About the case: Akola

Akola is a growing, innovative jewelry brand employing women in crisis in Uganda and Dallas, Texas. Operating a vertical manufacturing model, each jewelry piece is handmade by a woman working to redesign her story, the future of her family and her community. Today, Akola offers employment and dependable, living wage work opportunities in raw material production, jewelry assembly and supply chain management roles.

The Akola signature brand is currently sold in Akola stores and in Neiman Marcus stores nationwide, launching at Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue later this spring. Akola operates another brand – One Bead. One Hope., sold in select Walmart locations and CVS. 

Akola was founded in 2006 by Brittany Underwood, when she was a sophomore at Southern Methodist University.

Case Introduction

Consumers look for brands and retail experiences that not only meet their desires and needs, but also share their values and create social good with their purchases. Akola is a competitive brand with impact at the core, enabled by a vertically integrated supply chain exporting goods directly from the women creating the pieces to the national retailers selling them. Akola’s ability to create a product consumers love, while simultaneously creating social good, has unlocked tremendous potential for distribution. The key (and challenge) to Akola’s success is creating the right product assortment for each retailer and their unique customers. 

The Scenario:

You are on the product development team at Akola and have been tasked to select a retailer, develop a jewelry line and create a pitch deck to present to buyers at your selected retailer. Your team will create a maximum 30-slide pitch presentation deck and 90-second video presentation to convince the company of why and how your product line should be brought to market.

Application Process:

The Student Challenge application process consists of three phases. In the first phase, teams are required to submit a 30-slide pitch presentation deck and 90-second video presentation that addresses the Akola business challenge. The application deadline for phase one is September 20, 2019. There will be a review period during which teams will be evaluated by retail judges at various companies.

A maximum of 10 teams will be selected to advance to the second phase. In phase two, teams will revise their presentations, submit part 2 of the business challenge and complete Q&A interviews with a group of retail judges. Part 2 will be announced once the teams have been selected. The interviews, revised presentations and part 2 of the challenge will be evaluated by a second group of retail judges.

Three teams will be selected to advance to the third and final phase. In this phase, teams will present their pitches live to a panel of executive retail judges during the week of the Student Program at NRF 2020 in New York City, January 10-12, 2020. The first-place team will receive a $5,000 tuition scholarship per student, the second-place team will receive $2,500 per student and the third-place team will receive $1,500 per student.