‘How To Win The FNB Challenge?’ By 2022 Winner NITIE Mumbai

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Tata Consumer Products Limited, the FMCG giant came back with the second edition of its case study competition- the FNB Challenge 2022- Flourish. Nourish. Build. It was open to first-year full-time MBA students from select institutions with cash prizes worth INR 3 lakh and PPI for job opportunities up for grabs. We, Ankit Nautiyal, Sauvik Mandal, and Shruti Dandekar are students from NITIE Mumbai. As we realized that we were eligible for this challenge, we decided to test the waters and showcase our skills.

We called ourselves Team The Holy Grail and our efforts led us to the Winner trophy. It was a great experience filled with memorable moments, from getting the email informing us that we qualified for the finals to the countless late-night sessions spent developing the product pitch. We are here to share the special insights we gathered on our journey through this prestigious competition.

The FNB Challenge 2022: Competition Format

The case study competition had four stages, which were as follows:

• Round 1 - Executive Summary Submissions
• Round 2 - Jury Evaluations
• Mentorship Phase
• Round 3 - Grand Finale

The competition was framed in a simple manner with 3 major rounds. The HR supported us throughout the competition by clearly explaining the process and updating us on everything. One of the best things was the interface, which was very easy to operate. All in all, the entire process was very smooth and hassle-free all thanks to TCPL and Unstop.

Jury & Mentor Contribution

Every team was evaluated on a fixed set of consistent parameters. The judgment quality was not only honest and transparent but feedback oriented which was one of the best parts of the whole process. The constructive feedback from the jury during the semi-finals helped us improve our final presentation. We believe that the organization did justice to its name with this competition. Additionally, before the finale, our mentor gave us on-ground insights for our product idea and that really helped us refine our presentation. The competition was truly inspiring and pushed us to do better at each and every stage. 

How We Won FNB Challenge 2022?

Going into the competition we all had confidence in ourselves as individuals and also as a team. We followed a systematic plan to broach the case problem statement and thought of everything that needed to be done. It is important to have a plan and follow a strategy whenever taking part in such large-scale competitions. Here is a snapshot view of the actions that led us to victory:

• We decided early on to play to the individual strengths of every member. We knew this was critical to winning a competition of such caliber. 
• So one of us was responsible for networking, research, and product identification, the second member for presentation and operations, and the third for marketing and finance.
• With areas of responsibility sorted, we decided to spend a considerable amount of time carrying out research to understand consumer behavior and consumption pattern. This was to form the foundational basis of our entire solution.
• However we faced challenges in the collection of proper data during our research phase since for an NPD problem, you do not have much, to begin with. 
• We tackled this by doing extensive secondary research and connecting with many Food & Beverage professionals.
• We brainstormed ideas to come up with a good product as it was a GTM case. Based on our research findings, we formulated our NPD (New Product Development) strategy and came up with our product idea. 
• The next step was to carry out a detailed competitive analysis and formulation of operational and marketing strategies for the product launch.
• Lastly, we developed a financial feasibility report for the first two years and presented our road map for implementation with proper timelines.

We worked for nearly 15 days to create the first presentation for submission and post-selection into the semi-finals, we worked non-stop to polish our presentation and make it more insightful. Overall, it was a great 2 months that culminated in not only victory but countless lessons that will lead us to a quality future.

Check this out: Challenge Yourself With These B-school Competitions

6 Important Lessons From FNB Challenge 2022

The learnings we garnered from this competition were immense, and here are the top 6 lessons we’d like to share with all of you:

1. The competition gave us real-world insights into how FMCG companies work.
2. It helped us understand financial modeling better than before the competition.
3. We learned how to make a pitch for a presentation to upper management and the way to tackle the Q&A session.
4. How to approach any particular problem in the industry, the correct methodology, and thought process.
5. Networking- During the course of the competition, we interacted with numerous professionals from different domains and received their valuable insights.
6. We also learned video editing skills for the first time.

And the list goes on! We are extremely grateful for this opportunity, and to everyone who enriched our experience. All this really boosted our confidence and we aim to take these learnings further for coming case competitions and our future endeavors.

The Recipe Of A Winning Team

Any description of our journey through this competition is incomplete without pointing out the importance of having a good TEAM. We believe that the three of us made the perfect team because we had diversity in terms of skills and qualities which we utilized to create a masterpiece. Our team's forte was strong trust among our members and the ability to recognize individual strengths.

Sauvik Mandal from our team brought all our ideas to life into beautiful PPTs with his aesthetic and presentation skills. He is full of unique ideas, is amazing at strategy formulation, and provided us with a rationale for every discussion. Shruti Dandekar has an eye for details, is very hardworking, and has a knack for perfecting drafts. And lastly, Ankit Nautiyal has great networking skills and was the perfect finance expert who ensured that our product suggestion was feasible. Simply put, our team is the perfect combination of dedicated hard workers who are crazy, weird, intelligent, and most importantly know how to have FUN. 

A Final Word Of Advice

Our experience throughout The FNB Challenge 2022 was awesome. Our advice to everyone out there would be that the combined goal of any team should be to win the case and you should always put the team before any one individual. We relied on data and proven logic while making decisions and remained focused on our end goal.  The way we overcame all the challenges made us a better team and improved mutual coordination and trust. We can never put a price on this experience!

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