Westminster Business School Entrepreneurship Pathway Graduates : Sarah Watkinson-Yull, Team Leader, Sharon Katta, Pranpratim Bhuyan and Emirgels Ibrahimllari were selected as a team to enter the Final Round of the 2013 IIBD Case Competition jointly organised by the Wing Lung Bank International Institute for Business Development (IIBD) and Chinese Business Research Centre, School of Business, Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU). The team went to Hong Kong Baptist University in November 2013 to compete in the Final Round of this year’s Competition. The team came back with lots of emotions, added business experience and opportunities for the future. This is what they wanted to share with us:
Sharon Katta, Executive Director, Histyle India
It was half past 11 on the 7th of November. We were descending upon the city enjoying the view of the rising sun. Delirious, but dizzyingly excited, we made our way to the urban taxi stand to hike a ride to one of the Baptist university accommodation in Kowloon Thong. We were invited with a pleasant smile and were given keys to our respective rooms and were astonished with the beautiful view of the high-rise buildings in Hong Kong. We washed our long flight away with some Chinese tea. On the day of our competition, our hands started to sweat due to excitement and nervousness. The feeling of being selected for the final stage among all the universities and being the first team from our university made us feel stronger for competition.
The next day we assembled at the university during the early hours, and were given our case studies with a time limit of 6 hours to prepare for our 20-minute presentation. It was after a long time we came together to work on our presentation and the feeling was great. Our strategies and concepts learnt during our university life came into play and we started backing up each concept with practical experience and evidence. The whole process ended before we could realise our time limit, but was certainly ready to present our strategies and new concepts for the social enterprise.
It was now time to prove our presentation skills as a group and at the end we were happy with our presentation due to the circumstances provided.
The experience was great and would never deny an opportunity similar to this competition in future, if any. As a team we came together again and got closer with each other. Jane now felt like a new friend to us and we got a lot more closer to her than we were during our university days. We engaged in networking with a lot of people from different countries, cause of which we now have new friends in the U.S. It was fun to know more about them and their culture.
The learning didn’t stop for us as we are vigorously looking for more opportunities to expand our reach into the competitive business world. This opportunity of travelling to Hong Kong helped to prove that nothing can stop us nor can we stop learning.
Once again, it was more of a reunion for our team. Plus, Sarah and I engaged in business conversation and planning to expand our business.
Emir Ibrahimllari
We arrived in Hong Kong after a long but pleasant flight full of excitement. What we were about to experience did not settle in our minds until the day of the competition. There was so much to take in that I felt like a new born in a new world.
The twelve hour flight had got us closer to our mentor, Jane, than the years of university. Only this time she was no longer the judge of our work, we were now a team!
Being in the final we knew we were up against some of the best universities in the world with some of the best students. However, this only made us more proud to wave the Westminster flag. We were the first team from our university to reach such final and we were going to take full advantage of it.
We played by the rules and could not wait to start our six hour preparation. As soon as we were handed the case study adrenaline run through us like river. We tackled the project from a practical manor and backed each suggestion with facts. The whole process was over before we knew it but we were ready to present our arguments and strategies.
After twenty five minutes of taking centre stage we were confident we had done our best in the time and circumstances provided.
Sitting through some of the other presentations it became apparent the bar was set very high. The fierce competition meant we were just out of the top three but having gone thus far made us feel satisfied and proud regardless.
The learning did not stop at that point, in fact it was at the beginning stage. We took full advantage of the situation and the time we had left in Hong Kong by reflecting on the social enterprises we had built up ourselves and by building relationships with future business leaders from around the world. I looked at ways which my social enterprise could expand to and the resources it would require. By networking heavily my team and I built strong relationships with the American team. Building a strong foundation we exchanged experiences and looked at ways of working together in the future.
Being as ambitious as we are we naturally wanted to come back as winners. However, what we got in return was much more. We learnt the importance of coming together and working as a team to complete tasks. Furthermore, we learnt how to schedule and manage time to our advantage. By networking we realised the importance of creating new connections and sharing ideas.
The experience came to an end, whilst waiting to board the plane back home, the only thing I wished for was to have boarded that plane out of London sooner and more often to trips and competitions similar to the one we had just finished. Winners or not we would have always gained! More experiences of such nature would have made us even more competitive in the business world but above all would have made us stronger, better human beings!
Sarah Watkinson- Yull
We had 6 hours to read a 20 page case study and present in 20 mins our future strategy for the business. The clock was ticking, toilet stops were obsolete and even the windows were covered.
We all worked incredibly well as a team something that Westminster really teaches their students, however sadly we didn’t win. We put in a fantastic effort and were the only team to use any theoretical evidence to back up our assumptions!
Outside of the 6 hours we were able to network with the other students who were part of the competition, we now have some great friends in the US!
It was a great experience to travel to Hong Kong as a team, outside of our comfort zones and experience the different culture. This is something that we are so fortunate to do.
Sharon and myself were able to combine ideas and hope to do a collaboration together with our two businesses- more to come!
We were proud to represent Westminster on an international level, fingers crossed the team next year can learn from our experience and we can push the Canadians off their 12 year hot seat!
Ron Bhunyan
I still remember when Sarah and I sat in the library right after our exams to discuss the case study for the competition. In all honesty, neither of us were psyched about writing another piece of academic work just after we were done with our exams and most importantly, university altogether. However, the prospect of participating in an international competition and representing the University of Westminster on a global platform was just the motivation we needed. Me and Sarah working from London, Emir from Buckinghamshire and Sharon from Chennai, jointly finished our report and sent it off hoping for the best.
Then came the results, graduation and the farewell parties. We had graduated and were in different parts of the world now. We were moving onto life after university. Sarah & Emir were running their businesses in London, Sharon was managing his family business in Chennai while I had started working as well. Then one fine morning, I receive an email which started with ‘Congratulations Mr Bhuyan, you have been shortlisted for the IIBD Case Competition in Hong Kong’. I had to read the email 10 times to make sure I read it correctly. After sharing the news with practically every person I knew, I prepared myself for this life changing experience.
Weeks later I meet my best friends where I left them the last time – the airport. Excited and full of enthusiasm we made our way to the university.
If you would like to know more about the Entrepreneurship Pathway you can read more here or you can watch Dr. Jane Chang in this video talking about the Entrepreneurship Pathway
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