Corporiddlerz 2016: Explore to Excel
Corporiddlerz is a unique business strategy competition hosted by Business and Communications Club of Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUPBCC). One of the flagship events of this club, it first kicked off in 2011. It was in 2016, however, that this competition went nationwide for the first time. It was sponsored by Sena Kalyan Sangstha (SKS) and Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF), and powered by The Daily Star. Radio Shadhin and Know n Rise were its radio partner and online access partner respectively.
Despite being a very young public university of Bangladesh, BUP is garnering gradual acknowledgement as one of the emerging top universities in the country. BUPBCC thus left no stones unturned in its effort to make its first inter-university Corporiddlerz a success. Roadshows were carried out in over 24 different universities across the nation, aspiring to bring the best undergraduate students of the country in a common platform to compete against each other. Over 250 teams from 24 different universities participated in the first round of the competition.
The competition itself is comprised of four rounds - the first being online, where teams of four had to provide solutions to a challenging HBR case. Forty of those teams proceeded to the second round of product launching. These teams were assigned products of SKS and BMTF and had to come up with innovative strategies required to launch the products into the market. The third round was conducted in 2 phases; the first was project planning. Here, the 20 remaining teams had to plan an entire project from scratch for the sugarcane industry that required much technical and thorough research. In the second phase, the team members of each team were shuffled to form entirely new teams and given tasks. The grand finale, composed of the residual 5 top teams, took place on October 1, 2016. The teams had to develop and deliver an entire business model aimed at solving current issues plaguing the country. The finale was graced by chief guest Tofail Ahmed, Minister of Commerce.
Of the five finalist teams, 2 were from BUP and 3 from IBA. IBA's Team Kemistry clinched the champion's trophy and BDT 75,000 prize money whereas BUP's Team Second String became First Runner-up winning BDT 50,000 cash prize. Moreover, IBA's Team Home Stretch was the Second Runner-up with BDT 25,000.
"The holistic approach that the cases provided was challenging, enjoyable and allowed us to envision ourselves as top level managers. The organisers were top notch and the volunteers were extremely helpful. I would definitely want to be part of future BUPBCC events," stated Tahmid Tishad Khan of Team Kemistry.
The judges' panel throughout the competition had been graced by many top corporate executives who too had inspiring words for BUPBCC's endeavour.
"I am highly impressed by the warmth and professionalism of the organisers and hope this becomes a flagship event of BUP to be recognised all over," stated Habib Ghazi, Trainee, Next Business Leader Program of Grameenphone Limited. The judges' panel included Citibank N.A.'s Cash Product and Implementation Manager Sami Ullah Khan and Mushfique Amin Mallick, Category Finance Manager of Unilever Bangladesh, with Nawazul Kabir, Director of Mindscape Communications, and many more. Besides praise, they also had valuable recommendations for the club.
Corporiddlerz 2016 was a competition that required much effort on the participant's part, requiring extensive research and having to work through time constraints. The organisers hope that the takeaway, however, was far greater: a training ground of all that's waiting out there for the leaders of tomorrow.
Comments