A team from IIM Kozhikode comprising Aayushi and Shivani Gupta won the Kochi leg of the BLoC Boardroom Challenge semi-finals 2021. Aparna Nirmalan, Priya PN, and Nandana Sivaprasad, from School of Management Studies, CUSAT, were the runners-up.
The jury members for the Kochi semi-finals were KS Rao, Senior Vice President & Head, Investor Education & Distribution Development, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd; Vishwadeep Kuila of Brand Vectors; and Anuj Kapoor, Assistant Professor, IIM Ahmedabad.
A trio from SPJIMR Mumbai, Sai Sankalp Vemavarapu, Lahari Nuchu, and Sambhav Batra, won the Mumbai round of the challenge. Manvi Singh and Shivani Sharaf from BITSoM Mumbai finished second. Deepak Jain, Founder Director – American Academy of Financial Managemen, along with KS Rao and Kuila, were the jury members for this round.
Athira V Nambisan, Manish Mirani, and Rachit Bansal from XLRI Jamshedpur won the Kolkata leg of the challenge. The jury extended a special invitation to the IIM Shillong team comprising of Aritro Datta, Arko Datta, and Hardik Goyal, which finished a close second, to be part of the grand finale. The jury members were Kuila and KS Rao for this round.
A team from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, Veera Koushik Seema, Madhurya Maka, and Cheti Harshavardhan, won the Hyderabad leg of the challenge. Yerra Rama Madhuri, Sri Harsha Korlapati, and Malireddy Shanthi from Institute of Public Enterprises, Hyderabad, were runners-up. Hirak Bhattacharjee, Head, Human Resources, Admin and Business Excellence, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd; Sudhakar Rao, Director - Branding, ICFAI; S Sivakumar, an executive coach; and Anuj Kapoor were the jury members.
The students had to present how an FMCG company, Innovative Home Care Pvt Ltd (IHCPL), can break into the toilet soaps category, and discuss marketing strategies to gain substantial turnover and be profitable in a fiercely competitive market. The case was set by Brand Vectors’ Kuila, an IIMA alumnus.
The teams were scored on their understanding and analysis of the case, the case solution, their presentations and also on teamwork. Each city’s winning team will now meet the winners of the semi-finals from seven other cities in the finals.
The winning team stands to win ₹1 lakh, the runners-up ₹75,000 and the third-placed team ₹50,000. The fifth edition of the BLoC Boardroom Challenge 2021 is sponsored by Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund and powered by Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd while Punjab National Bank is an associate sponsor. The knowledge partners are Brand Vectors and Potential Genesis. Scan the QR code to view the semi-final rounds on YouTube.