The Yonsei Global MBA team got as far as the semifinals of the Mahindra War Room Season 9 case study competition in November in Mumbai, India, where they were competing against 32 teams from India, Singapore, China, and the Philippines.

The competition has been hosted by Mahindra Group since 2008, and originated as a competition for MBA students of India’s renowned universities in solving real frontline business problems. In 2015, Yonsei Global MBA students became the first team from outside India to compete.

The Yonsei Global MBA team composed of Maxmillian Chen, Ragy Selim, Diana Stelzer, and Daeun Yoo, arrived in India early on November 5, spent a day preparing for the semifinals and competed on November 7. Despite the tight schedule, under the guidance of Professor Sunmee Choi, they prepared a development strategy for ZOTO, a mobile application that Mahindra introduced in Nigeria.

“Experiencing how differently students from other countries approach the same question, we recognized the diversity of perspectives and backgrounds,” said Maxmillian Chen, the team leader. “Mahindra War Room is a competition most admired by Indian students. The participants were from top business schools in India, and their passion inspired our team members,” he added.

Members of the Yonsei Global MBA team were selected in the Yonsei Round on October 5. Judges of the Yonsei Round were Dilip Sundaram, CEO of Mahindra Korea; Tube Vasudev, CFO of Mahindra Korea; Youngsik Shin, managing director of Mahindra Korea; Chagyu Park, managing director of Mahindra Korea; and Subin Im, associate dean of MBA programs.