Kotak ExpLORe Winners NMIMS Mumbai Share Expedition Insights!

Kotak Mahindra Bank, founded in November 1985 is a financial and banking services entity headquartered in Mumbai. In fact, Kotak Mahindra Finance is the first ever Indian non-banking finance company that got converted into a bank. With a huge brand name and impeccable legacy behind it, we- Shrey Agarwal, Sahil Garg, Spandan Garg, and Rohit Wadhwa, were definitely excited about the launch of Kotak ExpLORe - Experience Learning Opportunities in Retail Lending!

The competition was open for B-School students from select institutions including our institution NIMNS, Mumbai. The requirements called for teams of 3-4 members and participants could win exciting PPI opportunities and cash prizes worth INR 2 lakh. So we decided to form a team that we named- Team BS Club. And we are thrilled to have won the National Winner title for this challenge. In this article, we will take you through our journey in the first edition of this B-School competition.

Kotak ExpLORe Competition Structure

The competition was split into three rounds and the participants had to build a prototype of the solution on any one of the six business cases provided. The format was as follows: 

• Round 1: Preliminary Solution Submission
• Round 2: Detailed Solution Submission
• Round 3: Grand Finale

The judgment quality of the competition seemed very professional and transparent with numerous judges evaluating and scoring the participants. 

We’d also like to mention a special moment for us which was during the finale round. We have had multiple organizations in the past request us to change our team name during competitions because they felt that it was not polite or suited for public spaces, but not here. Every team name has multiple interpretations, and it was during the Kotak ExpLORe finale that the anchor asked us the meaning of our team name. It was here that we got a chance to explain the true emotions behind the name in front of an esteemed audience. It is safe to say that we are extremely glad to have been a part of this competition. 

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

How We Went About Working On Our Solution

The space in which the business case problem was set, was new for us but we followed a structured approach that helped us reach the perfect solution. Here is what we did in our pursuit to win the competition: 

• We spoke to various critical stakeholders involved in the mortgage industry to ensure our solutions were feasible.
• Got in touch with the company's employees and management to curate solutions that were personalized for them. 
• Our team conducted multiple brainstorming sessions and we ensured that the ideas we settled on were asynchronous. 
• We also used to discuss and reinforce our central idea continuously to ensure our solution and presentation were perfect.

All in all, we worked on the problem for roughly 4-5 weeks and it was a memorable experience. However, we did face some major including getting a proper understanding of Digital Mortgages in India, the reason why the company has released this case, and getting an appointment to contact relevant stakeholders. But in the process of conducting research and brainstorming, we were able to overcome these issues and reach a holistic solution. 

Learnings We’d Like to Share

Kotak Explore gave us a chance to truly explore a new area that our team wasn't aware of. Here is what we learned-

• While working on Digital Mortgages, we got a chance to learn about the different nitty-gritty of the real estate sector in the country.
• We also got to learn more about the various lending ecosystems around home loans, and the changing nature of customers toward getting a home loan digitally. 
• This competition also gave us a chance to actually listen to the concerns of employees, staff, and valuers towards digitization and then come up with solutions that were considerate of each stakeholder's concerns.

The Most Important Ingredient for Winning Competitions

The team that you decide to participate with undoubtedly makes or breaks your chances of winning a competition. For us, BS Club was a team of individuals who had been together, studied together, and lived together for the last two years. 

All of us had worked with each other on various projects already so we knew each other's strengths and weaknesses. This helped us to be confident with each other's contribution to the presentation and foster a team environment that prioritized ownership and autonomy of the work done. We also went about assigning responsibilities from the get-go to avoid any confusion and to ensure everything went on smoothly. Here is what our team structure looked like-

• Spandan Garg played a pivotal role in structuring, designing, and making the presentation professional and aesthetically pleasing without which we couldn't have made it into the finals.
• Rohit Wadhwa brought his experience of doing in-depth secondary research and gathering the best practices and ideas that we could share with the company.
• Sahil Garg was the devil's advocate, auditor, and finance guy from our team who ensured that our content in the presentation was fool-proof and did not appear to be just ‘Generally Accepted Statements’. 
• Shrey Agarwal led the team in those difficult times when other members felt like giving up by working closely with each of them. He also brought his tremendous network which helped the team conduct primary research in terms of interviews and FGDs.

Closing Note

Kotak ExpLORe - Experience Learning Opportunities in Retail Lending! was an experience of a lifetime. As we’ve said all of us have known each other for the past two years, and we wanted to come together for one last time to end our MBA journey with a Bang. Winning this competition definitely is the best way to mark the end of our MBA years.

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