Numero Uno 2007 - IIM Bangalore Vista (oct 12th to 14th)
"Numero Uno- the hunt for the next CEO” was the showcase and the biggest event at IIMB vista. It was an event spread over 3 days with one representative from every major B-school in the country and also from International B-schools from Places like Poland, Switzerland, Pakistan etc.
It had 6 phases that included activities testing creative problem solving, team building, leadership, communication skills, negotiation skills, business acumen, individual behaviour in groups, presentation skills, extempore, debating, case studies, analytical skills, logical reasoning, charisma, tenacity etc. The event also involved setting up an actual business within hours and earning profits. The competition was designed to eliminate the participants over the 6 phases and count down to the Top 5 for the Grand Finale, and then after the grand finale concluded the "Numero Uno" was chosen.
Phase 1: Teams were formed and were given a set of 3 activities to perform with a different team leader for each of the activities. The activities tested Team building skills, innovative thinking and execution. The activities included planning an innovative business model for an existing ailing paper company and representing the business model with whatever material was available in the immediate environment (a park and a stage). It then had an activity where the teams had to build a large catapult with the material given with as much innovation as one can bring in to the design and the judges looked for “out of the box” thinkers. It also had an outbound physical activity that would test the participant’s ability to come up with innovative strategy.
Phase 2: A video case study on an UNO program that was conducted in rural India to uplift the unorganised Brass industry. The participants were tested on their business acumen and their academic knowledge that they had gained from their respective B-schools. It also tested the general awareness of the participants as the potential CEOs of tomorrow are expected to know the happenings around them.
Phase 3: “Break through”- a company that trains and conducts out bound activities for corporate and B-schools had designed a set of six outbound activities at which the participants would be tested on their teaming skills, leadership skills, and group dynamics. Also each of the activities required immense collaboration and hence tested the participants’ human relation skills. Each of those activities involved creative problem solving, working with limited information and efficient execution. We were judged on our planning skills, communication skills, leadership skills, ability to take up responsibilities, ability to steer projects and also the team’s ability to achieve its goals.
Phase 4: The participants were provided with a capital of Rs.3000, a car for travel and were asked to do real business in Bangalore and maximise the shareholder’s wealth in about 5 hours. The participants were accompanied by 2 judges and a video cameraman. My team that consisted of three other participants from IIM-I, IIM-K and IIM-L chose to sell T-shirts, but not just any T-shirt used for daily wear. A lot of Business happens around customization and personalization of T-shirts, Our team took a step further, we asked ourselves- what is most personal and unique? Perhaps finger prints, hand prints. We convinced our customers to get their hand prints on our IIMB-vista T-shirt and buy them as souvenirs/gifts for loved ones and not as daily wear T-shirts. We basically targeted parents of small children and convinced them to get their child’s handprint on the T-shirt and gift it to them years later when they will look at it and feel good about it. We also targeted couples outside a busy mall and convinced them to get his handprint on her T-shirt and her handprint on his. Our business plan also allowed us to cut down our procurement time to almost nothing as the T-shirts were available stone’s throw away and the ink-pad for handprints was also easy to procure. Our team did exceptionally well and earned about 50% profit apart from getting appreciated for the novel idea.
Phase 5: This phase and the next were on day three and were in from of an audience, media and the judges. The judges on day three were:
Mr. Ravishankar, Accenture
Prof. Sourav Mukherji, IIM Bangalore
Mr. Jaishankar, Catalyst ConsultingMr. Pankaj Bagri, Genpact
Mr. Satya Mckinsey
The teams were asked to make presentations about the business they had undertaken and the various aspects of it- Ideation, execution, trouble shooting and results. The judges and the audience then asked participants many questions about strategy, ethics, business model, financial performance, leadership, different functions of the business (marketing, finance, operations).
Phase 6: This was a phase that would start off with the naming of the top 5 for the grand finale. The number of participants at this point had already boiled down to 21 from about 40 when the competition had started through eliminations at various stages. The top 5 were named and I, H.R.Sampreet of VGSOM had successfully made it to the list while none of the IIMs and many other top B-schools of the country could make it to the grand finale. Also it may be worth mentioning that I was the only participant from the first year of MBA from the entire lot of 40 participants. The top five contestants represented:
1) Vinod Gupta School of Management – IIT Kharagpur
2) Warsaw School of economics –Poland
3) Lahore University of Management Sciences.
4) Indian institute of Foreign Trade
5) Management Development Institute.
Phase 6 six then began with a video display of each of the top 5 contestants which had clips from the activities from the previous days. The contestants were grilled with questions at length about leadership, business, and about their actions over the past days. It was then the turn of the audience to ask the contestants some questions for them to judge their choice for Numero Uno. This phase went on for almost two hours and ended with another Q&A session with all the 5 contestants on stage at once.
