Business case contest helps tomorrow’s leaders learn from professionals

The pandemic has managed to bring the whole world to a standstill. Yet, the world has not stopped functioning. Office work or studies, everything is continuing despite difficulties. In this time of difficulties, Masters of Ideation is back once again and under way -- this time online to give business students an opportunity to get small-scale corporate experience.

This year's Masters of Ideation is in fact the seventh installment of this flagship competition. This inter-university business case competition is organised by North South University Young Entrepreneurs Society (NSU YES!) and is being presented by Perfetti Van Melle. By shifting one of the most anticipated business competitions online, they are striving to pay attention to the health concerns and adapt to the new normal.

Masters of Ideation is a strategy based business case solving competition. The registration for the event has concluded, and the workshop has been conducted as well. The competition will accommodate three rounds. The workshop was held online and was aired live on Facebook. The teams were given the case for the first round on the same day. For the second and third round, the selected teams will need to deliver presentations online. Each team will consist of three members and the winners will be awarded prize money. The prize money will be worth Tk 285,000. The champion team will be awarded Tk 135,000 while the first and second runners up will get Tk 85,000 and Tk 65,000 respectively. Moreover, the winning team participants will be given a prestigious opportunity to perform an internship at Perfetti Van Melle.

The workshop was a unique experience for the participants. It was held via Zoom and featured Mr Rakib Ibnay Hossain, brand manager of British American Tobacco Japan. He used to be heavily involved with business competitions during his undergraduate days and in the process, he had achieved countless accolades under his belt -- Bizmaestro, Brandwitz, Ad-Maker Bangladesh, Masters of Ideation and what not. As a result, he was able to provide incredibly insightful information for the participants. He covered the basics of business case solving and afterwards, answered some questions from participants. Overall, the participants could get a lot of useful information from the workshop.

This competition aims to give the undergraduate students a miniaturised experience of the corporate scenario commonly seen in Bangladesh. "Amidst all the crisis, the team worked relentlessly to pull off this platform. This enabled the students across Bangladesh to showcase their performance, learn from the experienced professionals and get a taste of real-life experience. This also comes with different monetary and non-monetary awards, all from home and staying online," said Abid Hossain, president of NSU YES.

Sheikh Ishtiaque Bakir, general secretary of NSU YES said, "The 2018 Masters of Ideation was indeed a very dynamic one and the first of its kind where we went full professional by hosting it in a five-star accommodation, also not to forget the sponsor was Unilever (Lever Ayush)." He expressed his happiness for the fact that NSU YES has restructured Master of Ideation by bringing it online."Also, the highest prize money makes it the best online competition out there in combination with its unique spirit and boldness," he added.

NSU YES is the leading business club, under the School of Business and Economics. This club has been there for 25 long years, and this is the first time they are holding a fully online business competition. Masters of Ideation, well known as 'The Battle for Supremacy,' is in fact one of the biggest and toughest business strategy-based business competitions in the country.

The writer is a third year student of BBA programme at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka. He can be reached at [email protected]. The article was prepared with the help of Noshin Ibnat Rib, a second-year Biochemistry and Biotechnology student at North South University