Business case competitions are picking up big in Bangladesh
By Wafiur Rahman
‘I want to take part in this year’s Battle of Minds, which is organised annually by British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BAT Bangladesh),’ said an undergraduate student of Dhaka University’s prestigious Institute of Business Administration (IBA.) ‘Most of my senior classmates, especially the talented ones, have participated in the competition in the previous years,’ he added. ‘I want to prove my mettle and stand beside them as one of the successful participants; I know what it takes to win.’
Such confidence, undoubtedly, comes out of self-belief and harnessing of knowledge accumulated over time. This is done not only for preparing oneself for the long road of work life ahead, but also for participating in business competitions – something that has been popular among meritorious and ambitious students for quite some time now. ‘Taking part in business competitions was not solely for the first prize, but rather for the experience of being in one,’ said Khairul Anam, a mid-level manager at Apparel Village, one of the largest RMG exporters of the country.
He participated in such competitions back in 1999, while he was still in his final years of undergraduate study. ‘I took part in one of Dhaka University’s business competitions, which was merely a quiz competition with business/economics concentration, but it was revolutionary for us back then,’ he added. ‘Now that I look at these competitions, I see business cases being handled, which is highly laudable, and that too by the top multinationals such as BAT Bangladesh or Unilever Bangladesh. They did not need to do this, or they may have used them as personal tools for recruitment, but they went out of their way to give students a platform to bridge the gap between academic textbooks and the real life working scenario.’
Contemporary creations
As mentioned before, BAT Bangladesh’s Battle of Minds takes prominence as this competition continued its legacy for last ten years when it comes to business case competitions. But they are not the only ones in the foray, Unilever Bangladesh Ltd has their BizMaestros, HSBC has their business case competition and the list goes on. Sajeed Alam, a student of BBA 20th batch of IBA, said: “Battle of Minds is very structured with a thorough selection process for participants. A job with BAT Bangladesh thereafter, or any prospect of being involved is quite interesting.”
Unilever BizMaestros, which is comparatively new in this platform started in 2010 with the objective to identify high performing graduates. The competition offers students an opportunity to compete with different campuses and win a Unilever accreditation. Over the last two years, it has become increasingly prestigious and competitive amongst university students. Being an intra and inter-university competition at the same time, ‘BizMaestros’ is well known for providing students a unique opportunity to work on real life challenges that Unilever is encountering. Last year, teams performed brilliantly, defending their views, making their stand. They all stood strong, reflecting the sample of generation of next business maestros of Bangladesh.
This year, Battle of Minds, in its 11th year of journey, held road-shows at 8 universities, where their Managing Director, Head of HR, Head of Supply Chain and BAT Bangladesh managers who are BoM alumni engaged with the students. Campus representatives from 8 universities extended their support to increase the reach towards university students. ‘Being a forerunner in the business case competitions front, Battle of Minds engages students across the nation as a platform to showcase their talents,’ said Adrita Datta, Talent Manager at BAT Bangladesh. ‘Our road-shows presented the young leaders of the company in front of the talents and shared how the organization has shaped them both professionally and personally to emerge as leaders. These roadshows were not limited to universities located in Dhaka- we also traveled to Khulna University, where the response was tremendous. We believe that talent is everywhere – with the right inspiration, anyone can live up to his/her potential.’
‘From the very first round of the competition (with responses from over 2,200 students) we tested our participants on their ability to think, analyse scenarios and arrive at solutions.’ Adrita added. Among these initial respondents 140 were selected for preliminary assessments. This was followed by a grooming session for the top 60 aimed at building on the strengths of these participants. Lastly, top candidates will be again thrown into difficult challenges and only the selected few will be ready for the grand finale.
Epiphanies
Tasnia Afrin, a student of North South University and a lucky BOM 2014 2nd round participant, expressed her eagerness to learn more from such a platform. ‘Battle of Minds is the biggest platform for us so far. During the assessment period, we were split into groups, where our skills to work as a team came into the picture. It was not about how we performed as individuals, but rather how we performed as a team that was taken into consideration. Even if I do not progress beyond this stage, this platform has added a lot of value to me as an individual. An early glimpse into the corporate culture also helped us to understand how things work around here.’
