The economics consulting student applied his business coursework in the competition organized by online retailer Chewy.
Jovani Mendez-Sandoval ’22 proposed the next big product for Chewy during the 2021 ChewyCase Competition for Students of Color.
The economic consulting major and his teammates from Washington University-St. Louis, Yale University, Rutgers University and the University of North Texas worked over five days to develop a proposal for the next big product or service for Chewy, an online retailer for pet parents.
Chewy placed 30 students across six teams based on complimentary skill sets.
On Jan. 13, teams presented to a panel of judges, who evaluated students on their ability to think big, operate at depth and put customers first.
“Although we did not win the grand prize, I was able to hone my interpersonal communication and teamwork skills,” Mendez-Sandoval said. “We worked together virtually for various hours throughout those five days and used our strengths to craft our solution. We proposed an interactive marketing platform within the Chewy website that would build a strong pet community.”
Mendez-Sandoval noted his finance and accounting courses helped him interpret Chewy’s and its competitors’ financial statements while his industrial economics and management information systems courses helped him analyze trends provided by Chewy to create data visualizations in Excel.
“This case competition gave me experience working in a fast-paced and ambiguous environment by being placed into a group of competitive students and mentors.”