As Charles Darwin once said "survival of the fittest"
Today was an emotional rollercoaster of a day. From our best to our worst presentations, we are still wondering how we have got to where we are now.
4:45 AM:
The earliest start we ever had. We knew today that five points would secure automatic qualification to the quarter final. Gradually we all woke up and went down for some continental breakfast. Sadly our theme for the week was unavailable today. We didn't start our day with an omelette but we were still very excited and full of energy.
On our way to UNIS:
There was a sense of anticipation among all participants and coaches. Today was D- Day, a make or break. Although we were in a comfortable position sitting at the top of the table, we still knew we had to be focused on the job in hand. The bus journey was delayed due to rush hour traffic and there was a 15 minute delay in the entire schedule.
First case:
We then received our first case in the morning on Davine, the beauty care. They where faced with the decision on the next biggest move and we advised them to go into the Chinese market with a subsidiary approach with a very in depth marketing strategy. From the feedback and also our own evaluation we felt it was our best presentation to date. The individual feedback from the judges was very positive. It was a very nervy wait for the results as we were in the most competitive category with very thin margins. Unfortunately we lost 6-5, because we missed the cash flow element in our finances and also we were up against a very solid team, Rotterdam. Although we lost we qualified in second position with 18 points. The top 3 in our group where separated by one point.
The Quarter final:
To our shock, we received a case of death. We still can't tell you what it was on. There a sense of disbelief and our confidence vanished. We decided we would give it our best shot as we had nothing to lose. Our quarter final was up against Guelph Humber another strong opponent from Canada. Tensions were high in our prep room as we tried to make sense of the case on Sumbcorp utilities. We weren't confident at all with the presentation we prepared. We knew the dream was over. We presented our case as best we could hoping our personalities and charisma where enough to take us through.
The result:
To our surprise we ended up winning 6-5 and we are now through to the semi finals. Bring it on BABY. We are going to La Antigua tomorrow for a well deserved day off and to enjoy the beautiful city of Guatemala.
Adios, be sure to tune in Friday for the big day.