IIM Calcutta's Winning Idea For Reliance TUP 8.0

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Do you know that according to WHO there were 2 million Indian students who belong to the deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) community in 2020? And this number is only going to rise. What’s more appalling is that only 1-2 lakh of them are actually enrolled in schools. Because let’s face it, with only 388 schools to serve such a large community, what more could you expect? Image the communication barriers this community faces, which not only leaves them feeling isolated but also hampers their overall growth. These are the students who hardly ever reach their full potential or feel like they fully belong, just because of a lack of proper education and a break in the natural chain of communication. Don’t you think that we should do something about this?

Well, we sure do and that is what we wanted to achieve with the solution we presented in Reliance TUP 8.0. The Ultimate Pitch is a case study competition that pushes B-School students to showcase their innovative spirit and explore entrepreneurial zeal. And we, Rohan Kulkarni, Jaswi Prakash, Ashutosh Igave, and Prasad Doshi, students at IIM Calcutta, wanted to make the most of the opportunity this challenge presented us with. In this article, we will share our experience at Reliance TUP 8.0, a journey at the end of which, our team- Team Fast & Curious walked away with the Ultimate Winner title.

Reliance TUP 8.0 Competition Structure

The competition had a unique format and it was such that it pushed us to think outside of the box. It consisted of the following rounds:

• Submit your idea
• Campus Round- Beat the odds
• Semi-Finals- Leven up your game
• Grand Finale- The ultimate pitch

The instructions for every round were extremely clear which made for a smooth experience. Coming to the judgment aspect of the competition, the jury asked very specific relevant questions which were also to the point. They made us think in further depth and improve our solutions to make them more feasible in the real world.

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

Thought Process Behind the Winning Solution

We unanimously decided that we wanted to work on this powerful social cause and come forth with a solution to this problem. 

• For this, we started with primary and secondary research. 
• We then used the information to brainstorm about the features we wanted to include in our application solution for the DHH community. 
• We also brainstormed about the way in which we could monetize our solution to make it a feasible business idea. 
• All this led us to build an application- the Talk Iti application wherein we decided to convert courses that were a part of the school curriculum for up to 10th standard in sign language to facilitate the learning for the DHH community. 
• Our app would allow users not only access to content in ISL (Indian Sign Langauge) but also convert their thoughts into audio instructions to facilitate communication in their day-to-day lives 

By the end of it, we were confident in the strength of the concept. Our faith in our concept and confidence in ourselves pushed us to make our best effort. We decided to give pitch our idea ourselves rather than putting a lot of information on the slide. The plan was to state the proposition succinctly and clearly, in a concise manner. The fact that we ended up winning the competition was validation enough that we are on the right track. 

A Tip to Resolve Conflicts

Whenever you are working with a team especially under such circumstances, with a lot riding on the win, tensions are bound to rise. We like most other teams were faced with a few team conflicts. In our opinion, the best way to deal with conflicts is through open dialogue and discussion. We also believe that it is important to trust your team members in every situation. It was the trust we built with each other that allowed us to look beyond our individual point of view and consider all aspects. By the end of this journey, it is safe to say that the experience of working with this team was really nice.

Takeaways From Reliance TUP 8.0

Our team's forte was our ability to navigate through difficult times by supporting each other. Given the high-pressure environment that each one of us was going through, the positivity in the team helped us overcome the obstacles. The competition was also full of learnings that we will carry forward with us for a long time to come. 

• One of the most important things we learned was the importance of precision in communication. 
• And the other would be to listen to what the judges and mentors have to say. Because the feedback they provide is a goldmine. The feedback that we received from our mentor was very helpful and helped us refine our solution. 
• We also learned a lot from each one of our competitors. Take Team Sorted from NITIE Mumbai for example. Their work on plastic recycling and prototype was just amazing and extremely inspiring.
• The competition also worked as a brilliant networking opportunity. We are especially grateful to have met Aditi, CEO of Qalara who was our mentor for the competition. 

In a nutshell, our Reliance TUP 8.0 experience was beyond enriching and memorable. We hope to learn and grow from this experience and become a more refined version of ourselves. #BeUnstoppable

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