Three students from SKEMA Business School Nice were selected from nearly 800 applicants from 37 countries to participate in the international “CITIZEN ACT” competition organized by Société Générale. Only 9 French students passed the first stage of this business game.
Between September and December 2010, students from business schools, engineering schools, and universities worldwide were invited to form teams of three to propose a project on the theme of social and environmental responsibility: CSR / sustainable development.
To help them, throughout the year, Société Générale provided numerous training tools such as an e-learning module developed by CEGOS, online quizzes, workshops, and a team blog… A groundbreaking initiative in the world of business games!
From February 1st until March 6th, 2011, the students must develop and finalize their project on their dedicated blog.
Their project: Propose to Société Générale’s clients to finance microfinance projects worldwide and track their progress via a mobile phone application.
The innovation of the project: Create and maintain regular connections between the lender and micro-entrepreneurs in developing countries.
The Société Générale Jury selected a team of students from SKEMA Business School for the final phase of the Citizen Act Challenge 2011. This Challenge aims to “Invent the responsible banking practices of tomorrow.” Out of the 249 teams, 45 teams have been selected from 37 countries and 4 continents, and 10 will be chosen for the Grand Finale. At this stage, HEC and SKEMA are the two French schools still in the running.
Andy Jauffret, Célian Mathis, and Romain Prothet, students of the Master of Science in Corporate Finance at SKEMA, invented a Micro-Finance system based on Société Générale’s Expresso Personal Loan and Smartphone New Technology. Thus, the “World Phone Finance” application was born, already accessible worldwide. With this innovation, any lender will choose and finance the Sustainable and Solidarity Development Operation they want and track it directly on their mobile phone.
To win this Challenge, SKEMA students must gather the most support, suggestions, advice, and recommendations based on your personal concrete experience of economic development in disadvantaged areas, near or far, and in as many countries as possible.