Rifad Hossain, an EEE graduate from Islamic University of Bangladesh, echoed similar sentiments. ‘The assessment gave me an opportunity to showcase myself, despite being from an engineering background. IUT has been sending teams to this competition, and they have been performing very well, on par with the best talents of the country. I take back my newly found leadership skills, which is all about listening, rather than just speaking away and coordinating tasks.’
Opinions which count
‘If we look at these business competitions, they do help in bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and the practical knowledge,’ Prof. Milan Kumar Bhattacharjee, Head at ULAB School of Business, surmised. ‘Case competitions require students to expand their palate of business knowledge to include, accounting, finance, marketing, human resources, logistics, operations and entrepreneurship, to name a few. It is essential to a healthy business education to understand how the interdependency of all these ingredients is critical to success in business,’ he added.
He also said that such competitions are necessary in Bangladesh as employment rates are not up to the mark. ‘Students cannot solely rely on extra-curricular activities to make themselves count in the job industry. They have to take part in such competitions to develop skills that employers want them to have.’
Homayara Latifa Ahmed, Assistant Professor and Chairperson of IBA Career Center, mentioned the need for students to rise above in such occasions. ‘If students cannot excel during such competitions, then they risk getting immersed in the long line of CVs which employers will never pick up. A good performance here will help them to fare better in getting employment opportunities,’ she said.
‘It is not fair to say that non-business background students will not fare well against others in competitions,’ said Dr. Md Shahid Ullah, Professor and Head of the EEE Department at Islamic University of Technology. ‘Our students have been excelling during the previous BoM competitions as they feel the extra need to prove themselves as they do not possess any knowledge of business concepts. But business is not only about textbook knowledge; it is also about common sense, knowing what is good and sustainable. If the students can realise that, then there should be no problem in students from other departments taking part in business competitions.’
Prologue
Be it the Battle of Minds or BizMaestros, the platform is there for the students to grab. They have to make their voices heard; learn through their experiences good or bad. This is a platform where the spotlight would be on students to be at their very best. One wrong step would prove in something beyond mere embarrassment. They must learn to respect what is at stake, and they will perform accordingly. Here is hoping that the students continue to dream big and hope to showcase their talent in such platforms in the years to come.
6 reasons to participate in student competitions
Student competitions provide a myriad of opportunities for you: a platform for you to demonstrate your talent, a stepping-stone to achieving greater things in life. They represent unconventional but effective ways of securing internships, scholarships, jobs and exposure to real-world issues. Here are six reasons why you should participate in student competitions.
1. Show your talent
Many students feel it is difficult to express their talents in school. Exams and group assignments do not always capture students’ unique skills or accurately measure the ability to apply skills to real-world problems. In contrast, many student competitions are based on solving “real” cases and problems.
By participating in a competition organized by a company, university or other organization, you have a new opportunity to show your talent and apply your skills. In turn, the rewards of student competitions, whether tangible or otherwise, can help you achieve your educational and professional goals.
2. Connect with top employers
Competitions can also be a way to connect with top employersthat are otherwise hard to reach, in a setting that puts you and your skills in the spotlight. If you are skilled enough to get invited to the finals, you may have the chance to chat with members of senior management and impress them with your determination and passion in person.
3. Helps to build your CV
Winning a couple of student competitions is a great way to stand out from the crowd and build your résumé, both the traditional way and via your social media profile. Don’t be put off or intimidated by a lack of “formal” qualifications. Passion and interest can get you a long way, not just in competitions, but in life more generally.
4. Challenge yourself
Obviously, not everyone who enters the competition will win. However, even if you don’t receive any of the big prizes, you can still benefit from the opportunity to challenge yourself. You’ll learn new things and develop new skills – and even if you don’t win, you can still show what you gained from the experience, and talk about this in job applications and interviews.
5. Get help to realize your dreams
Whether it’s starting your own business or studying abroad, competitions can help you realize your dream.
6. Test your ideas
Student competitions allow you to test your ideas to see how viable they are, in a risk-free environment where you are able to collect and incorporate feedback from peers and professionals. If you are committed to realizing your dreams, any time spent on fine-tuning your ideas is a great investment.
