Pushing the limits to become the national finalists of RB Global Challenge 2020 -By team Salutem of SCMHRD Pune

RB Global Challenge is known for the exposure it provides to the participants. Being in a B-school and not participating in such challenges means that you are missing out on a lot of fun and special moments that you’ll never forget. RBGC is a competition that gave us the opportunity to be entrepreneurs for a bigger cause, for society at large. The competition made us see an opportunity to design a possible solution for an issue that plagues the Indian society today and alleviate its woes.

What we felt when we were announced as the campus winners and national finalists in the RB Global Challenge 2020 was surreal. It gave us newfound energy to work harder. That moment was euphoric and will stay in our hearts rent-free, forever. 

Our formula for winning

Preparation involved intense brainstorming sessions, months of research and ideating on the solution- its feasibility and viability. We worked on understanding the problem through intense consumer and expert surveys in order to understand the depth of its effects. In parallel to that, we also worked on creating a pitch that would get the attention of the judges, helping us move forward in the subsequent rounds. The most challenging phase would definitely be choosing "the idea" out of several others, as the idea is one of the make or break element in the pitch. 

Transforming obstacles into stepping stones

We did face some problems and difficulties. But the only thing we remembered was the fact that we had to win it. Working virtually had its own share of pros and cons. One of the major challenges was to coordinate throughout the day to find time for brainstorming sessions. We made sure that we were all on the same page as we all made a choice that the idea for RB Global Challenge 2020 was our priority. 

A good team will always have its own share of conflicts. We did too. We always had the goal clear in our mind and whenever our differing viewpoints got too intense, we would regroup after a short break and choose the viewpoint that was most feasible to the solution and its implementation. 

There were 12 national finalists and the challenges we were put through was worth it. RBGC is one of the most well-organized competitions we have participated in with well laid out guidelines and framework, evaluation criteria and leadership whose guidance and mentorship gave us the most valuable insights in the competition. 

How diversity became our forte

One of our biggest strengths proved to be the diversity of our backgrounds. We come from different specializations which gave us a 360-degree view on every point. Apart from that, the team as a whole had a very detail-oriented mindset in every aspect of the solution and a hunger to do something out of the box.

To always preach teamwork

The biggest learning from RBGC would be hard-work and teamwork trumps all. We have been able to apply our learnings to a real-world problem, come up with a real-time solution and progressively improve that solution through the various rounds. Therefore, we were able to push the boundaries on our creativity, critical thinking and management skills. 

The most special moment that we’ll never forget was when we pitched our idea to RB leadership and were appreciated for our understanding of the topic. We even got further inputs and insights from them.

Check out other stories and experiences here:

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• The journey of getting crowned as the runners up of Hero Campus Challenge Season 6 -By Sarthak Sharma from VNIT Nagpur
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