Depending upon the performance of the contestants over the three days including the Grand Finale and judgement was made and the title of “Numero Uno” was awarded to the contestant from Warsaw School of economics-Poland.
It had 6 phases that included activities testing creative problem solving, team building, leadership, communication skills, negotiation skills, business acumen, individual behaviour in groups, presentation skills, extempore, debating, case studies, analytical skills, logical reasoning, charisma, tenacity etc. The event also involved setting up an actual business within hours and earning profits. The competition was designed to eliminate the participants over the 6 phases and count down to the Top 5 for the Grand Finale, and then after the grand finale concluded the "Numero Uno" was chosen.
Phase 1: Teams were formed and were given a set of 3 activities to perform with a different team leader for each of the activities. The activities tested Team building skills, innovative thinking and execution. The activities included planning an innovative business model for an existing ailing paper company and representing the business model with whatever material was available in the immediate environment (a park and a stage). It then had an activity where the teams had to build a large catapult with the material given with as much innovation as one can bring in to the design and the judges looked for “out of the box” thinkers. It also had an outbound physical activity that would test the participant’s ability to come up with innovative strategy.
Phase 2: A video case study on an UNO program that was conducted in rural India to uplift the unorganised Brass industry. The participants were tested on their business acumen and their academic knowledge that they had gained from their respective B-schools. It also tested the general awareness of the participants as the potential CEOs of tomorrow are expected to know the happenings around them.
Phase 3: “Break through”- a company that trains and conducts out bound activities for corporate and B-schools had designed a set of six outbound activities at which the participants would be tested on their teaming skills, leadership skills, and group dynamics. Also each of the activities required immense collaboration and hence tested the participants’ human relation skills. Each of those activities involved creative problem solving, working with limited information and efficient execution. We were judged on our planning skills, communication skills, leadership skills, ability to take up responsibilities, ability to steer projects and also the team’s ability to achieve its goals.
Phase 4: The participants were provided with a capital of Rs.3000, a car for travel and were asked to do real business in Bangalore and maximise the shareholder’s wealth in about 5 hours. The participants were accompanied by 2 judges and a video cameraman. My team that consisted of three other participants from IIM-I, IIM-K and IIM-L chose to sell T-shirts, but not just any T-shirt used for daily wear. A lot of Business happens around customization and personalization of T-shirts, Our team took a step further, we asked ourselves- what is most personal and unique? Perhaps finger prints, hand prints. We convinced our customers to get their hand prints on our IIMB-vista T-shirt and buy them as souvenirs/gifts for loved ones and not as daily wear T-shirts. We basically targeted parents of small children and convinced them to get their child’s handprint on the T-shirt and gift it to them years later when they will look at it and feel good about it. We also targeted couples outside a busy mall and convinced them to get his handprint on her T-shirt and her handprint on his. Our business plan also allowed us to cut down our procurement time to almost nothing as the T-shirts were available stone’s throw away and the ink-pad for handprints was also easy to procure. Our team did exceptionally well and earned about 50% profit apart from getting appreciated for the novel idea.
Phase 5: This phase and the next were on day three and were in from of an audience, media and the judges. The judges on day three were:
Mr. Ravishankar, Accenture
Prof. Sourav Mukherji, IIM Bangalore
Mr. Jaishankar, Catalyst ConsultingMr. Pankaj Bagri, Genpact
Mr. Satya Mckinsey
The teams were asked to make presentations about the business they had undertaken and the various aspects of it- Ideation, execution, trouble shooting and results. The judges and the audience then asked participants many questions about strategy, ethics, business model, financial performance, leadership, different functions of the business (marketing, finance, operations).
Phase 6: This was a phase that would start off with the naming of the top 5 for the grand finale. The number of participants at this point had already boiled down to 21 from about 40 when the competition had started through eliminations at various stages. The top 5 were named and I, H.R.Sampreet of VGSOM had successfully made it to the list while none of the IIMs and many other top B-schools of the country could make it to the grand finale. Also it may be worth mentioning that I was the only participant from the first year of MBA from the entire lot of 40 participants. The top five contestants represented:
1) Vinod Gupta School of Management – IIT Kharagpur
2) Warsaw School of economics –Poland
3) Lahore University of Management Sciences.
4) Indian institute of Foreign Trade
5) Management Development Institute.
Phase 6 six then began with a video display of each of the top 5 contestants which had clips from the activities from the previous days. The contestants were grilled with questions at length about leadership, business, and about their actions over the past days. It was then the turn of the audience to ask the contestants some questions for them to judge their choice for Numero Uno. This phase went on for almost two hours and ended with another Q&A session with all the 5 contestants on stage at once.
Depending upon the performance of the contestants over the three days including the Grand Finale and judgement was made and the title of “Numero Uno” was awarded to the contestant from Warsaw School of economics-Poland.
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