The CIMA Global Business Challenge (GBC) is a competition of Business Case Study. The similar case study was held in different 24 countries and the case assigned to every competing team was the same. This year the case was about to solve the problems that a hypothetical luxury boat company is facing. The case analysis was carried out and suggestions were further provided to the board of directors of the hypothetical company via presentation.
The Mumbai Trip by four of King’s students led by me to represent Nepal for participating in Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Global Business Challenge (GBC) 2014 was the great experience I have ever gained throughout my life. Our experience is not only of competition and travel, but also of networking, exposure, learning about leadership, international level event management, life skills and many more. The Mumbai visit blended with learning and observation is an unmatched experience for us.
The journey to Mumbai to participate in the global competition was possible only after our team from King’s College known as Team Nepa emerged as the winner of the CIMA Global Business Challenge (GBC) contest beating six other teams in the country. The contest was held at The British College on June 24, 2014 and organized by the CIMA in partnership with Barclay Bank. The winning team from King’s College was awarded with a cash prize of Rs 40,000 and finally we had an opportunity to represent Nepal to participate in the World GBC finals held in Mumbai, India in August. Our team included four of us including me, Rakshya Chand, Sabina Bade and Roshan Khadka.
The CIMA Global Business Challenge (GBC) is a competition of Business Case Study. The similar case study was held in different 24 countries and the case assigned to every competing team was the same. This year the case was about to solve the problems that a hypothetical luxury boat company is facing. The case analysis was carried out and suggestions were further provided to the board of directors of the hypothetical company via presentation.
The GBC is an international event designed to bring out the best in young business leaders of tomorrow. The contest plays an important role in producing the best of young business leaders. It has been organized globally for the past six years and with our participation this year, this competition is in its third year in the country.
Our Trip to Mumbai
We were very excited about the opportunity since the last month before the CIMA Global Business Challenge 2014 was held in Mumbai on August 4-8. The flight to Mumbai was booked in one month prior to the event. We had a month-long preparation for the global competition.
For all of us, the trip to Mumbai was the first ever participated in any international level competition abroad. Excited about the participation, we went to airport, checked in, and boarded the flight. Unfortunately, the flight was delay by an hour, however the delay could not kill our excitement all. Finally the flight took off.
When the flight was over Mumbai and lowering down to land off to the destination, I could see slums, skyscrapers and sea and soon I could not help myself capturing those views into my camera. Finally, we landed at Chetrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, came through Terminal two. What an amazing airport it is! Following the clearance at the Immigration section, outside were the representatives of a hotel (where we accommodated during the trip) waiting for us. We received warm welcome from them and four of us got divided into pairs and travelled in two cabs.
What an awesome view of Mumbai City! We felt lucky to have such a cab driver who gave a smart tour to the Indian city. He took us for shopping and let us visit the houses of Bollywood Stars like Amitabh Bachhan, Kishore Kumar, Ajay Devgan and many more.
Welcome Program
Finally, we reached J.W. Marriot, Juhu, a Lavish 7 Star Hotel for accommodation during the trip. Soon after we checked in our rooms of the hotel, it was already 6:15 pm and then we came to learn about Welcome Program at 7:00 PM sharp. We hurried up and had to get ready in a flash to attend the reception program. However, we managed ourselves to attend the welcome program in time. The welcome ceremony was amazing, started with a complete Indian style of welcoming guests, continued with cultural dance performance and finally concluded with delicious dinner. The program not only provided us a warm welcome but also created a good networking platform where we had chit-chats with fellow competitors and the organizers. Finally we decided to build a virtual community of participants by creating a facebook group in order to give this global network a shape. I was lucky enough to create the group for this network and later I was appreciated my action.
CIMA Global Business Challenge Begins!
On Our second day in Mumbai begins the finals of global business challenge 2014, all the participants after breakfast, were briefed about the competition and then we were taken to the organizer’s office, the Barclays Bank where we not only met amazing people but also enjoyed interacting and networking with them.
After we came back, we participated in games and Bollywood dance workshop. I danced for the first time in my 19-year life.
Third day was the day when the competition formally began. Our presentation was scheduled as the first presentation. Following the group photo-shoot session, I along with my team mates have presented our case study. Then question-answer round was followed. Once the presentation and question answer round were over, other teams also followed the same, presentation and question-answer round. After we found every team presenting equally logical, analytical and capable of winning, we could realize how tough the competition was going to be. After lunch, we went on “Mumbai Tour”. I had a ride on tricycle and did shopping for family and friends. After watching Bollywood comedy show, we had dinner along with having some chit-chat with friends.
Fourth day was the result of the competition. We were waiting with abated breath for the result. Sadly, we were not selected among the top six, and were not able to go to the next round. We turned sad at one hand while on the other we realized that we learned a lot through participation. Then during a feedback session, the jury members provided us constructive feedbacks. We could realize and admit small faults in the analysis and attempts in answering.
Interestingly, Prof. Ujjwal Kr. Choudhury, the then Senior Consultant for King’s College, is the Dean of DGMC College at Mumbai. He invited us to his college. We were welcomed at the DGMC College formally by presenting gifts and honoring us in the presence of whole college students. I could also share my experience and reflection of participating in the competition. Then Prof. Choudhury took us to visit the biggest Mall of Mumbai where we did some shopping and also did some sightseeing, had the “Bada Pau”, a recipe of Mumbai in “Aamchi Mumbai style”.
By the time we got back to the hotel, the competition of top six had already been over and the Gala Dinner and Award ceremony was about to start. Amid the award ceremony, each of finalists us was given a medal of being the Finalist, photo sessions and then followed by the dinner and again celebration. Congratulations to the team from Sri Lanka, who won the Global Business Challenge. That night everyone woke up till around 2:00 am, partying all night. Lastly everyone slept!
The fifth day was the last day in Mumbai. The five-day tour to Mumbai and the competition taught me a lot of things. It provided us the opportunity to meet a whole lot of extraordinary youths from all other twenty two different countries. I exchanged our knowledge, learning and culture.
Takeaways
To me, the real takeaways from the professional trip to Mumbai were tremendously great. The first and foremost is the competition itself, where we learned to get into the depth of problems before solving it, analyzing the problems and then rectifying it with possible ways. Secondly, I got to meet talented participants from different countries and built a great network with them. The opportunity was great especially for me to learning about new things about the international level event management. Such learning has been significant for me as someone who have already been organizing lots of national level programs here under the banner of my Company AD-Link. Lastly, the takeaway was the travel itself, nothing else teaches you more than an independent travel.
Fortunately, I got a chance to be interviewed by NDTV Profit, one of the leading Media in India. Mumbai was amazing and I look forward to attending many more international visits, tours and competition, which always is a great exposure than the bookish knowledge.
Acknowledgements:
I sincerely express my gratitude to King’s College for providing me such an opportunity to participate in CIMA Global Challenge 2014.
About Author:
-Asish Thakur
BBA IInd Sem, Section A
Executive Director, AD-Link and Glocal Khabar
Managing Director, Open Space Nepal
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