief commercial officer of Financial Times. “When it is time for you to talk, you can see your face becoming part of what is broadcasted to the other 200 participants,” she said. “The first time I had to ask my question I was very nervous because my Internet started breaking down and I was not sure if they are going to hear what I say, but luckily everything turned out fine.”

For Mihaela the competition felt personal as well, because she got to learn how the Bocconi alumni are doing after graduation. They talked about their personal lives and shared possible career opportunities with the young participants. “This challenge is definitely worth it, because you are going to make contacts with other active people, people coming from very different backgrounds, education and experience. It broadens your horizon and helps you determine what you want to do after graduation,” Mihaela said.