Five students enrolled at Howard University won the Goldman Sachs Fifth Annual Market Competition and secured a $1 million grant for the institution.
Keyla Arrechea, Jordan Atkins, Aaron Harrison, Kadijah Mansaray and Jada Rabun competed in the 2024-2025 HBCU Possibilities Program, a semester-long, immersive introduction to key financial concepts and their applications in the real world, along with students from 12 other HBCUs.
“I honestly don’t think it was even a question for us,” Rabun told Howard University’s The Dig. “We knew coming in that we wanted to win.”
The program was part of Goldman Sachs multi-year commitment to strengthen HBCUs and recruit talent from those institutions. The highlight of the program is the case competition, during which teams were asked to propose and defend a business solution to increase revenue for Amer Sports, an international company operating in 42 countries and generating $5.2 billion during the past fiscal year, based on a merger, acquisition or product launch.
To win, the team made it through two rounds of virtual competition, adjusting after each round to incorporate feedback from judges, and then traveled to New York to present their recommendations in front of Goldman representatives.
“We were all very flexible and adaptable when it came to working with each other and just taking feedback,” Rabun said. “On a team, everyone’s thinking different things, but we can only choose one idea. We were open to each other.”
Atkins emphasized that the group was very dedicated.
“It was mostly on us to figure out how we were going to meet deadlines,” Atkins said. “I think as young adults; we did a really good job of managing ourselves and putting in the work to get the job done.”
