Standing 2nd in South-East Asia in “Mondelez Leading Edge Business Challenge'' to becoming BFFs | Journey of Team Kita Berampat

All of the hard work and sleepless nights finally paid off for Team Kita Berampat from Indonesia as they were announced the Second Winner of Mondelez Leading Edge Business Challenge 2021 in South-East Asia. The two months of competition timeline not only made them learn new things, but also helped them grow from strangers to BFFs.

Held in 6 participating countries such as Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, Mondelez Leading Edge Business Challenge was composed of five stages based on the concept of defined thinking: Empathy, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Testing. In teams of 3-4 members, participants had to solve ‘wicked problems’ inspired by design thinking.

Team Kita Berampat wasn’t very aware if they were doing the right thing or not during these two months of competition. All they knew was to follow the guidelines, do plenty of research, and get their knowledge tested to the core. Let’s hear the secrets of this win from the team itself.

Preparing the umbrella before it rains!

It is only after preparation that opportunities are built. Team Kita Berampat knew the importance of persistence in preparation, and thus, had devised ways to face all coming challenges in advance.
“The preparation had a long way before the submission at every stage of the competition. The two months that we had for our preparation, we made sure to come together every 2 days to brainstorm over the ideas.” said Palita Rana Putinagari from Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia.

The most challenging step at the time of preparation was understanding the broader sense of the problem statement, what it had to achieve, and what could be its possible solutions. Since it was the first time they were participating in a large-scale organized competition, they had to spare time to learn more and research.

Fun fact: It was Mondelez Leading Edge Business Challenge that brought a bunch of strangers together, who first found befriending difficult, later developed an inseparable bond.

COVID-19 lockdown wasn’t that bad!

No doubt the pandemic didn’t allow the team members to see each other physically, but it didn’t prove to be a hindrance for Team Kita Berampat.
“While we prepared our deck, we worked with music, used to sing along to ooze down all nervousness, of course virtually.” said Keshia Angely Devi Sebayang from Universitas Indonesia.

Fun fact: The first time team members of Kita Berampat actually met in the COVID-19 pandemic was during the Mondelez Leading Edge Business Challenge, when Palita had traveled all the way from Bandung to find Topher much older than what he actually looked during virtual meets.

Leaving conflicts at the door…

Though COVID-19 lockdown made virtual connect easy and frequent with just a click, it is difficult to find every individual in the right state of mind to work. Similar was the problem faced by Team Kita Berampat. It was difficult to achieve coordination to think over possible problem areas and their solutions as 3 out of 4 team members were pursuing internships at the time of competition, and one member (Topher) was also a participant of other competitions along with Mondelez Edge.

However, the emotional support rendered by each team member made it possible for them to dream big! 

“If someone accidentally fell asleep during the meet, we allowed our team members to take rest. So we really did not have any conflicts, it was more of balancing our jam packed schedules with Mondelez Edge.” - Keshia

What did Mondelez Edge teach?

It was when Team Kita Berampat stood amongst the 5 finalists of the Mondelez Leading Edge Business Challenge South-East Asia showdown, that they walked into the flashback of their entire journey of the competition. Standing against their toughest competitor Philippines, they knew that even if they do not win, they take along with them a bag full of learnings! Earlier when they found it difficult to decipher the application of marketing and finance, today they are great tutors of it. So much so that the entire competition has made them great empathizers of design thinking.

You may also want to read:

1. Meet the High-School Buddies whose secret to perfect chemistry made them win Mondelez Leading Edge Business Challenge 2021
2. The hunger to win Mondelez Leading Edge Business Challenge made them the 2nd Runner-up of South-East Asia showdown