EFKO Group Special League: opening new horizons for industry youth

The results of the EFKO Group Special League, which debuted under the auspices of the CASE-IN International Engineering Championship, have been summed up. The new project allowed more than 570 students from different regions of the country to show their talents. Industry youth have developed interesting case solutions in the field of the fat and oil industry and the agro-industrial complex, mastered new competencies, and the 12 best contestants will receive valuable prizes and career opportunities.

The qualifying stage of the league brought together students from different fields: These are future analysts, HR specialists, creative managers, designers, brand managers, marketers, chemical technologists, geneticists, embryologists, microbiological engineers, biotechnological engineers and other specialists. The young people performed a task prepared by EFKO Group's leading specialists and related to the company's real production objectives and the global challenges facing the food industry.

The contestants performed tasks in accordance with their chosen direction: they created a marketing strategy for the development of the packaged butter market, developed measures to improve the efficiency of the sales department and layouts of the EFCO branded zone for their universities, and chose a technology that minimizes carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere during food production.

The top 40 students participated in the testing conducted using the methods that the company uses when selecting future specialists for the staff.

28 participants from the Altai Territory, Vladimir, Volgograd, Kirov, Kursk, Rostov, Samara, Saratov, Sverdlovsk regions, the Republics of Tatarstan and Crimea, as well as the Udmurt Republic qualified for the final.

As part of 7 teams, the finalists worked on solving the case "Organization of an innovative business model": they created a model for organizing an effective business for the production and sale of vegetable milk, thought out an advertising campaign, slogan and packaging, chose a management model and methods of staff motivation, and also expressed ideas on the composition and technology of product production.

The expert Commission determined the three winners and prize-winners of the EFKO Group Special League. It is interesting to note that all three teams that reached the podium were led to success by the student captains of Samara State Technical University.

The first place was taken by the team with the sonorous name "Team 1": Elena Tsareva, Victoria Yakovleva, Anna Konokhova, Polina Parshutina.

As the captain of the champions said Elena Tsareva The team turned to current trends and research: "Our product attracts attention with its concise design, contains already used raw materials with technology improvements, offers popular tastes, and uses modern distribution methods in the matter of advertising. Our team quickly got used to it and started solving the case. We were able to discuss the main issues and choose the main scheme for further work. It was interesting to work with completely different and unique people, each with their own views and suggestions. It was an amazing experience."

Thanks to the project, Victoria Yakovleva from SamSTU learned to analyze more deeply the ways to solve the problem that can be applied in production. In the future, the girl plans to realize herself in the areas that the Special League was dedicated to, and find a job that allows her to bring all her ideas to life.

"At the final stage, our team made a number of suggestions regarding improving the composition and taste of soy milk produced by EFKO, - reveals the nuances of development Victoria Yakovleva. –  Moreover, in order to identify the weaknesses of competitors, an analysis of milk brands and their advertising was carried out. After collecting and analyzing the main problems, we talked about ways to solve them. Our team worked just fine - initially everyone knew their task, so everything was done on time. It's a huge plus to work with people from different fields of activity, as it provides a great opportunity to get an objective opinion on your decisions and choose what will be most relevant and feasible in reality." 

Anna Konokhova, who studies at Sevastopol State University, admits that she did not expect to go beyond the qualifying stage. But the girl's abilities turned out to be much higher than her expectations – now she is among the winners of the project.

"The topics of the cases turned out to be very relevant to me. First of all, I learned self-discipline and gained knowledge in the field of analytics. This is my first time participating in a competition under the "CASE-IN" brand. I think I will participate in other projects in the future. As it turned out, this is an invaluable experience.", - shares his impressions Anna.

For a student of Kursk State University Polina Parshutina The special league has become a good platform for testing skills and abilities.: "Here I learned how to make decisions quickly and look for new methods of visualizing solutions. I especially appreciate the experience gained in teamwork. We felt comfortable working with each other, which was the key to a good result."

Silver went to the Four in a Boat team: Vladislav Bazaev, Kamilla Mekhantseva, Victoria Korzh, Egor Skobkarev.

According to the recognition of the captain of the team Vladislav Bazaev The team was formed by random choice: "We didn't know each other, I wrote to everyone to find out who knows what field. Personally, I learned that everyone had opportunities, it was just necessary to use them correctly, and also that every member of the team, without exception, plays an important role."

The qualifying stage for By Yegor Skobkarev He did not become a serious obstacle from Izhevsk State Technical University named after M. T. Kalashnikov.: "In the qualifying stage in my field, it was necessary to analyze the sunflower oil market and choose a brand that is worth developing. I did the task quickly."

At the finals, the team's task was to develop a business model for the production of vegetable milk. 

"We conducted a market analysis and developed a marketing campaign, calculated marginal profit and approximate sales growth, proposed a new product packaging design and several options for changes in the production process.  From the point of view of economics, our solution is quite beneficial for the enterprise, from the point of view of production, it is more modern and less labor-intensive.", - explains Kamilla Mekhantseva from the Southern Federal University.

The team members value the project for their teamwork experience.

 Student of the Volgograd State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering Victoria Korzh He tells me: «I have learned to work to the maximum for the sake of achieving the overall result. Each of us was like a cog in a single mechanism. We all performed our duties with dignity and contributed to the achievement of the result."

The SLK team, consisting of Captain Elena Elistratova from SamSTU, Yulia Fominykh (Vyatka State University), Victoria Gladkova (Vladimir branch of the RANEPA under the President of the Russian Federation) and Karina Subbotina (Altai State University), rounded out the top three.

Participating in the EFKO Group Special League, the guys wanted to try themselves in a new project and gain new knowledge while solving cases. As the bronze medalists admit, their expectations were fulfilled.

Elena Elistratova counts: «Each team member turned out to be the best in their field, which became a success factor.  We learned how to work in new conditions, and we received a lot of valuable information.  So, in the direction of "Analytics and Management" we needed to identify the reasons for the ineffective work of the sales department and suggest ways to solve them. The task for the chemists was to analyze greenhouse gas emissions from food products and create solutions for one type of production to reduce CO2 emissions. Those who chose the "Design" were faced with the task of creating the interior of the recreation room. In the end, each of us got what we expected from the project."

The Special League does not end with summing up the results: the winners will be awarded at the Biruch Innovation Center in the Belgorod region. 12 talented students will receive valuable prizes and certificates and will get acquainted with the work of the EFKO Group's scientific and educational center and production sites - an enzyme plant and fat and oil products.

The best contestants of the Special League will be included in the personnel reserve of EFKO Group. Probably, some of the talented students will soon become part of a large team of the company, which today has more than 17 thousand employees in Russia and Kazakhstan.