BREAKTHROUGH ON A GLOBAL STAGE
On March 19, 2015, Team Bangladesh, representing Unilever Bangladesh Limited, lifted the 1st runners-up crest at the Unilever Future Leaders' League 2015 held in London. They beat more than 300,000 students and teams from Canada, Sri Lanka, Germany, Russia, Philippines, Singapore and 23 other countries on their way to the final – impressing the judges and announcing their arrival on the global stage as future business leaders.
The journey was not an easy one. The Bangladesh team consisted of Nusrat Khondaker, Akib Mashrur and Aftarul Islam, students of Batch 20, Institute of Business Administration, Jahangirnagar University (IBA-JU), who qualified to participate as winners of Unilever Bizmaestros back in September 2014 as "Heisenbergs." Since then, they have been mentored and groomed by Unilever Bangladesh's top officials for the global competition.
The event Bizmaestros provides final year university students in Bangladesh to experience the thrill of real business through competitive activities. Students were required to conduct research to accumulate consumer insight on a real brand of Unilever and then formulate a business plan for the brand. They were also asked to design their own communication material, suggest their own sustainability idea for the brand, and build a "360 degree" plan to build the brand. Throughout this process, the participants also obtained the unique opportunity to be coached and guided by the brand managers of Unilever Bangladesh.
The team from IBA-JU beat 10 teams in Bizmaestros 2014 to win the opportunity to represent Unilever Bangladesh at Unilever Future Leaders' League 2015. The Unilever Future Leaders' League (FLL) is a unique global business case competition where selected winners from each country participate and compete to win the title. Not only do they compete but also receive the opportunity to experience leadership moments and exchange thoughts with global leaders.
In preparation for the competition, the Bangladesh team spent more than a month with Unilever Bangladesh managers, particularly Numair Chowdhuri, Senior Brand Manager, Oral Care, who acted as their mentor and Ipshita Fahmin, Leadership Development Manager as coach and country contact.
"The challenge for the FLL team this year was twofold: first they had to work with a brand that has no existence in this country and they had very little knowledge of, and second, they had to develop a campaign for one of the most complex target groups – teenagers, and that too on a global scale. In a very short period of time, the team has worked relentlessly to overcome both these barriers and have successfully developed a world class campaign," he said.
The team of three also underwent special sessions taken by Unilever managers to improve their personal skills for the international platform.
"We have been interacting with this team since Bizmaestros 2014," said Taslima Jaigirder, HR Business Partner for Marketing Function, "We observed their strengths and weaknesses and helped them identify those, as they prepared. We believe in developing our local talent up to a global level. BizMaestros is the beginning of grooming the local talent while Future Leader's League allows us to test them against a global standard."
During the competition, Nusrat provided a live commentary of their progress from round one to the semis and then to the finals on her Facebook profile. One such status read, "We are currently preparing for the final round. Our preparation so far has been great. BizMaestros gave us the opportunity to prove we are the best in the country and now it's time to take that success to a global level."
The competition was based on a real-life business scenario concerning Cornetto, the Unilever ice cream brand, and required fresh ideas from the young participants. Ideas that were generated would go on to impress the Directors, Vice Presidents and Senior Vice Presidents of the company, who sat as the judges. Bangladesh winning this accolade places the talent of our country in high regards among some of the most experienced business managers in the world.
"We do believe that Bangladeshi talent has the potential to reach and beat global standards," said Mononita Syed Haq, HR Director, Unilever Bangladesh, "Most of the times all we lack is the right grooming. So at Unilever Bangladesh we have taken it up as a mission to groom the talent of this country. It is our responsibility since we are one of the biggest MNCs in the country and an age old powerhouse of business leaders."
This year the competition was held at one of the most unique and prestigious locations of the Unilever World, known as "Four Acres". Four Acres is a state-of-the-art learning centre where only the chosen leaders from around the world receive training. The participants of Future Leaders' League received the opportunity to meet the Global CEO and Leadership team at Four Acres.
Team Bangladesh's win in Unilever Future Leader's League 2015 is a milestone for the country. It showcases the enormous potential the talent of this country holds, as these three students from IBA-JU beat thousands of their peers from across the globe to claim one of the top titles at a major international competition.
