Platform for students to test their business case solving skills

HSBC-IBA Business Case Competition 2018 came to an end as Team Arcane from United International University emerged as winner and will be representing Bangladesh in the regional competition. This competition, organised by HSBC Bangladesh and IBA-University of Dhaka, is one of the most challenging and reputed competitions of our country. Teams from different universities take part in this prestigious contest, and only the best team emerges as the champions.

About HSBC-IBA Business Case Competition 2018

The competition kicked off with a workshop for the qualified teams which took place at the HSBC office. Unlike many other competitions, this one had only limited number of teams. The participating universities could send a maximum of four teams.

In the first round of the competition, 42 teams were given a case to solve within a specified time and had to present their solution to the panel of judges then. Only 18 teams qualified for the second round, where the task was similar to the first round. The top six teams from the second round made it to the grand finale of this year's HSBC-IBA Business Case Competition. Both the rounds took place at the premises of IBA, University of Dhaka.

The grand finale of the competition took place on April 06, 2018 at the Westin Dhaka. Abul Kalam Azad, principal co-ordinator for SDG affairs at the Prime Minister's Office, was present as the chief guest in the grand finale. Mahbub Ur Rahman, deputy CEO of HSBC Bangladesh, Professor Dr. AKM Saiful Majid, director of IBA-University of Dhaka and Dr. Md Rezaul Kabir, assistant professor and moderator-IBA Communication Club, University of Dhaka were also present at the event.

The judges' panel for the grand finale included Ali Ashfaq, partner of KPMG in Bangladesh; Tahsina Banu, country head of International Commercial Banking at HSBC Bangladesh; Zahur Ahmed, managing director of Apex Holdings Limited and Ashish Jamal Haque, country customer service manager of Maersk Bangladesh Limited.

Following an intense battle among the finalists, the judges came up with the anticipated results. Team Arcane from United International University emerged as the winners. They received the gold award and won Tk 1 lakh cash prize.  They will represent Bangladesh in the regional competition in Hong Kong later this year. Meanwhile, Free Launch and Brains of Castamere, both from IBA-University of Dhaka, won the silver and bronze awards along with Tk 75,000 and Tk 50,000 respectively.

Talking with the champions

Team Arcane, consisting of Ahmed Yusuf, Mahir Abid, Khatib Mohammad Taameem and Fabia Shahzadi, shared their experience of the competition. Mahir Abid discussed the uniqueness of the competition. He said, "Unlike other competition, this one was filled with extreme pressure. Along with problem-solving, innovation and feasibility check, we had to deal with severe time constraint and proper decision making. I think that is what made this competition so special."

Another member of the winning team, Fabia Shahzadi, felt that the competition was like a roller coaster of emotions, jumping between excitement and anxiety. She added, "Through diligence, perseverance and effective team cooperation, our ride together as Team Arcane was a major success."

Competitions like these are meant to foster learning among students and provide them with a platform to implement the established theories in practical context. "We learned a lot about various companies and industries through the cases that we solved here. Analysing the case, finding the problems, brainstorming for solutions and creating a presentation, all within a time constraint was extremely challenging. So one of the major takeaways I would say is the furnished ability to take instant decisions while considering all the relevant factors", said Ahmed Yusuf.

Team Arcane will be representing Bangladesh in the regional finale to be held in Hong Kong in June later this year. Khatib Mohammad Taameem discussed their plans for the next stage. He said, "We are preparing the required papers for the visa up until now. We will start developing our contents and business models in the coming days and also plan to meet and learn from experiences of previous participants of the global event."

Words from the organisers

IBA Communication Club (IBACC), the organisers of the competition along with HSBC, arranges challenging competitions throughout the year. In addition to this, they also host competitions like Brandwitz and Finwitz, which are quite popular among the business students of Bangladesh. Dr. Md Rezaul Kabir, assistant professor, and moderator-IBACC, University of Dhaka, said, "The number of business case competitions in Bangladesh are few. That is why I believe HSBC-IBA Business Case Competition is playing a significant role in providing a platform to the students to explore the world of business cases. Competitions like these give students the opportunity to implement their theoretical learning in the real-life scenario. Furthermore, case competitions require students to analyse and apply their knowledge of various subjects, topics, industries (at times), etc. As a result, this diverse nature of the cases allows the participants to gain a holistic experience."

The writer is a final year student of BBA programme at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka.

He can be reached at [email protected]