ITESO achieves three-time national championship in foreign trade knowledge

Sara Ezzy

Fátima Aidé Garibay Gómez and José Antonio Cervantes Montiel, students of the Bachelor's Degree in Commerce and Global Business at ITESO, obtained first place in the fifteenth National Marathon of Knowledge in Foreign Trade, International Business and Logistics of the Mexican Business Council of Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology (Comce).

With this achievement, ITESO achieved its third consecutive championship in this national competition.

From their first semester of university, Fátima and José Antonio had their sights set on participating in this competition. As their studies progressed, they strengthened their theoretical and practical knowledge to take on the challenge. After an internal evaluation, they were selected as ITESO's representative team for this year's event.

The exam for the competition is prepared by specialists from the academic and business sectors —importers and exporters—, and evaluates areas such as customs legislation, taxes and contributions, promotion programs, security and compliance, international treaties, logistics and tariff classification.

Defending the championship won by ITESO in the two previous editions presented an additional challenge against delegations from 48 universities across the country. The exam consisted of 200 theoretical questions, with a one-minute time limit per answer, and ten practical case studies with eight minutes to solve each, administered through a specialized digital platform.

After completing the online test, the students waited three hours for the official results to be published. During the wait, they preferred to keep their performance private to focus on the awards ceremony: “We personally decided to keep it to ourselves; we didn't want to get any more nervous. We only compared ourselves to last year's results, but that was it.”

Throughout the entire process, they were supported by Janett Cueto, the program coordinator, who led the selection process and monitored their preparation. To cover the official curriculum, Garibay and Cervantes divided the modules according to their individual academic strengths and supplemented their individual study with weekly sessions to discuss strategies and solve practical cases.

Among the lessons learned from the victory, the value of perseverance and teamwork stand out: “The main lesson is that dedication makes all the difference. And I don’t mean just studying and studying, but committing to something and doing your part,” said Cervantes.

“Patience and resilience. Everything comes when it’s meant to, and trust: trust in Antonio, and in all the work that has gone into my studies, which was a goal I had from the very beginning. It’s like the most you can achieve as a student,” Garibay points out.

Both students agree that the support of their professors at ITESO was crucial in boosting their professional confidence. After winning first place, José Antonio believes this experience will strengthen the development of his entrepreneurial projects, bolstered by national recognition.
Fatima believes that this achievement strengthens her personal and professional confidence to continue growing in the consulting sector.

The winning duo encouraged students in their program to take on this academic challenge without losing sight of the human aspect of education: “Our professors often told us: 'It's not you against the other universities. It's you against the exam; it's about what you know and have built over these years.'”