Samarkand is a cross-border eCommerce company focused on connecting Western brands with China, the world’s largest eCommerce market. Samarkand aims to make Chinese eCommerce simple, accessible, and profitable for brands and retailers of all sizes.

As part of the Collaborative Project module, our students had the opportunity to work alongside Samarkand, to deconstruct a brief, conduct research, test ideas and put forward their proposals.

We recently caught up with Eoife, Samarkand’s Strategic Project Manager, who has kindly shared Samarkand’s experience working alongside our students as part of this module. Take a look below.

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Why did Samarkand get involved in the Collaborative Project?

“We wanted to work with innovative and entrepreneurial talents to explore the future of cross-border eCommerce.

The Collaborative Project provides an excellent platform to tap into a diverse cohort of graduates with multidisciplinary background, who are eager to learn and apply their skills in tackling real-world business challenges.”

How would you describe your experience working with our students?

“Fantastic!

The international outlook of talents produced dynamic and intellectually stimulating exchange throughout the three months. Students were reflective and proactive to ask questions.

The course leader Surya were also instrumental to the success of the project with timely support that steered teams to realise their full potential.”

What did you enjoy most about working with our students?

“The winning team, Pen Pals, fulfilled the brief with a well-crafted presentation packed with actionable insights for our business. They drew on current industry data and combined it with primary research.

One of the team members, Chloe, has since joined Samarkand as a marketing intern to take Pen Pals’ eCommerce concept store into reality amongst other projects. We’d be thrilled to hire her for a full-time role once she finishes her study at Loughborough.”

What would you say to any organisations considering getting involved with the Collaborative Project in the future?

“If you are looking to spur innovation and future-proof your organisation, Collaborative Project is an excellent platform to experiment with and learn from some of the brightest talents London has to offer.

We look forward to participating in the Collaborative Project 2022 and taking our partnership with Loughborough to the next level.”

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We would also like to say a big thank you to Eoife, for sharing her experience working alongside our students as part of the Collaborative Project 2020/21.

We would also like to say a big thank you to Samarkand for working with our students on the Collaborative Project and for providing a real business problem for our students to solve. You can find out more about Samarkand here.

The Collaborative Project is a module that gives students from across the University the opportunity to form interdisciplinary teams and use their individual experiences and expertise to solve a real business problem, provided by one of our corporate partners. You can find out more about the Collaborative Project here.