Temple University’s Management Consulting Program (TUMCP) hosted a social impact problem-solving challenge where teams of students partnered with mentors and coaches from area consulting firms to solve a live business challenge facing a small, regional, for-profit firm. Students were able to apply skills they have acquired in the classroom while learning how to generate social impact through the assistance of consultants from firms like RSM, Grant-Thornton, Capgemini, PwC and Valorem Reply.
TUMCP’s most recent social impact challenge sought to provide assistance to a regional non-profit, The Clinic, which provides medical services to uninsured and under-served residents in and around Phoenixville, Pa., in Chester County. Teams of about three students were challenged to a week-long competition, live over Zoom, to address the Clinic’s need for creative, sustainable fundraising strategies in response to a growing number of under-served patients.
The winning team included Class of 2023 marketing major Ngoc Minh Anh, Alejandro Garcia, BBA ’21, and Chisom Ojukwu, MS ’22; who were supported by their mentors and coaches: Derek Gibbs (PwC), Stuart Reeves (Grant Thornton) and Elizabeth Witkow (Capgemini).
This team decided to donate the $500 prize money to the Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund. They chose this fund to support the Ukrainian people because millions of civilians are caught in the middle of an escalating war and humanitarian crisis. The team hopes to be able to contribute a small effort to help Ukrainians in need.
Junior finance major and student worker for the TUMCP, Jake Guller, helped organize the competition. He emphasized that learning from professionals in the consulting field on how to work through a social impact project like this, will help students succeed when they enter the workforce.
“The best way to learn consulting skills is from the people who work in the industry,” says Guller. “With a problem-solving challenge like this, you are working with professionals to better a real nonprofit organization that wants to sustain its business. This gives the students the ability to think through and solve best practices to help the organization succeed.”