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12th Annual International Conference on Global Economy
A student-run activity, the International Conference on Global Economy (ICGE) held its 12th annual convention under the umbrella of AUC’s School of Business and with the support of faculty adviser Hamed Shamma, assistant professor of management. The four-day conference tackled the fundamental concepts of marketing and finance, as well as topics relevant to the development of an economy.
Led by a team of students structured as an academic and organizing committee, ICGE welcomed Ambassador Gamal Bayoumy, former assistant minister of foreign affairs and secretary-general of the General Secretariat of the Egyptian-European Association Agreement, as well as Mohamed Afify, general manager of Animation Advertising, as keynote speakers. Both delivered speeches focusing on the enhancement of Egypt’s transitioning economy post-revolution. Discussing the attributes that govern a stabilized economy, the aim of the conference is to convey to its participants the concepts of business, finance and marketing, and how they should be applied.
Divided into seven different councils, the conference integrates similar bodies separated as the marketing and the financial linkage, acting as a simulation for real-life business applications. Each linkage adapts a different theme every year, on the grounds of creating a more diverse conference to ensure its effectiveness. “Delegates were exposed to all the different sectors of the economy and were able to put their knowledge to great use,” said Ismaeel Tharwat, academic committee head of ICGE 2012.
This year, the marketing linkage divided its delegates into marketing agencies composed of three different councils: Council on Television Advertisements, Council on Print and Radio Advertisements and the Marketing and Public Relations Council. Each group was to create a specific product and/or service for a certain ministry, whilst secretariats served as international investors. The objective of this linkage was to envelope a marketing campaign incorporating a series of advertisements, a marketing plan and effectual strategic execution.
Conversely, the financial linkage included the Business Crisis Simulation (BCS), Stock Market Simulation (SMS) in addition to the Investment and Commercial Banking Simulation (ICBS), whereby each council tried to attain the highest gross within the dynamics of the council itself. While SMS caters as an actual stock market, delegates assumed roles of all the main players in the stock market as investors, brokers and mutual funds. Simultaneously, BCS followed the food-related industry, where delegates were to develop various business models to properly construct their sources of revenue or income in accordance to the crises they faced. Additionally, ICBS reflected the banking industry, closely scrutinizing financial analyses that impact long-term financial decisions.
For more information on ICGE, click here.In its junior council, which is specifically designed for high-school students, delegates conducted financial and marketing plans for a new innovative “lunch box” targeting various schools. The key goal was to unilaterally expose them to the core foundations of marketing and finance, acting as a stepping stone to the topics they would be introduced to in college.
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