On December 11th, the BCG Moscow office hosted the final of the annual BCG Idea Challenge 2021 case championship, which is an idea contest where talented students and mentors from BCG join forces to work on socially significant projects. BCG is an international company specializing in management consulting and is the initiator and organizer of the competition. Every year, the company chooses a meaningful partner who acts as a client in the case championship and evaluates the proposals of the participants together with the BCG team, and in 2021 Lake Baikal Foundation was granted such an opportunity.
Having completed the qualifying stage, more than 40 students from 12 teams based in different regions of Russia entered the competition. The participants were divided into two subject areas, within which they had to work on a task from the Foundation for the following 4 weeks, creating their own socially significant project in the field of environmental protection. The tasks were close to the real tasks of the Foundation and included: 1) the development of proposals for the creation of a climate program, and 2) the development of a strategy for interaction with corporate partners of the Foundation, taking into account the mission, values and principles of cooperation.
While developing their projects, the contest participants immersed themselves in the specifics of work in consulting organization and in the functioning of the Russian non-profit environmental organization. As a result of a series of trainings from BCG and consultations with mentors and the Foundation, 6 projects were selected being the best at meeting the demand of Lake Baikal Foundation team. Among them, there were initiatives on the creation of carbon polygons, the permafrost protection, the introduction of recycling system, as well as creative ways to attract partners from the business community and the development of the project on commercial water footprint.
Finally, on December 11th, the students defended their project work in front of the jury, which consisted of Lake Baikal Foundation team represented by Head of Projects Ekaterina Terenteva and project manager Evgeniya Elkina, as well as representatives of the BCG Moscow office. The experts selected the winners and prize-winners in each of the nominations and provided each team with detailed feedback on the performances and presented projects, noting the quality and volume of work done. The Foundation also identified some ideas that can find practical application in its activities as early as 2022.
The team of Lake Baikal Foundation congratulates the winners and prize-winners of BCG Idea Challenge 2021 on the high results of the competition and wishes success and further professional growth! The Foundation also expresses its gratitude to BCG for the opportunity to participate in the case championship as a partner and to acquaint more than 40 interested participants with the specifics of the Foundation’s activities.