Four Real Estate Management students from De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde became the first Filipino group to reach the final round in CoreNet Global Academic Challenge, making it to the top three at the end of the competition.
Beatrice Quirante, Louie Co, Daniella Gelacio, and Sofia Quiniano competed in the first and second round of the Academic Challenge where they stimulated the role of an internal corporate real estate team under the supervision of Mr. Kent Erwin Go, the chairperson of the Real Estate Management Program in Benilde.
Mr. Joey Radovan, Vice Chairman of JLL Philippines, also guided the students in developing comprehensive Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategies that would address post-pandemic concerns of the corporate realm.
Aiming to turn a fictional financial service company called Blue Banc Group into a carbon-neutral company by 2030, the Benildean participants formulated a set of ESG recommendations and strategies to reinforce diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) in corporate practices.
A month-long preparation was given to the team to formulate their virtual presentations, where they contacted various professionals and professors to aid them as they created their strategy.
According to Quirante, professional feedback helped them in considering the realities of their soon-to-be-implemented ESG strategy that aimed to address post-pandemic health and safety concerns and employee well-being.
The group competed against American schools namely Georgia Tech School of Building Construction and Fox School of Business at Temple University, along with Scotland-based Heriot-Watt University, with Georgia Tech bringing home the championship.
“Being part of the top 3 for this academic challenge truly was an achievement for the team," Quirante shared in an interview with The Benildean.
CoreNet Global is a nonprofit association for corporate real estate in Georgia, USA. Representing over 11,000 executives worldwide with strategic responsibility of their real estate assets, it is pursuant of advancing the tactical practice and application of real estate through career development opportunities and educational foundations.
As part of their advocacy, CoreNet hosted the Academic Challenge as a strategic priority in raising awareness of corporate real estate as a career and a business venture. One of the key objectives of the Academic Challenge is to give recognition to the real-life impacts of corporate real estate in our global economy.
