NEWS

Yıldız Holding has announced the winners of the fifth edition of bizz@kampüs – the contest that scouts out university students best and brightest ideas.

This year’s contest broke a record upon receiving the highest number of applications ever in its history. Some 2,038 teams and 6,114 students from 129 different universities [across Türkiye] competed at bizz@kampüs to give Café Crown a new lease on life. Team Lusty from Karadeniz Technical University won first place for “Café Crown Cold”.

Bizz@kampüs is an annual contest that encourages university students to come up with creative projects for different Yıldız Holding brands. This year (the fifth edition of the contest), the spotlight was on Café Crown. Contestants had to send their ideas – in groups of three – to www.bizzkampus.com.

Internship opportunities also up for grabs!

Teams consisting of undergrad and Master’s students had to come up with ways to rejuvenate “Café Crown.” Contestants not only gained valuable experience but also a foot in the door into their new careers as well. Team Lusty team (Şeyda Nur Cevahiroğlu, İsmail Furkan Köşker, and Hakan Turfanda) from Karadeniz Technical University won first place, walking home with TL 15,000. Team Peaky Brothers (Sermet Kılıç and Kaan Postacı of Bahçeşehir University, Uğur Dağtepesi of Bilgi University) won second place (TL 10,000) for “Café Crown Lovers Together.”

This year, two groups shared third place. The first was Team Parçacıklar (Cem Demirel, Seher Camcı, and Sena Naz Çebi) of Özyeğin University for “Café Crown Turkish Work.” Second was Tam “Julius” (Batu Ulku, Gözde Şen, and Melisa Nur Ek) of Bilkent University for “Café Crown HD.” Both groups walked home with TL 7,500 each in their pockets. Beyond cash, all four winners also earned the chance to intern – and later work – at Yıldız Holding.

At the award ceremony, Yıldız Holding’s Vice Chairman Ali Ülker said: “Investing in the future means investing in young people. Bizz@kampüs is a key youth-oriented project of ours. Congratulations to everyone who competed. They daringly took the initiative to make projects out of their ideas and compete against millions of other students – that takes guts. Yesterday, I – as a jury member – got the chance to listen to the finalists’ presentations. There were professional. Better still, their ideas very much exceeded my expectations and are worth bringing to life.”

Real marketing experience

Pladis’ Regional CEO Mehmet Tütüncü noted that within the past five years, the contest has given over 20,000 university students real job experience: “This contest has granted students the opportunity to learn more about our global organization. It also gives them real marketing experience before they step into the real world. They learn how to manage projects, how to work on teams, and how to come up with, develop, present, and bring their ideas to life. That experience will add to the culture of innovation, which is a cornerstone of development.”