Carnegie Mellon team wins management consulting case competition

DOHA, QATAR – February 18, 2020: A team of students from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) won the McKinsey Case Competition that took place last weekend. The competition, which was the first of its kind in the region, was organized by Carnegie Consulting Club, a student-led group at CMU-Q.

Open to all university students in Qatar, the competition saw six teams compete from CMU-Q, Qatar University and Texas A&M University at Qatar. The teams were given a business problem and eight hours to work out a solution. During the day, students received mentoring support from members of the McKinsey office in Qatar.

Kaushik Gangiredla, engagement manager at McKinsey & Company, said: “We wanted to give students this one-of-a-kind opportunity to experience a day in the life of a McKinsey consultant. I was very impressed by the level of commitment expressed by the students throughout the day. We are excited to be supporting local talent – whether it is through hiring, internships and partnering with institutions.”

As the advising faculty member, Fuad Farooqi, associate professor of finance at CMU-Q, remarked: “This is a fantastic experience for the students, not only to help broaden their skills but to come together as a team. The Carnegie Consulting Club has been working over a year to develop this program and we were excited to share this opportunity

The winning team, which was made up of information systems students Mohammad Shahmeer Ahmad and Mariyam Amir, and business administration students Omar Naim, Faiha Sahirah and Muhammad Ahmed Zahid, prepared the winning presentation for the judges.

Winning team member Zahid said: “It was a thrilling experience to spend a full day as a McKinsey consultant.”

Amir added: “We are all juniors and beginning to look towards our future job prospects. I’d recommend this to anyone because there are a lot of things you get exposed to. It broadens your horizons.”