MBA students win 1st place at Virgin Next Big Thing Competition

On March 5, a group of four McGill MBAs drove to Kingston, Ontario, to compete in the first "Virgin Next Big Thing Competition," hosted by the Queen's School of Business. Less than two hours after their arrival, Stephanie Berger, Louis Dagenais, Salah Elatrash and Ryan Wood were awarded first place.

They pitched VirginRooms, a high-value hotel experience for the business traveler, and won first place, $10,000, and Virgin Mobile phones and airtime for a year.

The competition was part of the first Queen's Entrepreneurial Summit (QUEST), and required teams of four to submit a business plan to the executive team of Virgin Mobile Canada.

The team would like to express its gratitude for the training and guidance of Louis Gialloreto. Louis' presentation requirements and tough Q&A during Marketing Management II and Brand Management classes prepared the team for the questions from the Virgin executives.