Ori-Cool wins the 2026 Orica Case Competition

A business banking executive, an Epworth ICU doctor and a digital capability manager combined their diverse perspectives to take out the 2026 Orica Case Competition.

The annual case competition is a much-loved fixture on Melbourne Business School's calendar.

This year, it was backed by one of the school's longest-standing corporate partners. Twenty-seven students across 13 teams entered the 2026 Orica Case Competition with only five teams making Friday night's final, and just one walking away with the top prize. This year's prize pool of $4800 was made possible thanks to the generous alumni community.

Jo Hogg, Manelle Issa and David Arnous, three Executive MBA students from three different industries, teamed up as ‘Ori-Cool’ to win on the night.

This year's competition challenged students to help Orica navigate a significant shift:

The five finalist teams presented their ideas to an expert judging panel at Melbourne Business School on Friday night. 

From contestant to judge: a full-circle night for Sarah Van Helden 

The judging panel included Sarah Van Helden, Orica Vice President of Talent and Organisational Capability. 

For Van Helden, the night brought a sense of déjà vu. An MBS Part-Time MBA alumna from the Class of 2019, she once pitched as a student in a case competition herself. This time, she was on the other side of the table, judging the next generation of MBS talent. 

“I was in your position a few years ago, and I remember these moments,” Van Helden said. “The quality of the solutions you developed for such a complex business was highly admirable.” 

Van Helden was joined on the judging panel by Orica Chief People Officer Sally Cox, Executive Director of the Sustainable Value Creation Institute (SVCI) Gary Veale, Director of the Shared Value Project Sarah Downie and and MBS Assistant Professor of Management Rohit Piplani. 

After a lengthy deliberation, Gary Veale admitted that choosing between the teams was no easy task. 

“It’s a bit like judging your favourite child. It was very hard,” he said. 

First Prize – Ori-Cool 

First prize went to Jo Hogg, Manelle Issa and David Arnous of Ori-Cool who were praised for honing in on the heart of a broad workforce challenge, and for never losing sight of the customer. 

Their winning idea, TRIA (Greek for three) was designed to bring Orica’s blasting, digital solutions and specialty mining closer together without overhauling its structure. It combined AI to capture expert knowledge, cross-functional teams to solve customer problems and site-based “culture carriers” to turn the strategy into everyday practice. 

The trio came from wildly different corners of the working world: an ICU doctor, a digital specialist and a banking executive , but their on-stage chemistry had the room hooked. 

"The biggest plus of working on this case together is that when you bring three really diverse individuals with different backgrounds and experiences together, you achieve a much richer outcome from any question or case," David said.  

"It's been an absolute pleasure to come together, learn from each other and build something cohesive, leveraging those different backgrounds." 

Jo said the value ran both ways. "It's going to be the leadership and the cultural side of things that I've learnt from these guys," she said.  

"My field is safety and medicine, so being able to learn from them about the culture piece and the digital and AI integration was brilliant." 

Manelle said the team was almost surprised by how easily it had come together: "The ideas kind of came fluidly, which is almost surprising. We had the best time working together." 

That enthusiasm showed when their name was called, with cheers, smiles and possibly even a few tears.  

"It was amazing! I've never done a pitch before, so I was a bit nervous," Jo said. "I couldn't believe it. I was really chuffed." 

Second Prize – Right Energy Consulting 

Second place went to Right Energy Consulting made up of Part-time MBA students Devan Ruben, Quang Cao, Odie Fresco, Ashley Uhm and Mervyn Tan.  

The team showed off the global reach of the MBS community. Two members pitched from the theatre, whilst three dialled in from around the world. Even during the judges' question time, answers bounced between Melbourne and Singapore without the team missing a beat.  

True to their name, they brought plenty of energy with an enthusiastic pitch. Mervyn opened by asking the room to imagine two people: an engineer nearing retirement with 30 years of knowledge in his head, and a 22-year-old graduate looking for green impact and real problems to solve. 

“Orica’s pivot from products to customer outcomes will be won and lost on people like these two,” Mervyn said. 

As the pitch continued, one idea caught the judges' attention, "Orica GPT". A concept using emerging tech to help the company attract, develop and support its people. 

Third Prize – Orica's First 

Third place went to the smallest team in the final: two Part-time MBA students Zender Liao and Jett Nathan, going by Orica's First.  

Their idea, an "Orica Academy," would give the business a stronger pipeline for building capability while giving employees room to learn and grow. 

Judges described the proposal as "close to reality", about the highest compliment a case competition pitch can get.

Five teams, one big night 

It was a fun night that pushed students outside their comfort zones, and beyond the classroom, to tackle a real business problem. The enthusiasm, diversity and hard work showed in every pitch. 

It also left Orica with a fresh set of ideas as it keeps building the people, technology and capabilities it needs to serve its customers in new ways.

Orica and Melbourne Business School 

Orica's partnership with MBS dates back to when the company was known as ICI Australia. It was among the founding sponsors behind MBS’s current building, which opened in December 1986 and remains the school’s home today. 

It's a fitting partner for a case competition built around scale and reinvention. Founded 150 years ago in the Victorian goldfields, Orica is still headquartered in Melbourne these day, just up the road from Parliament. But, they now operate in more than 100 countries 

Today Orica is a Founding Corporate Partner of Melbourne Business School's Sustainable Value Creation Institute, working with the school to turn sustainability challenges into drivers of innovation and long-term value. 

Orica Chief People Officer Sally Cox thanked the teams for the work they put into understanding the company and its challenges. 

“We really appreciate the effort and thought you’ve put into looking at our business and our challenges. It was amazing to see the work you’d all put into that tonight," She said.  

Congratulations to all five finalists in the 2026 Orica Case Competition.