SHOUT met up with the 1st runner-up of the Unilever Future Leaders' League 2015 – Team Bangladesh – consisting of Nusrat Khondaker, Akib Mashrur and Aftarul Islam, at the Unilever Bangladesh head office on April 9, 2015. We were joined by the mentoring team of Numair Chowdhuri, Senior Brand Manager, Oral Care and Ipshita Fahmin, Leadership Development Manager.
SHOUT: Let's start small. If each of you had to describe the whole experience, from BizMaestros to Future Leaders' League (FLL), in one word, what would it be?
AKIB: It was an eye-opener.
NUSRAT: (after some thinking) Amazing, I would say.
AFTARUL: It was fun.
SHOUT: Going now for a small recap, what was the idea of your team in BizMaestros?
AKIB: The challenge given to us was to develop the marketing plan for face-wash and our idea was to develop the face-wash brand of Unilever, and not only the brand but the whole category, even reaching out to the rural areas of Bangladesh. We came up with the tagline "mukher shaban".
NUSRAT: The concept of "mukher shaban", which was convenient to comprehend, actually won it for us. The ideology of separating body soap and face-wash was unique in this approach.
SHOUT: The next question is for the mentors. You organise such competitions, both at national and international levels. So, what's in it for Unilever?
NUMAIR: There are two sides to this. Firstly, Unilever has always wanted to create new leaders, whether they work for the company or not. And secondly, the projects that are given are all real life cases. We come up with ideas, but giving it to young teams will benefit everyone more because they will pitch ideas that we may never have thought of. Putting these young minds to work has a huge impact because they come up with "out-of-the-box" thoughts and ideas.
SHOUT: Let's lighten up the mood a little. Tell us about your time in London.
AFTARUL: We received a VIP treatment.
NUSRAT: It was great. Everyone was so friendly; we were welcomed, we were showered with free goodies and had access to unlimited ice cream. We truly were treated like VIPs, like you see in a movie.
SHOUT: How did you prepare for the case?
AFTARUL: We received the case to be presented about a month before heading to London. We had our slides ready and submitted, our speeches prepared – all that was needed was a few touch ups and we did that during the two days before the main event.
AKIB: Before leaving for London, we had to do a presentation here at Unilever Bangladesh. We got feedback and then required just a few edits here and there, but no major changes to our plans for the finals.
SHOUT: Would you say the team was well prepared for the competition?
NUMAIR: I'll say they worked super hard. They studied deep into the matters of how the brand worked and all I had to do was tell them how Unilever worked to a certain extent. I told them to put the people first, as it is all around the world when it comes to consumer goods. They did a lovely job of going out there and getting to know how teenagers and their ever-changing mindsets work.
SHOUT: Now for the most important question – what was the million dollar idea?
AFTARUL: The task was to establish Cornetto as an "ice breaker" among teenagers. We called our campaign the "Summer of Awesome Awkwardness", which asked people to cherish the first awkwardness that teens experience when they meet. We even did a skit where both of us guys had to propose to the girl, one with a chocolate bar and another with a Cornetto.
NUSRAT: There's always that tension when a person proposes, but we thought how can one say "no" to ice cream? So we decided to make it positive and celebrate the awkwardness, rather than remove it. And we decided to use social media and viral videos for this campaign.
SHOUT: Why do you think a student should participate in such a competition?
NUSRAT: In short, as our mentors say, these are real life cases that we deal with. This opportunity gives us an in-depth insight into the business world, providing proper knowledge and exposure, especially for business graduates.
IPSHITA: One can relate to experiences from such competitions and use them to create positive social impacts. They can groom and motivate people. We provided them that experience, and they have made the best use of it. The winners of BizMaestros receive this unique opportunity to compete on the global platform which is designed to give such talented graduates the chance to experience life at Unilever, to meet the leadership, and to feel what it is like to work with us, and in return it also gives us the chance to learn from them. It is more than just a competition – it is a once-in-a-lifetime leadership and business experience.
SHOUT: Lastly, apart from the winning moment, what was the most amazing memory from the whole trip?
AKIB: We took part in a game called "Cupidity" where we were given bows and arrows to target people, all in the name of fun. It was super cool and I guess Aftarul made the most of it. Apart from this there are so many memories but I suppose what happens in London stays in London. Haha!
PHOTOS: DARSHAN CHAKMA
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