Battle of Minds, organised by British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB), is one of the highly sought after competitions among the undergraduate students of Bangladesh. This year the competition went global on its 15th anniversary and got a huge response worldwide.
Battle of Minds 2018 engaged the students to work with four different challenges of various sectors of the economy. Following all the rounds that saw all the teams push themselves to the limit, the journey concluded with the grand finale on May 06, 2018. Team 'Je Ne Sais Quoi' from the Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka were crowned the championship of the national round of Battle of Minds 2018. Team 'Undercats' from Bangladesh University of Professionals and 'IUT Z' from Islamic University of Technology won the first and second runner-up position respectively.
Team 'Je Ne Sais Quoi', consisting of Sourodip Paul, Arijit Angshu Saha, and Ramim Ahmed, had an amazing journey so far and is now eyeing success in the regional round.
Shaha Rakesh Nishan, on behalf of the FE Youth Express team, talked with the winning team and discussed their experiences of this prestigious competition.
Question (Q): What was your team's idea about?
Sourodip Paul: Our idea is a unique ride-hailing platform for auto-rickshaws that allow users and riders to negotiate a fare that they are happy with. Our app has other features like caller ID masking, ride schedules, hiring a Tryke, etc. We feel that in the context of Bangladesh, there is a strong need and scope for growth for such an application.
Q: What do you think set your team apart from the other teams?
Arijit Angshu Saha: All the teams that made it to the finales were incredible. We did not see the presentation of the other teams, but at a glance, ours seemed to be a unique platform that is feasible and profitable from a business perspective. All the teams of the grand finale had unique ideas of their own, and it took a massive amount of hard work and brainstorming to come up with each of those ideas.
Q: With so many emotions and thoughts running here and there, how was the grand finale like?
Ramim Ahmed: The grand finale was well decorated as it was the 15th anniversary of Battle of Minds. The atmosphere was encouraging and exciting, and the organisers left no stones unturned to ensure that all the finalist teams faced no issues with their presentations.
Q: How is your team preparing for the regional round?
Arijit Angshu Saha: We aim to make our solution cater to other countries as well. This means identifying different target groups and analysing the perspective of users and riders of other countries. Also, we have to examine the other underlying factors that may impact the performance of our application.
Q: Battle of Minds is one of the best student competitions of our country. Would you share your overall experience--from the start till the end of the competition.
Ramim Ahmed: It all started with an idea submission, along with a video. Then, the selected teams were invited to the boot camp. In the boot camp, we attended grooming sessions that helped us a lot since we came to know about different insights about various topics. We also conducted a Focused Group Discussion (FGD), which was both exciting and challenging. Coming up with solutions to practical life business scenarios, managing time, working together with the other members, etc. were some of the crucial things we learned. In the semi-final round, we had to show how our solution meets sustainable development goals which proved to be a big challenge for us. To help us with this, we got the opportunity to attend an exclusive session held at Access to information (a2i) Programme of Prime Minister's Office. It was exciting to learn from Mustafizur Rahman, the project director and other officials regarding the projects--both ongoing and in pipeline--how they facilitate innovation by the youths of our country. We had no idea that they fund selected projects from conceptualisation to developing prototypes for pilot launch etc. This experience certainly ignited our passion for innovation even more. In the grand finale, we had to activate our idea both online and offline and show that it can succeed in Bangladesh. The competition, as a whole, was challenging and offered all the participants a unique learning opportunity.
Q: Would you tell us about the major takeaways from this competition.
Sourodip Paul: The major takeaways from the competition are things we learned in every round that helped us improve the way we think about businesses and how they function. This also helped us learn about the corporate culture of Bangladesh and how success is achieved, how passionate and hard-working we are, etc. All in all, it was a roller coaster ride for us that was difficult, enlightening and at the same time enjoyable.
Competitions like this provide real-life learning of actual business operations. It allows them to apply their theoretical learnings in the practical world. The competition tested students on many aspects, and the organisers hope that the knowledge acquired from the competition will help the students in future.
The writer is a final year student of BBA programme at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka. He can be reached at
