Undergraduate student Omar Abdelmageed faced tough competition, with 1,500 ideas submitted for consideration from Paypal employees all over the world.
The competition brief was to pitch an innovative and creative idea that would contribute to the company achieving its goals. Ideas were pitted against each other in a rigorous process involving several rounds which culminated in a presentation to PayPal鈥檚 CEO and Executive Vice Presidents in Silicon Valley, California.
Omar, who鈥檚 an Integration Engineer at PayPal during his placement year, had to come up with a 300 word pitch and as he progressed through the competition he developed a detailed business plan and designed a full prototype of his idea. From there he gathered a team who planned and implemented a campaign to gain as many votes as possible from PayPay employees. His team made it to the final three who then pitched to and took questions from Paypal鈥檚 top executives.
Now Omar鈥檚 idea is officially on the roadmap to be delivered and implemented in the future.
Omar, who鈥檚 studying Computer Science with an Industrial Placement Year, said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing to think that I could be involved in creating something impactful for such a massive corporation, and to have had the chance to pitch it directly to the CEO and VPs, all during an internship.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great feeling. I鈥檓 really proud of myself and the team, and I鈥檓 hoping that we can get this idea out the door at some point even if I鈥檒l likely have finished my internship by the time that happens.
鈥淚t was definitely tough at points, especially because I was very late in finalising my team and we could only collaborate on the final round. But overall it was an amazing experience and one of the many highlights of my placement year!鈥
Omar can鈥檛 share his idea publicly at this stage, but he can reveal he鈥檚 working with a team in the company to contribute ideas and gather data to help make it become a reality.
While the competition win was an undoubted highlight, Omar鈥檚 enjoying every aspect of his Industrial Placement Year.
鈥淭he problem solving aspect of this job I find very enjoyable,鈥 he added.
鈥淧ayPal is a massive company with a lot of services and a lot of products. It can feel overwhelming, but every time I receive a case with a new merchant I鈥檓 always faced with new problems.
鈥淚t never gets old when I find the solution to an issue a merchant is facing, and there are always lots of things to consider due to the nature of the company having so many moving parts.
鈥淚 was also really lucky to land with a very supportive team, and collaborating with them has been very fulfilling.鈥