CAIRO: For the second consecutive year, students from Misr International University (MIU) won first place in the annual Students in Free Competition (Sife) contest. The team will go on to compete in the Sife World Cup October 11-12 in New York. In Monday's national round held at the InterContinental Hotel, CityStars, teams of students from 10 Egyptian universities presented a range of community outreach projects such as financial literacy sessions, recycling business management training for women, foreign exchange simulations and a bird flu awareness campaign. Teams were divided into three leagues and the finalists- the American University in Cairo (AUC), Canadian International College (CIC) and Misr International University - then competed for the Sife National Champion prize, with MIU wining first place, CIC taking second, and AUC coming in third. Established in 1975, Sife is an international nongovernmental organization that collaborates with businesses and higher education to give students the opportunity to plan and implement initiatives that aim to create economic opportunities for members of their community. Each team develops community outreach projects in the areas of market economics, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, business ethics and success skills. More than 1,000 students participated, said Sylvester John, Sife's regional vice president, making this year's competition "the biggest it has ever been. "As a result of the doubled size, more students benefited from the experience, John said, "and it was more competitive because of the quality of the students work. The proposed projects were judged according to their effectiveness by business community leaders including Sherif Mansour (PricewaterhouseCoopers), Mohamed Farouk Hafeez (Americana Group), Mona El-Sayed (HSBC), and Ahmed El-Daly (Dale Carnegie Training Center), among others. The presentations were followed by question-and-answer sessions with the judges. Osama Ezz El-Din, MIU's team president, told The Daily Star Egypt that the secret of MIU s success over the past two years is motivation. "The first year we were disqualified and the second year we were only one vote away from winning. This motivated us to do better. This year we did much better, but I would not say [we did] perfectly. AUC's team faculty advisor described the Sife initiative as a wonderful opportunity for students to develop themselves, and an important step towards future career success. "[They are] the future; they have to have hope and enthusiasm. They have to believe that they can make a difference, the advisor said. AUC won the Sife competition in 2004 and 2005. This year, the AUC team won four of the five sub-categories in its league. The success of this year's competition did not go unnoticed by Phillipe Georgiou, Coca Cola's public affairs and communications director for the North and West Africa division (a Diamond Sife Egypt Partner). "There is a major improvement in the quality of students projects and presentations. We are happy with the expansion and always thrilled by the [students'] enthusiasm and motivation.
