An inside look at the 2nd Student Medicover Case Competition
An inside look at the 2nd Student Medicover Case Competition
Introduction
Last year, Student Medicover launched its first case competition. At the same time this year, Student Medicover started the second case competition from March to April to enable students to learn more about the insurance market in the United States and to develop their experience as a business team. Over the program of a month, 55 applicants attended this event, and the competition was won by one of the teams with five exceptional prospects. Let’s take a closer look at the competitors now.
Table of Content
1.What is Student Medicover Case Competition?
1.What is our Case Competition?
It is an event conducted by Student Medicover to allow any foreign student in the United States to compete for a total prize of $10,000 by demonstrating their business ideas in the health and insurance industry.
The tournament is divided into 14 teams of 3-5 students each. Each team must participate in a preliminary round, with the top three teams proceeding to the final presentation round. In addition, two great talents in the related industry are asked to participate in the evaluation of this competition.
One is Eric Yang, a highly seasoned financial specialist with over 20 years of business experience, is one of them. He presently works at UnionPay International as the Head of Merchant Partnership and Payment Acceptance, where he oversees worldwide account and merchant vertical collaboration and partnership, payment acceptance development, and optimization. Eric has substantial corporate management experience, having held key roles at Standard Chartered Bank and Citi in Shanghai. He is a Fudan University graduate with a track record of executing successful projects and driving corporate growth.
The other is John Lu, Chief Operating Officer of MORE Health, taking charge of operations, marketing, sales, and strategic planning. He has over 25 years of expertise in production management, market growth, and company expansion in a variety of sectors such as the internet, healthcare, solar, optical communication equipment, oil and gas equipment, port management, and sea freight shipping. Prior to joining MORE Health, he worked for Hanergy North America, NAWAH Corporation, CoAnda Corporation, and Coherent Corporation, as well as JDSU Corporation as Asia-Pacific Sales Director. He has also served as an independent director for Amper and has managed both global enterprises and startups.
Based on their extensive industry knowledge, they joined our case competition committee to evaluate the winning project, and the best marketing plan will most likely be used by Student Medicover in the future.
2.Why do we organize the event?
2.Why do we organize the event?
On the one hand, the event will encourage students to have a better grasp of the insurance market in the US, allowing international students to have more solid ideas about how insurance function in this country to secure their future safety and rights.
On the other hand, Student Medicover also anticipates that by taking part in such a virtual business environment, all participants can gain more social experience in advance of starting their careers, as they can easily apply the knowledge and skills learned from the competition to boost their professional level and abilities in their future work.
3.Highlight of the event
3.Highlight of the event
In the first round, each team produced a written report that included not just their market research and analysis but also a workable strategy approach for the company’s future growth. The participants asked many questions about the company and the state of the industry throughout the development of the proposals, and our advisors tried their best to address all of them.
And in the final round, we are incredibly grateful for and awed by the overwhelming enthusiasm from each finalist that thanks to their passion and dedication to this competition, tons of outstanding ideas and presentations were ultimately produced. After a tough decision from the case competition committee based on the scoring criteria and the professional insights into each plan, they have decided that Team 1 to win the competition by a small margin.
4.Winner Announcement
4.Winner Announcement
On behalf of Student Medicover, it is proud to announce our 2023 case competition winner:
1st place winner – Team1 Mavericks: Yinming Gao (University of Maryland)、Peiyuan Gu (University of Maryland)、Biying Xiu （University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill）、Tianming Dong (University of Maryland)、Jing Wang（University of Connecticut）
2nd place winner – Team9 Remedy: Yingxuan Bian（University of Notre Dame）Shuo Fu（Case Western Reserve University）、Leyan Tang（University of Virginia）、Ruoyu Fang（University of Notre Dame）、Lokyan Vivian Li（UC Davis）
3rd place winner – Team4 BQC : Zhichong Wang（University of Virginia）、Zhiyuan Song（University of Virginia）、Zixu Li（University of Virginia）
Here are some words from the winning team:
“As a member of the winning team in this competition, I am grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with cross-functional team members, which played a crucial role in our success. This experience also made me realize how I had previously underutilized the resources provided by my former insurance plan and had misconceptions about it. I am immensely grateful to SM for providing me with in-depth knowledge about SM and the healthcare industry as a whole.” ——Jing Wang from Mavericks
“I am deeply grateful to Student Medicover for organizing this competition and wholeheartedly appreciate the diligent efforts of our team members, Tam, Gus, Lily, and Sharon. We sought counsel from numerous advisors who provided invaluable advice. It is my hope that Student Medicover continues to lead in school insurance for an extended duration, providing further benefits and security to Chinese international students.”——Yinming (Randall) Gao from Mavericks
“The 2023 Student Medicover Case Competition was an amazing experience for us! We studied the healthcare industry as well as the challenges and opportunities in the international student healthcare market. The discussions we had and insights we received from the advisors also helped us to shape a better understanding of the health insurance industry. Although we were in 2nd place at the end, we were delighted to see our presentation was recognized by the leadership team. We appreciate Student Medicover for offering this case competition opportunity, and we thank everyone’s hard work to make this an unforgettable experience! ——Ruoyu Fang from Remedy
“Participating in SM’s case competition granted me the invaluable opportunity to deepen my understanding of the health insurance market in the United States. By working with a realistic dataset, I was able to refine my data analysis skills. Additionally, the teamwork involved in presenting our findings allowed us to develop essential abilities such as collaboration, communication, and public speaking. This competition not only acted as a fantastic introduction to my internship at SM but also enabled me to familiarize myself with the company’s operations and values. As a result, I am even more enthusiastic about my upcoming internship and eagerly look forward to the enriching experiences and learning opportunities that await me.”—— Zhichong Wang from BQC
However, we should not underestimate the efforts made by each team and participant. As a result, we are awarding certificates of participation to each student. Also, the judges, advisors, and other participants are hugely appreciated for their dedication and wise counsel and really anticipate additional chances for collaboration in the future.
5.How does the competition collaborate with our company in the future?
5.How does the competition collaborate with our company in the future?
In conclusion, as a student insurance company, Student Medicover has made it a point to give not just services but also care to all international students in the United States. Similar to the purpose of this competition, which is to assist students in preparing for their professions, our company works relentlessly to guarantee that all of our customers are prepared for their studies and life in the United States. As a result, in order to encourage our fellow students as much as possible, we will sponsor more events and campaigns based on our company’s ideals and ethics.
