Jinit Dharia, Mit Parekh and Yash Parekh, the MBA students of the 2018-20 batch at IIM Bangalore, won the national finals of ‘The Ultimate Pitch 4.0’. It is a competition organised by Reliance Industries Ltd as a strategic elevator pitch contest to celebrate the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurial zeal among students.
“Our idea was to develop a biodegradable protective packaging material. This will provide a substitute to styrofoam-based packaging,” says Yash Parekh, one of the winners.
The winning team was rewarded a cash prize of ₹4.5 lakh, including ₹50,000 for winning the campus round, and mentorship under the Reliance Jio GenNext Hub, besides an interaction with the Reliance chairman’s office, a pre-placement interview and a trip to the refinery at Jamnagar.
‘The Ultimate Pitch’ pits top teams from 55 B-schools around the country against one another. In its fourth edition, the competition saw participation from 2,239 teams comprising of 6,117 students. The competition had two stages, the regional rounds and the national finals. The regional round comprised of a video submission, a presentation and a Q&A round, each lasting about three minutes.
The top 23 teams from the regional round were selected for the national finals held at Mumbai recently. The finals consisted of a three-minute video presentation and a four-minute Q&A round. The primary judging criteria were viability, feasibility, & desirability. Sustainability also formed an important part of the judges’ focus.