Khivintsev Maksin, team leader of the Russian team was delighted and proud when he heard the announcement of the victory of his team, during the gala dinner in Cascais, Portugal. The Russian team had won over the other 29 teams in the International Final of the Global Management Challenge. “We are very happy and proud to win the world’s biggest strategy and management competition. The other teams were very strong, it was a difficult victory, but we did it. The chosen strategy was long term investment and cost optimization. The other teams were as knowledgeable as us, so it was our choice of strategy that gave us the victory”, stated Khivintsev Maksin.
In second place was Poland, followed by Finland, Hong Kong, Turkey, Belarus, Romania and Portugal respectively.
According to Vyacheslav Shoptenko, the organiser of the Global Management Challenge in Russia, “This victory is proof of the quality of the Russian human resources. It reflects that Russian management is strong and competitive.”

The Global Management Challenge will grow in the Americas and Africa. Ghana has now joined the network of countries organising the Challenge, coordinated by Seyram Klu, who while studying in the U.K. had contact with the competition for the first time. Seyram Klu believes that this provides good training for corporate executives and a tool for hiring new associates. The objective in Ghana is also to have teams of executives and students. Arnold Parker of Enterprise Consulting is the project manager for the Global Management Challenge Ghana.

In the Americas, Carlos Farcug, organiser of the Global Management Challenge in Mexico and in charge of the Latin America expansion said: “We want to expand the challenge and strong possibilities exist to have Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Cuba joining the competition”.

The next International Final will take place in Khanty-Mansiysk, located in Siberia, in May of 2010. The Vice-Minister of Industry and Commerce, Stanislav Naumov was present during the last International Final and during the press conference of the event and hoped that in 2010 the initiative be as successful as in Portugal. Vyacheslav Shoptenko, co-organiser of the next International Final presented next year’s event location.

Peter Mottek, CEO and Country Manager of Barclays Portugal received the award of Sponsor of the Year after eight years of sponsoring the Global Management Challenge.
Barclays sponsors student teams and teams of employees. During his ‘thank you remarks’ Peter Mottek highlighted the educational role of the Global Management Challenge in the creation of team spirit and work, time and information management; essential skills for today´s enterprise. Barclays continues to expand in Portugal, investing in human capital. The support to the Global Management Challenge is a natural consequence because of its excellent qualities as an educational tool and improving the interaction of people from different areas, thereby strengthening team work.