Summary
The entrepreneurial conclave was organised by the Entrepreneurship Development Cell
Students from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata; Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Delhi; and Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi took home trophies
Four days of rigorous brainstorming, racing deadlines, acing strategic and logical thinking and resource utilsation marked Entreprise 2022, an entrepreneurial simulation and business conclave that ended on February 27. The event was organised by the Entrepreneurship Development Cell of St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, with Edugraph as the digital media partner.
More than 270 teams took part in the virtual competition, the prelims for which were held on February 11 and 12.
M&M, a team comprising first-year BCom students of St. Xavier’s College — Nikhil Goyal and Mehul Agarwalla — was declared the winner. Ayush Madhogarhia, a first-year BBA student of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (SSCBS), Delhi, and Harshita Chandak, a first-year BCom student of Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi, bagged the second position.
“Entreprise is an entrepreneurial conclave that tests all possible skills a budding entrepreneur would require. This year’s conclave consisted of corporate simulations, which were close to real scenarios. Elements like negotiation, innovative thinking, creative problem solving, tackling crises, pitching, minimising costs and maximising profits made the participants put themselves in place of an actual entrepreneur. We aimed to give a holistic view on how business is conducted in the real world,” said Shreyash Dokania, a second-year BCom student, who heads Entreprise.
Overcoming four prelim rounds, nine teams from five colleges — St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, NMIMS Mumbai, Jai Hind College, Mumbai, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Delhi, and Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi — entered the finals where they competed against each other in the remaining three rounds.
Brainstorming prelims
The first round of the prelims, Divided, gave the students an insight into the corporate world. The participants had to negotiate, work in teams, and be part of rounds of discussions that tested their tenacity and versatility.
Mosh Pit, the second round of the event revolved around event management. The participants had to curate a successful concert through sponsorship pitching, celebrity auctioning and delegating minimum financial and personnel resources for the maximum benefit.
Moving onto the concept of franchisees, in the third round, Metropolis saw the teams being divided into cities and brands. The brand negotiated deals through inter-city relations, while the cities tried to expand their business within their territories.
The final round of prelims, Card Chaos, was all about manipulation, negotiation, backstabbings, loyalty through an exchange, and trading of cards among participants.
“Card Chaos was a challenging round. It involved a lot of complex calculations, lobbying and trading. True to our team name Team Work we pulled it off together, by complementing each other's skillsets. Due to the resulting synergy between us, the round went better than we could have ever imagined. Entreprise 2022 was a unique experience for me. We learnt how important teamwork and communication are, in any environment. Over four hectic yet fun days, we interacted with a host of diverse people, absorbing their ideologies and perspectives. All this helped broaden our mindset, and contributed immensely to our personal growth,” said Ayush.
Racing through the finale
The participants were assigned the roles of telecom companies at Telelink, the first round of the finals. They had to travel through various geographies and establish their brand supremacy.
What happens when your company is hit by a crisis? C-Rumble, the second round of the finals, placed the participants in the position of managing crisis through strategy, quick decision-making skills, and oratory skills.
The final round of Entreprise 2022 was Entre-Plan. The B plan pitch event saw participants present a business plan based on their learnings in the past six rounds with a close observation of the pandemic and its influence on businesses. Each plan had to be presented through a PowerPoint presentation. The final round was judged by Vishal Kumar, founder of Learning While Traveling (LWT) Academy; Gaurav Kapoor, chief business officer at IIM Calcutta Innovation Park; Gaurav Agarwal, founder of SMVA consultants; and Ashish Kumar, assistant manager, TATA Consultancy Services.
“I wanted to learn more about entrepreneurship and innovation, which made me sign up. The competition was not just about winning, but also learning something in the process. Unlike other competitions, Entreprise was organised by students, which is inspiring. We learnt from other participants. I have enhanced my skill set and knowledge about business by listening to other participants. Problem-solving, dealing with ambiguities, and thinking creatively on the spot are some of the skills that we have learnt from the challenging competition,” said Nikhil.
Master sessions
Apart from the competitions, Entreprise also had two speaker sessions. Bharat Moossaddee, chief financial officer at Mahindra & Mahindra, spoke on Where you are in the future is a reflection of the choices you make now. Sandipan Mitra, co-founder and chief executive officer at HungerBox, spoke on Learning as an active process and using all avenues of learning actively.
Last updated on 08 Mar 2022
