Victory in Canada! Our alumni members win the business case competition hosted by the Asper School of Business

Master’s students of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Babeș–Bolyai University (BBU) in Cluj-Napoca, representing the GTK as well, have achieved a major international success: the student team won the 2026 edition of the Asper Business Case Competition, hosted by the University of Manitoba, Asper School of Business. The competition involving MBA and master’s students took place between February 18–21, 2026, where the BBU team secured first place, outperforming teams from two Canadian universities, McMaster University and HEC Montréal. As a result of this outstanding performance, the Cluj-Napoca team also received the competition’s grand prize of CAD 5,000.

The members of team representing BBU and the GTK were Bánffy Zsófia (Data-Driven Management MSc, Year 2), Bugár Anna (Data-Driven Management MSc, Year 2), Dimény-Varga Ábel (Data-Driven Management MSc, Year 1), and Kovács Kata (Data-Driven Management MSc, Year 2). The team was trained by Dr. Levente Szász, Dr. Lehel Györfy, and Dr. Béla-Gergely Rácz, with support from doctoral student Réka Izsák, who also accompanied the team to the competition.

The students from Cluj-Napoca delivered an outstanding performance throughout the event: they were the only team to win all three preliminary rounds and went on to achieve the highest score in the final, securing an undefeated overall victory.

During the preliminary rounds, participants developed solutions to a variety of business challenges, including a revenue growth strategy for a local jazz festival, the repositioning of a Winnipeg-based family business producing handcrafted candles toward the luxury market, and the development of digitalization capabilities and youth-oriented strategies for a Canadian credit union targeting Generation Z and Alpha consumers. The finalist teams presented this latter case study once again to a professional jury composed of entrepreneurs, industry experts, including the chief executive officer of the financial institution involved. Following a unanimous decision, the jury concluded that the most comprehensive and innovative solution was presented by the BBU team, which thus won the competition with the highest overall score.

This victory is further proof of the global competitiveness of BBU’s business education programs and of the students’ ability to successfully compete at the highest level in prestigious international competitions.