Amazon Ace Challenge 2018 National Finalist Manan Jambu's Story

I felt ecstatic being declared the National Finalists of Amazon Ace Challenge 2018. We came to know about this at around 2 AM and all of our peers rushed to congratulate us. Also, when the finale was on air, all our friends gathered and we saw ourselves on TV, it really made our day.

Given that Amazon is the most dynamic company and Amazon Ace Challenge 2018 is one of the most prestigious B-school competitions in the country, we wanted to learn what problems they are facing in real time and how we can better engage in brainstorming about those problems. The sole purpose for participation was to learn through intense discussion and solve real-life problems.

The journey of preparation was not less than a roller coaster ride. It had been only 2.5 months into our MBA; we were getting used to the workload and were hustling hard with barely 4 hours of sleep. We were discussing, fighting; we were even thinking of the case while having a relaxing coffee at 2 AM. This went on for weeks. It was the motivation and enthusiasm of each team member that helped us to sail through this journey.

Working with my team on the Amazon ACE Challenge 2018 case study is one of the best experiences for me. Arguments and conflicts are an unavoidable part of any team’s working but what distinguishes us from others was that all of us were rational in our arguments. We cross-questioned just to make sure that we cover each and every aspect of the case. We were brainstorming so that subjectivity can be minimized.

Right from the beginning of our journey, all three of us had agreed that we would not argue for the sake of it but do so with an aim to reach optimum results. Our team's forte was that we prioritized objectivity over all other things. We believe in comprehensive analysis and feasible quick actions and that's why we chose our team name as BRISK.

Talking about individual team member's talent, Deepak has a really good consulting mind which helped us to structure our thoughts. Saurabh has rich industry experience and a unique networking attitude which helped us to get quick solutions and in getting help from the right people. My forte is scheduling things, embarking upon creative ideas and thinking from the consumer's point of view. This unique blend of talents is rare and precious. And that's what took us to the finale.

There were 5 teams in the finale in operation excellence domain. The team from IIM Ranchi was our toughest competitor because many of our suggested points were similar but their solution was more comprehensive and they were better at selling the benefits.

Amazon is the most dynamic and consumer-centric company on the planet. Their business case was also focused on how to increase customer satisfaction and give them the best value. The jury members were excellent, articulate and all of them had extensive experiences ranging from logistics, consumer behavior, HR to operation. We learned a lot from them.

This learning is unmatchable. Whatever we learned in academics, we were actually applying it in the real world. We linked human emotions and psychology in package moving to emotionally connect the employees with the package. We learnt about the up and coming trends in e-commerce from the jury members. Learning from peers and other groups was quite an eye-opening experience.

The whole process felt nothing short of a miracle to us. In those few days, our learning curve was quite steep that we had never experienced before. We sincerely thank Amazon for giving us such a big platform. Amazon took care of us just like their employees and provided us with a smooth and rich sneak peek into the corporate world.

Do you have your eyes set on winningAmazon ACE Challenge 2018? Read more about Amazon ACE Challenge 2018 and the organizers Amazon to cover all your basis. Other competition organized by Amazon is Alexa Skills Hackathon.