Team ‘Why Not’ of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka won the recently concluded Unilever BizMaestros 2017 and will now get the opportunity to represent Bangladesh in the global stage. They will be competing against more than 40 teams from various countries of the world in the global Unilever competition, Unilever Future Leaders' League 2018, to be held in London, UK.
The competition
BizMaestros, organised by Unilever Bangladesh, is a business competition which provides a platform for students to deal with real-life business scenarios. The eighth season of BizMaestros kicked off with roadshows across different university campuses like Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Bangladesh University of Professionals, University of Dhaka and North South University. These sessions provided the students with the chance to meet the leaders of Unilever Bangladesh and also interact with them to know more about Unilever. This year more than 90 teams (consisting of final year undergraduate students) took part in this prestigious competition.
The first round comprised of an online case on TRESemmé. Here, the participants had to create a campaign to deal with the growth and awareness issue of this particular brand. Top 20 teams, selected on the basis of the merit of first round performance, moved on to the second round. Here, they were required to prepare a unique proposition for Knorr Noodles and also a five-year plan based on consumer insights. The teams had to present their ideas in front of the judges at Unilever's corporate head office in Dhaka. All the teams received feedback that helped them have an overall idea of the market scenario and mechanisms. About 12 teams moved on to the semi-final where they were given the task to create a marketing campaign for Pureit purifiers. The teams had the opportunity to interact with customers and find the core issues that are acting as barriers and preventing Pureit from being a national household brand. The teams had to take the insights of customers and retailers into account for this round.
The grand finale
Five teams from the semi-final round qualified for the grand finale. The task was both challenging and exciting in this round, as the teams were required to test their Pureit campaign pitch in practical business context. The teams engaged in both online and direct selling of Pureit products to consumers. They also had to prepare a television commercial (TVC) that was aligned with their overall campaign. The venue for the grand finale was Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden. The teams presented their campaign to the management committee of Unilever Bangladesh, who judged the teams in the finale. The judges evaluated the presentations carefully and had a tough time choosing a winner among the top five teams. Finally, they came up with the much-anticipated result as they declared the name of the champions.
Team ‘Why Not’ from IBA-University of Dhaka emerged as the Champions of BizMaestros 2017. Team ‘Watchmen’ from IBA-University of Dhaka and Team ‘Second String’ from Bangladesh University of Professionals became first runner-up and second runner-up respectively.
Words from the champions
BizMaestros is one of the most sought-after business competitions of Bangladesh. For Team Why Not, this competition has proved to be a massive learning curve. Working with real-life problems of prominent brands, engaging with customers and gaining insights from various stakeholders of the market will surely help them in their respective future careers. The team members of the champion team shared their experience of this competition and thoughts about the global round. ‘BizMaestros 2017 brought the best out of us by testing us to the limits and challenging us to come up with improved solutions in every round. We would strive nights after nights, only to know that there are so many other teams, who had the calibre to be champions. Ultimately, we managed to stand out among the competing teams and emerged champions,’ said Md. Rafid ur Rob.
The experience of BizMaestros is unique and different from other competitions. Talking about the merit of this competition, Afnan Bin Ashraf said, ‘We have worked on so many projects and cases before, but this experience was entirely different. Each of the ideas might be implemented tomorrow and instigate real-life changes and impact mass people. Nothing can be more exciting than that!’
Team ‘Why Not’ will travel to London next year to represent Bangladesh in Unilever Future Leaders' League 2018. Preparing and contesting for this will not be easy but Team Why Not is determined to replicate their amazing performance at BizMaestros and win the global championship. Mahbub Rahman Nafee said, ‘Although the global round will be held next year, we have already contacted some senior contestants in the competition to get their perspectives and take their advice on how to proceed with preparing for the battle in London. We hope that we can get everyone's cooperation for the finals and we can bring the trophy back home.’
The writer is a student at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka. He can be reached at nishanrakesh20@gmail.com