Alberta not-for-profit External Case Competition (AECC) 2023

Name of the competition: Alberta not-for-profit External Case Competition (AECC) 2023

About the competition: AECC 2023 is an annual not-for-profit strategic case competition. 11 participating teams from around the world competed to come up with the most strategic, feasible and creative plan for a non-for-profit based in Edmonton, Canada. This competition is based in Edmonton, Canada and is organised by the Alberta Not-for-Profit Association (ANPA), a student group from the University of Alberta. This years' competition focused on the Edmonton Heritage Festival, the world's largest outdoor multi-cultural event and the various challenges and opportunities it faces as it transitions into a full-scale post-pandemic event. The competition was judged by the CEO of Edmonton Heritage Festival, its core team members and various industry leaders from the consulting and finance industry, not-for-profit industry and Professors from the University of Alberta.

Date of the competition: 8 - 12 February 2023

Achievement: International Champion

Prize: CAD $1,500 (donated to Edmonton Heritage Festival)

REP Students: Lim Shi Ze Christian Emmanuel, Prasad Shubhangam Rajesh, Kek Shi Min Emmelyn

Description: The team developed a robust business case aimed at helping Edmonton Heritage Festival (EHF). This business case included a thorough analysis of the organisation and the surrounding market, creative solutions aiming to sustain EHF's presence in Canada while increasing its awareness and a robust financial projection to ensure its feasibility.

The team did a deep analysis into HeritageFest's key issues and came up with four key considerations, looking at: brand differentiation, attraction of youth, retainment of youth volunteers from at-risk countries and creating sustainable sources of funding.

With that in mind, they came up with 3 key solutions:

  1. Together with KDays: a collaboration with KDays to improve differentiation and attract youth 
  2. Together with Youth: incentivising NPOs to engage youths from countries at risk of sustaining its presence at HeritageFest
  3. TogetherShop: a one-stop shop that aims to sell multi-cultural goods and services while simultaneously provide a platform for multicultural collaborations. 

These three solutions were backed with a thorough risk analysis, implementation timeline and financial analysis to determine feasibility. 

Lim Shi Ze Christian Emmanuel, Prasad Shubhangam Rajesh, Kek Shi Min Emmelyn