Troubleshooting, one of the key traits of start-up aspirants, was put to test at an inter-school entrepreneurship competition organised by Motilal Nehru Public School on their campus in Sakchi on Saturday.

More than 30 students from 17 city schools took part in the CEO of the Day contest to prove their mettle as future entrepreneurs.

The competition was won by Little Flower School in the senior category (students of classes XI and XII) and Jamshedpur Public School in the junior category (classes IX and X).

The winning teams, which had two students each, were awarded with Singapore tickets sponsored by Learning While Travelling, a Calcutta-based start-up.

Other participating students won discounts on trips to IIT Kharagpur. Six students also won a free trip to IIT Kharagpur after a lucky draw.

XLRI faculty member Sunil Sarangi gave away the prizes along with secretary of Motilal Nehru Public School D.P. Shukla and Ashu Tiwary, principal of the host school .

The competition comprised three stages. In the first round, participants needed to write down their answers with explanation. This was followed by a group discussion where teams had to answer questions by the judges. The last round was a team interview.

“We were first given a problem with three possible solutions out of which we had to choose one. The problem was: how can students get help on career choices? We had to choose a solution and justify it. We also had to explain why the other two solutions won’t work,” said G.S. Vishnu, a Class XII student of Little Flower School, who contested with his friend Debarati Pal and won.

Vishnu and Debarati said connecting students with those studying in colleges would reduce their stress over the choice of careers because they could relate more to their immediate seniors. Also, they can develop a community similar to Quora to help each other.

The team from Jamshedpur Public School also picked the same option because of its effectiveness. They also proposed the creation of an app for students where they could take a quiz.

“Based on the answers, the app will suggest the best suited career options to the user,”said Smriti Upasana, a Class X student of Jamshedpur Public School who had teamed up with Ananta Bose from Class IX.

“The other two options were online portals with career details and professional counsellors who charge hefty amounts of money. Students were free to give a fourth solution, which could have been a mix of the existing ones or a new one,” said Vishal Kumar, the founder of Learning While Travelling.

Students of DAV Public School, Bistupur, Hill Top School, Dayanand Public School, Rajendra Vidyalaya, Kerala Samajam Model School, Gulmohur High School, Jusco School South Park, Loyola School and DBMS Kadma High School also took part.