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Team of five students
surpasses three thousand competitors from all over the country
Team of five students
surpasses three thousand competitors from all over the country
RAQUEL DO CARMO SANTOS
 Cith the euphoria of those traveling abroad for the first time, five statistics students from Unicamp embarked on December 6th for Italy, where they will have their expenses paid for ten days, paying out of their own pocket for another 20 days to visit four other European countries. An award for the dedication, dexterity and entrepreneurial spirit of the group, which surpassed more than 3 thousand competitors in the Sebrae 2001 Challenge. "It was a long marathon of exercises, quick decisions and nerves on edge", says Rodrigo Mazza, 3rd year of the course and the first one has the idea of participating in the competition. The other members of Czares - the name chosen by them for the ornamental candle company - are Renato Higa (4th year), Alcides Isao (3rd year), Flávio Satomi (3rd year) and Luís Henrique Affonso (4th year).
The Sebrae Challenge is a virtual game designed especially for university students, with the aim of encouraging students to learn how to manage a company. They go through real experiences aimed at purchasing raw materials, formulating product prices and training employees, in addition to observing the market and their competitors to invest in marketing, research and development and dissemination.
To reach the final in Brasília this month, the Unicamp team also won the southeast regional stage, in Rio de Janeiro, in October last year. "There were two classification phases, played via the internet", recalls Luís Affonso. In the last test, each group had an exclusive room to "set up an office" and the paths were drawn on the spot.
In the Federal District, the challenges increased and with it the stress for decision-making. Affonso says that the time to choose each strategy was less than 20 minutes. "This provoked intense discussions, but they were what sustained the team." The most rewarding result of the experience, everyone agrees, was respect for each other's opinions.
For Mazza, one of the decisive factors was the team spirit created during the competition, so much so that the absence of one of the members would certainly have made the victory impossible. "Everyone played a decisive role." Another factor, in Alcides Isao's opinion, was natural selection among members. "We didn't have specific roles, but each one ended up performing the role with which they most identified, with everyone's interference in the decision-making moment", he highlights.
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