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Hero Campus Challenge S8 Winners Take Us Through Their Road To Victory

The Hero Campus Challenge Season 8 (HCC S8) rolled to a glorious end, with winners taking home cash prizes worth INR 6 lakh and PPOs. But that’s not all. The winners also took home unparalleled insights about the world of business and memories of a lifetime.

Read ahead to understand how the winners of HCC S8 B-Track and E-Track rode to victory, navigating the speed bumps and potholes that came their way.

Hero Campus Challenge Season 8: Competition Structure & Winners

Through the Hero Campus Challenge, Hero MotoCorp Limited offers participants an opportunity to work on Hero's real business challenges.

Students get a chance to flex their problem-solving skills, while organizers get front-row seats into the diverse and unique perspectives of students shaping the future of corporate India. The competition was open to students from Engineering Colleges and B-Schools in India:

Engineering Colleges: B.Tech/B.E./M.E./M.Tech students of all years from all Engineering Colleges are eligible to participate.
B-Schools: Both, first and second-year students pursuing MBA/PGDM programs and 1-year management programs are eligible to apply.

Here’s a look at how the competition is structured:

Name of the round	Detail of the round	Shortlisting Round
Round 1: Online Assessment	Online quiz round to assess participants on Critical Reasoning, Logical Ability, and Analytics.	Yes
Round 2: Idea Elevator Video Pitch Submission	Shortlisted teams submit a 1-slider PPT of their proposed solution in the prescribed format, along with a video lasting 60-90 seconds.	Yes
Round 3: Virtual Presentation	In Round 3, shortlisted teams need to submit a detailed 10-slider presentation before the start of the round and then present their solutions virtually to the Senior Management of Hero MotoCorp Limited.	Yes
Virtual Mentorship: 5 teams per track make up the top 10 finalists. Each finalist is assigned a mentor from Hero MotoCorp’s Senior Leadership. Mentors guide finalists on presentation and other aspects of the Grand Finale.
Round 4: Grand Finale	Shortlisted teams get 15 minutes to present to the panel and answer their questions. Winners and Runners-up get a chance to bag PPOs.	NA

Both the HCC tracks operated simultaneously over three months, ending with the following winners:

Track	Winners	Team Members
E-Track	Team A Priori from IIT Kharagpur	Satvik Bansal, Divyangna Sharma and Aryansh Singh
B-Track	Team Dynamic from SCMHRD Pune	Pradyumna Bhandiwad, Sakshi Dhangekar and Anushruti Singh

Wondering how they conquered each round to emerge victorious? Then dive in for the details.

What Does It Take To Win?

E-Track Winners: Team A Priori

Aryansh Singh believed they had an edge on presentation and pitch that allowed them to race ahead of the competition, combined with two weeks spent researching and prepping.

“The experience of working as a team was great. Yes, a major load (challenge) can be the distribution of work but that was resolved by (others) compensating whenever one of us slacked.”

Singh added that for their team working on the problem statement translated to, “Performing market research, reading industry reports and aligning with Hero's vision. The feedback from Hero R&D was amazing and provided insights into practical aspects we did not see during the theoretical framing.”

B-Track Winners: Team Dynamic

Pradyumna Bhandiwad shared that the team opted for a holistic approach to solve the problem -exploring the entire gamut of available solutions.

“Our strategy for Hero Campus Challenge Season 8 was rooted in collaborative innovation and effective time management. We dedicated countless hours to understanding the problem at hand, brainstorming solutions, and refining our approach.

The challenges we faced were diverse, ranging from tight deadlines to navigating the complexities of the problem statement. However, our resilience and ability to adapt to unforeseen obstacles ultimately strengthened our resolve.”

What Makes A Winning Team?

The secret sauce to winning a competition is not a formula you can package - because every team is unique in its approach. However, the one thing common to both winning teams was leveraging the diverse strengths of the members.

Team A Priori (E-Track winners) summarized that their ability “to gauge the strengths” of each member enabled them to win the competition:

“The team comprised of Satvik Bansal, a software legend, Divyangna Sharma, who was great at finance and quant, and Aryansh Singh, who was good at strategy and consulting. The team’s forte was this diverse set of skills ranging from Software Engineering to Quant to Management Consulting, bringing together their thoughts and strategies to ace the competition.”

For Team Dynamic (B-Track winners), working in a team was actually one of the most rewarding moments of the competition:

“We were a bunch of diverse members - an Aerospace Engineer (Pradyumna), a chemical engineer (Anushruti), and an event management graduate (Sakshi). We leveraged each team member's unique strengths, fostering a synergy that propelled us forward.

One of us was an amazing slide designer and strategizer, another one collected information and did good research & the third member holistically addressed all the problem statements. Each team member brought a unique perspective and skill, whether it was analytical prowess, creative thinking, technical expertise, or presenting information.

In instances of conflict, open communication and a shared commitment to our goal facilitated swift resolution. This experience underscored the importance of effective teamwork in achieving ambitious objectives.”

One For The Memories

The best thing about any journey is the memories you make on the way. This was the case with the HCC S8 winners as well. But both teams had one moment that made it to the scrapbook of memories, bookmarked for eternity.

E-Track winners Team A Priori shared that nothing beats the classic, i.e. the time they were crowned winners, “The most awesome moment is always gonna be the result announcement: The team from IIT Kharagpur....”

For B-Track winners Team Dynamic though, the moment that became etched in their memories occurred a day before the results were announced.

“An amazing one hour was a day before the final presentation, wherein the three of us sat together with our laptops and notepads, discussing every small part of our case solution and the business statement given to us. We made sure every team member knew the crucial terminology or the facts & figures displayed on the slides. This power-packed discussion ensured that all three of us were aligned to a single goal of leading our solution to our desired place. It also helped us in preparing for all the possible questions that may arise in the national finale presentation.”

HCC is the kind of competition that tests participants' knowledge and skills, pushing them out of their comfort zones and leaving them with lifelong learning.

Both the winning teams commended the judging criteria, organization, and framing of the competition, heaping praises on the support provided by mentors. Ultimately though, their key to ace these competitions was collaboration and communication - but if you’re unable to trust your team’s strengths, this can be the most difficult task!

This was truly a victory worth celebrating, and we congratulate all the winners. Now it’s time for other aspiring participants to take lessons and #BeUnstoppable in their journey to success.

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Srishti Magan

Sr. Content Editor

I’m a reader first and a writer second, constantly diving into the world of content. If I’m not writing or reading, I like watching movies and dreaming of a life by the beach.