Girl Crew From XIMB Conquers The Swiss Re ReImagine Challenge

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Swiss Re ReImagine Challenge is a thought leadership challenge by Swiss Re for students who are ready to rediscover, rethink, and reimagine the status quo. The competition was an open opporutnity for engineering students, B-School students, as well as insurance students. There were 13,702 registrations from all over the nation along with 27,18,006 impressions. In the end, Team Femme Fatale from XIMB grabbed the national winner title for the technology track. Let’s get to know a little more about their experience in the competition.

We are two women Suchismita Dam and Aastha Vijay, trying to weave our way through the MBA jungle, currently, at Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar. Our Team name for the Swiss Re ReImagine Challenge, that is, Femme Fatale signifies this phase of our life. We are ecstatic to have won the national winner title of such a prestigious competition.

Competition Structure

The planning and implementation of the competition were completely glitch-free and smooth. Even the judgment quality was top-notch. The competition consisted of the following rounds:

• First Preliminary Round - Online Assessment
• Idea Elevator Video Pitch and Executive Summary Submission
• Detailed Presentation Submission
• Grand Finale

While the whole journey throughout the challenge was amazing, we particularly enjoyed the 2nd round the most. In this round, we had to submit a video along with a slider. The moment our video was completed and we played it out, it felt extremely surreal. It was like the video solidified our faith in our proposal for insurance in the Metaverse future and reinforced the fact that we were on the right track. We also enjoyed the Q&A sessions of not only our team and track but that for the other track as well. All in all, it was a brilliant experience.

Also read: Challenge Yourself With These B-school Competitions

Our Process For ReImagine Challenge

Neither of us is from a finance background which we knew would be a problem in this challenge, so we had to up our game. Here is how we went about tackling the challenge:

• We started by understanding how traditional insurance works, and what are its performance parameters from both the company and customer perspectives. 
• We also researched on what is the Metaverse, and its future prospects, which inevitably led us to understand cryptocurrency and NFTs.
• The next step was then to build an understanding of the case presented to us (Metaverse and its implications on the Insurance industry). Since Metaverse is in the early stages of materialization and even the corporates are not sure of how it'll flesh out, we considered it as a blue-sky problem.
• We received guidance from our seniors and fellow batchmates who had experience in the finance sector and categorized the problem into various parameters. 
• Then we went about researching mitigation measures for those problems and parameters. We had to play the devil's advocate for each other's solutions to ensure that we left no loopholes.
• It was important for us to have a thorough understanding & map of what Metaverse can offer to the target audience. And also of the different touch points of the typical customer journey in the Insurance sector. 
• Being marketing & strategy enthusiasts, navigating through insurance and reinsurance was something out of our comfort zone but we sought help from friends & family. We believe in asking for help when you need it. 

What We Learned

The competition was full of learnings and experiences that helped us grow and will continue to do so. Here are a few key things we learned:

• The competition taught us about how to approach case studies based on not-so-well-experienced or should we say a rather new sector like Metaverse
• The Tech world is extremely dynamic, and Metaverse is more so. Working on this problem helped us learn how to tackle sudden new developments in a business or any environment for that matter. 
• It would be a sin to overlook the fact that we gained substantial knowledge of the Insurance sector over the course of the competition 
• We also learned how to make impactful videos. It may not seem like a lot, but it is an essential and good skill to have.
• Another lesson we got is that we must make full use of our expertise and exploit all our skills to reach a viable solution.

Check this out: Boosting Career Opportunities For Engineers Through E-School Competitions

The Judgment

The Judgement quality was fairly on point considering the way questions were framed. They were illustrative of all the parameters that we were being marked upon. The organization of the competition was also extremely good. The organizers were very cordial & ready to answer every question (even the silly ones) right from the beginning, i.e. the launch event. 

We’d also like to add that unlike the cases presented by BFSI sector companies, the case presented by Swiss Re called for a strategic solution that anyone with the fundamentals of a first-year MBA could attempt. The best part was competing with the best minds in the nation (both engineering & MBA backgrounds).

Teamwork & Playing To Your Strengths

We both have been working together for a very long time and have participated in multiple case study competitions. Even though we are both engineers, we still bring different skills to the competition which together encompass every tool required to solve a case. 

Aastha is a design expert with 8 years of freelance experience as a comic artist and graphic designer and amazing networking and ideation skills. Suchismita is a pro at researching, financial calculations, and sales, and had brilliant implementation skills. We played to our strengths and took on tasks where our expertise would show. 

How to Resolve Conflict?

We stuck together as our wavelengths matched and there was rarely any conflict. However, we did have differences of opinion on multiple occasions. 

• When we have a difference of opinions regarding a certain approach or strategy, we resolved it by trying to counter and validate different hypotheses. This is a really efficient technique, and we recommend everyone to try it!
• In some cases, where we did not agree, we would try out the solution for a trial period and test it out with all loopholes, counterarguments, etc. 
• If it passed the test, we would consider applying it, if not we would keep it in our 'to be visited later' section.

Conclusion

There were many memorable moments and things in this competition. Like, our team name- Femme Fatale is very apt for us! Two strong women, weaving through the jungle to gain valuable lessons necessary to do well in the corporate future. And this competition was chock-a-block with lessons. We are especially glad that it was a blue sky problem related to the metaverse as it helped us research 2 new industries.  

Winning the competition was a farfetched dream considering we aren't experts or even good with the basics of the Insurance industry. But with constant dedication, hard work, and a lot of support from everyone surrounding us, it became a beautiful reality. #BeUnstoppable

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