The interdisciplinary team is the first from Duke to win the competition in its 13-year history. A second group of Duke students and a team from the University of Cape Town rounded out the top three.
The winners of the 2025 Energy in Emerging Markets Case Competition from Duke University (from left): Judy Zhu, Jeffrey Chu, Yuan Yuan, Ruiqin Wu and Si Min Loo.
Five Duke University graduate students earned first place in the finals of the 2025 Energy in Emerging Markets Case Competition held Tuesday at the Duke Fuqua School of Business. They are the first “home” team in the competition’s 13-year history to take top honors.
Over the fall, the competition engaged 57 teams of graduate students from 44 universities spanning seven countries—the United States, Canada, India, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea and the United Kingdom—to address real energy challenges affecting the developing world. Students were encouraged to propose unconventional, business-based solutions for industry partner Gridless to unlock opportunities with positive social and environmental impact.
The competition awards $15,000 in prizes annually as part of Energy Week at Duke. It is sponsored by the Duke Fuqua MBA Energy Club and the James E. Rogers Energy Access Project at Duke.
The top teams were:
First Place – Duke University ($10,000)
- Ruiqin Wu
- Judy Zhu
- Yuan Yuan
- Jeffrey Chu
- Si Min Loo
Second Place – Duke University ($4,000)
- Ran Lan
- Melody Chen
- Nimo Yu
Third Place – University of Cape Town ($1,000)
- Graham Muvirimi
- Marshal Katukavarimi
- Lungile Sikakana
- Tshepo Tshivhasa
A third group of Duke students and a team from Cornell University rounded out the finalists who presented Tuesday.
Competing under the name “Watts Up Miners,” the winning team was comprised of three students at the Nicholas School of the Environment, another pursuing an MBA at Fuqua and a fifth studying data science in the Graduate School. Team members cited their diverse, multidisciplinary backgrounds and shared passion for energy industries as keys to their successful presentation.
"We were able to split the task up into our own specialties,” said Si Min Loo, the data science student on the team. “We’re all good at something, and we all contributed what we’re good at to the project."
Jeffrey Chu, one of the Nicholas School students, said one of the biggest challenges for the team was getting familiar with the market environment in Africa, where the case was focused. The team members spent a lot of time researching which emerging markets would be best to enter and how to develop a sustainable business model for Kenya-based Gridless.
"We tried to think in the local people’s shoes, just trying to bring the most social benefits together with the economic return," added Ruiqin Wu, the team’s Fuqua student. “It was a really good learning opportunity for all of us to know about the emerging market in Africa.”
The second-place team at the 2025 Energy in Emerging Markets Case Competition from Duke University (from left): Nimo Yu, Ran Lan and Melody Chen.
Gridless, this year's industry partner, works across multiple African countries to co-locate Bitcoin mining technology with renewable energy sources to transform surplus electricity into a profitable asset for generators. The case tasked teams with creating business models for future growth plans for Gridless while tackling the challenge of stranded power in mini-grids in developing countries.
Judges for the final round represented the World Bank, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), RTI International, Cyclum Renewables and Rockefeller Foundation. In-person attendees had the opportunity to meet the judges during a networking lunch to hear about their own work and professional trajectories and get career advice.
“I was struck by the level of detail and innovation that I saw across all five presentations,” said judge Valentina Guido, a senior associate at RMI. “There’s a lot of thoughtfulness that goes into this type of analysis and a lot of blue sky thinking that can open the door to multiple options.”
Started in 2013, the competition was the vision of the late Jim Rogers, former CEO of Duke Energy and later a Rubenstein Fellow at Duke University. Rogers worked with the university to build partnerships and identify opportunities to bring modern energy to developing countries. That work continues at Duke through the Energy Access Project, which Rogers and his wife, M.A., established with a gift in 2017 and today bears his name.
“I can't tell you how many students who have grown up and I've met years later who say the case competition is the first thing that got them interested in energy access issues in emerging economies,” said Jonathan Phillips, director of the Energy Access Project. “This competition consistently brings out students’ creativity, and it encourages them to apply skills that they will use throughout their careers.”
The lead Duke graduate students who developed the case and organized the 2025 Energy in Emerging Markets Case Competition were Charlotte Del Col (MEM/MBA '27), Veena Shirsath (MSEC '26) and Jessalyn Chuang (MEM '26).
Questions? Contact casecompetition@duke.edu.
