Announcements

SPJIMR teams bagged top honours at the Bangkok Business Challenge 2017 hosted at the Sasin Institute of Business Administration of Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, bringing home as many as seven awards and standing out with their entrepreneurial pitches among 70 global teams.

SPJIMR bagged the Best Sustainability Award and the First Runners-Up Award at the prestigious event, where teams from global business schools pitch their ventures in round after round of high pressure evaluation.

The Bangkok Business Challenge, which is Thailand’s only global intercollegiate post-graduate start-up competition, saw a total of 70 teams from 17 countries participate in the prestigious three day event held on Feb 16, 17, and 18, 2017.

SPJIMR’s team ‘InBionics’ emerged as the first runners-up among the 16 finalists and won the “Popular Choice” award in a round where they had to present their pitch in 99 seconds. They were also recognised for the best business plan in the semi-final round. The team came home with the USD 3,000 award for coming second overall and USD 500 “Popular Choice” award for their pitch, along with USD 250 for the Best Business Plan in their group.

Team ‘InBionics’ comprised PGDM participants Anadita Mittal, Himanshu Kripalani, Kritika Sabharwal, Prachi Agrawal and Shashank Rane.

SPJIMR’s team ‘Swacch Toilets’ bagged the Best Sustainability Award and were also recognised for the Best Business Presentation among semi-finalists. The team won USD 8,000 for the Best Sustainable Venture as well as USD 250 for the Best Presentation in their group. First year PGDM participants Nikhil Kaushik, Rishav Garg, Sabhya Mehta and Tavleen Kaur represented the ‘Swacch Toilets’ team.

The Bangkok Business Challenge 2017 says it encourages new venture creation by instilling entrepreneurial spirit into graduates’ minds as well as provides an international platform where students compete, learn from each other and foster stronger networks. It also provides a platform for connecting start-ups with their potential partners and investors and also focuses on social responsibility.

Business plans submitted by students are evaluated not only in terms of their economic soundness but also their ability to address relevant social and environmental concerns. Over the last decade, the competition has evolved rapidly by including participation from many global business schools.

Said Prof. Shirish Kotmire, Head – Start-up Incubation Centre, SPJIMR, “There was a great sense of achievement as this was the first time ever that such an event was attended from SPJIMR by the first year PGDM students and won so many awards in a comprehensive manner with older and more experienced participants from the top global business schools. It also showcased that new ventures can achieve global prominence if guided and mentored well at the initial stages.”

One of the PGDM participants Shashank Rane from Team ‘InBionics’ said “Our venture InBionics aims to sell low cost robotic prosthesis to the population that cannot afford the expensive alternatives available in the market. The judges saw immense value in the idea and were impressed by our prototype and research. Overall the competition was intense and even more gruelling were the Q&A rounds with the judges. But all of it combined with the opportunity to interact with participants across the world made it an unforgettable learning experience.”