Team Recognise of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka won the flagship marketing competition of United International University Business Club (UIUBC), 'Marketing Samurai 2017'. The final round and prize giving ceremony of the month-long competition took place at the United International University (UIU) auditorium on October 21. The champion team won Taka 1,00,000 as prize money, a crest and a certificate. Team Hashtag from IBA, University of Dhaka and Team Clean Slate from North South University achieved the first runners-up and the second runners-up position respectively. They won Taka 70,000 and Taka 50,000 as prize money respectively along with crests and certificates.
Vice-chancellor of UIU Dr. M Rezwan Khan inaugurated the programme. Hindol Roy, head of marketing, Akij Food and Beverage Limited-AFBL, Solaiman Alam, marketing director of Grameenphone and Khandaker Anwar Ehtesham, FVP and head of Communication and Branding Division, Dhaka Bank Limited were present at the programme as special guests.
The competition
'Marketing Samurai 2017' is considered to be one of the finest marketing competitions of the country and definitely, a sought-after event among the business students in Bangladesh.
UIU organised the competition in association with Speed and Dhaka Bank Limited. Speed - Hebby Energy of Akij Foods and Beverages was the title sponsor of the competition and Dhaka Bank Limited was the sponsor for the prize money. The other sponsors were the Financial Express - print media sponsor, 10 Minute School - knowledge partner, JCI Bangladesh (Dhaka North) and Chakri.com - strategic partners, News 24 - media partner and Radio Next - radio partner.
The registration for the competition began in September and was open until October 04. Participants were offered with both online and offline registration booths. The organisers conducted roadshows at many universities across the country. The competition consisted of three workshops and three rounds. The first round of the competition was held on October 06 where a total of 60 teams from different universities participated. Out of them, 24 teams were qualified for the second round. Only eight teams made it through to the finals of the event. The participants were judged and critically assessed by a dynamic and expert panel of judges, consisting of prominent professionals of marketing field of the country.
All the eight teams gave their best in the grand finale and were appreciated by the judges for their efforts and enthusiasm. The judges acknowledged the increasing level of skills and competitiveness among the participants. They were pleased seeing these young minds working with practical world scenario and strategies. On the gala day, singer Rafa performed on the stage. Blue Poppers, Aamra band and others also performed to entertain guests and audience.
Words from the champions and organisers
Team Recognise shared its experience of the competition. A member of the team said, ‘It was a great learning experience. We were given challenging tasks in every round and we feel, every participant learned something valuable from this competition. Also, we are thankful to the organisers for being so cooperative and helpful.’
Shoyeb Mahmud Peash, president of UIUBC, said, ‘It was a huge challenge to make it a successful national competition for us. Thanks to all the sponsors, supporters, well-wishers and every organising member of UIUBC for working so hard to make it a successful event.’
UIU was established with the support of United Group, a successful business conglomerate operating in diverse business areas of the country. The host of the programme UIUBC is one of the leading dynamic student organisations. The primary objective of the club is to develop latent professional and entrepreneurial potentials of UIU students. UIUBC has a record of conducting activities like UIU The Millionaire Mind, UIU Corporate Gladiators and many others.
The writer is a second year student at United International University (UIU).
He can be reached at adnanakib7596@gmail.com