Written by: Carlos Torres
Southern Adventist University recently participated in and made it to the finals of HSI Battle of the Brains, a national intercollegiate competition for Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSI) throughout the country.
The event was held Oct. 2-5 at the Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG) location in Orlando, Florida. KPMG, a major accounting firm, organized and hosted the event as an opportunity for students attending Hispanic-serving institutions to network with large corporations, such as Amazon and eBay.
The event was a pitch competition, during which teams had to formulate and present strategies to solve a business challenge that was presented at the start of the event. According to the HSI Battle of the Brains website, a minimum of 75% of the team had to be of Hispanic descent, at least half had to be women and 30% or more had to be accounting majors. Southern assembled a team of eight students representing various majors to compete in the 24-hour competition.
“We had a cross-functional team,” Sergio Bellino, associate professor in the School of Business and faculty adviser, said. “We pulled people from other departments, like film production and computer science, so it was beautiful to see how these guys were able to bond and come up with [a plan] with no arguments.”
This year, the challenge was to put together a complete business plan for a sustainable outdoor apparel product from scratch. The plan had to include a new product, complete with a full marketing campaign, website, financial statement, and other foundational elements for a business. The teams were then placed in separate rooms for 17 hours with no contact with advisers.
In an interview with the Accent, Bellino recalled the stress he felt in those moments, saying, “I was outside like a father when the baby is about to be born.”
Southern became aware of the opportunity after Bellino, Southern’s Enactus sponsor, attended last year’s Enactus competition, where the university’s team placed third. While there, he learned about the Battle of the Brains and wanted to provide Southern students with more opportunities for real-world experience through the competition.
“Southern Adventist University is the only Hispanic-serving institution in Tennessee, and yet we had never participated,” Bellino said.
The event catered primarily to Hispanic students, offering “an experiential diversity recruiting showcase of top Hispanic talent from colleges and universities across the country,” according to the HSI Battle of the Brains website. As the fourth annual competition organized by KPMG, this year’s event allowed Hispanic students to meet successful Hispanic business owners and network with peers.
Ruben Cantu, a professor at the University of Texas, said in a promotional video for HSI Battle of the Brains, “We want to inspire the community to say, ‘You belong here, too, and we’re here to create a pathway for you to actually achieve your greatest dreams.’”
Henry Valderrama, a sophomore marketing major at Southern, shared his perspective as a participant and how the team had to work together to complete their task.
“I think it was a team effort to really hone in on our strengths and our weaknesses,” Valderrama said. “But we quickly conquered that after a few hours.”
He continued, “During that experience, I learned how difficult marketing actually is. It’s not just creative and about PowerPoints. It’s also analytical, and you study market gaps and such.”
Despite their lack of experience in the competition, the students made a strong debut. Bellino recalled the experience saying, “This group had only slept for, like, an average of two hours, and they had to put [on all of this] — they had to present, memorize the script, everything.”
Despite all of the challenges, the Southern team made it to the finals along with six other teams chosen by the judges, according to Bellino. As a former business owner of Argentine descent, Bellino said he knows the importance of such experiences and hopes to continue exposing students to authentic business environments.
“These kids delivered an amazing plan and product,” Bellino said. “ It was extremely innovative. So, we’re very proud of the work that they were able to do in such a [short time]. Because when you’re put under that kind of pressure, it really shows what you’re made of.”
