UNYP team climbs to new heights in the Unilever Future Leaders’ League

At the end of the last year our very own UNYP team won the CEE National Final of Unilever Future Leaders’ League. Now the success story continues as Danai Baouraki, Nikola Kmoníčková and Daniela Slezáková have now taken the win in the European Finals, which took place in Rotterdam from the 26th till the 28th of January. After competing with eight European teams, UNYP team managed to get into the Global Finals which will be held in London in April. 

They will be working on a completely new case and this time they will represent UNYP, as well as the whole CEE region, among teams from the whole world. We talked with the girls about their experience in the competition: 

What was the biggest challenge compared to CEE? 

Danai: One of the biggest challenges in the European round was explaining every aspect in absolute detail as this time we knew we would be in front of a jury that focused solely on Rexona. 

Nikola: I think compared to CEE, there was much more pressure on us to do well. We had to think of every single detail of our case study, as we knew the judges would be experts in their field and our competitors would be the top teams from prestigious schools all over the Europe. There was much more work to be done and we knew we needed to excel and stand out among other teams in order to have a chance to go further. 

Daniela: We knew the jury would know the product into the smallest detail. There was no room for to miss even the smallest details or aspects of the business or any business circumstance of Rexona could face as a result of our proposals – we had to understand the brand, what it stands for and what hardships it faces perfectly.  

What gave you the biggest sense of accomplishment?  

Danai: For me it was going in as a team and walking out as a stronger team. Despite the stress and pressure we went into this competition enjoying every moment and in the end we performed with utmost confidence and grace. 

Nikola: As soon as we finished presenting our case study for the launch of Rexona Compressed in front of the judges in Rotterdam, I looked at both of the girls in our team, and I felt incredibly proud of all of our individual efforts. At that moment, I think we all felt like this was the greatest thing we have ever done. Regardless of the result, we felt that we did an amazing job, we learnt as much as we could and most importantly, we enjoyed it!  

Daniela: My team. The ladies have been amazing to both work and travel with, and our smooth cooperation helped us greatly. We said everything we planned to during our presentation. We did not leave out or forget anything despite the pressure we felt. I was so proud how we improved as a team. 

What was the secret to success? 

Danai: The secret to success was having each other’s backs, it is important to find a great team that you not only have fun with but one that can be open with each other and play on each other’s strengths when it comes to putting everything together and bringing it forward.  

Nikola: In my opinion, it was learning from our mistakes and focusing on the feedback we were given in the CEE finals. With Daniela, we already took part in a similar competition before, but we did not get past the regional level. But we took as much as we could from this competition and from the presentations of the other teams and it was of great importance for us in the UFLL. Also, as we went through the regional finals of UFLL, we were given very detailed feedback on our presentation from the judges and this was immensely helpful for us in the European finals. We took the advice of judges very seriously and I think it was one of the main reasons we did well in the end.  

Daniela: Not leaving anything to chance. We answered all questions that came into our minds regarding “why did Unilever do it this way?” (e.g. price positioning), and then made it clear during the presentation that we tried to understand where they were coming from. 

Do you want to share any other experiences or stories? 

Danai: During the 3 days we met some amazing people and ones that as well motivated us to keep moving forward. We spent the three days learning a lot about the company and about ourselves as individuals and as a team. We laughed, we relaxed together, met some of our friends living in Rotterdam and despite the stress we managed to enjoy our time.

Nikola: Although it was not obvious to me at the beginning, as we went through the whole UFLL adventure, I started to see that it is much more than just another marketing competition. The UFLL is mainly an amazing opportunity for students of all ages to learn and get new experience in real life. During every final that we went through, we participated in interesting lectures, presentations and workshops, which were designed to help us to not only understand Unilever as a company but also give us insight on how to work well in teams, improve our CVs and our presentation skills. 

Daniela: It seems to me as if Unilever branches had UFLL as a bit of an internal competition as well, and I really like how they show their involvement. After all, they are the ones who gave us the chance to go and represent them. The CEE and Czech branches supported us greatly, they send us wonderful words of encouragement and want to help us in any way they can. It really made us much more proud to come to Rotterdam as CEE cluster representatives, not only a Czech team.