ISB Whisks Tata Imagination Challenge 2022 Trophy Away

The Tata Group, the Indian public multinational conglomerate founded in 1868 is an internationally recognized entity. The organization hosts an annual case study competition which was back again this year to make waves in the world of innovative solutions. Tata Imagination Challenge 2022 invited college students across India and Tata employees anywhere in the world to unlock the opportunities of the present and partake in building a brighter future for all.

With a pool prize of INR 26 lakh, PPI opportunities at TAS, and more up for grabs, the competition garnered a whopping 2,29,082 registrations. My name is Kanishk Sharma and I also wanted to be a part of this challenge and compete with the best minds across the globe. Winning the National Winner title for this grand competition was a dream come true for me, and here is a peek into my TIC 2022 journey.

The Tata Imagination Challenge 2022

The competition was split into stages that methodically tested the candidates across several parameters such as brand awareness, risk-taking acumen, behavioral traits, decision-making, aptitude, and so on. Here is what the flow of the competition looked like:

Round 1 - Tata Brand Assessment
Round 2 - Gamified Assessment
Round 3 - Video + 3 Questions Submission
Idea Buddy Phase
Popular Choice Awards
Round 4 - Grand Finale

The finale had 50 finalists and everyone was a tough competitor. These were all brilliant young minds who came from different walks of life and made it to the final 50 out of about 2.3 lakh participants owing to their unique and remarkable ideas. It was an absolute pleasure to compete and interact with such bright minds.

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My TIC 2022 Strategy

The competition required us to ignite our imagination and propose a strategy to address a societal issue of our choice. This required a robust understanding of the socio-economic and political issues being faced by Indian society and a rational and practical application of business strategy. Here is what my competition strategy looked like:

The first step was to pick an issue that impacts all segments and aspects of society and that needs immediate intervention. As a resident of New Delhi, the issue of stubble burning became a natural choice for me.
I then focused on zeroing in on the root cause of the issue and conducting proper research surrounding the matter.
My strategy consequently was to focus on making a business case for a waste-to-energy model, that would incentivize corporates involved in contractual farming to collect farm waste and deliver it to energy and Ethanol manufacturing companies.

The was that these companies would then produce biogas for electricity production and Ethanol for Ethanol blending of petroleum. In a nutshell, I wanted to build a solution that was a combination of aggrotech aggregation, resource pooling, cooperative farming, and economies of scale to tackle the menace of stubble burning in an economically and financially sustainable manner.

Challenges Faced on the Way

I worked on the problem for a week after I cleared the gamified assessment round, and then again for a week after reaching the top 50. The main challenge I faced was to make my strategy socio-economically and politically acceptable in a country as diverse as India. I needed to get all the stakeholders, ranging from marginal farmers to landlords and farm groups on board. To tackle this challenge, I proposed a bottom-up approach that begins with educating and training the marginal farmers through pilot projects. Bringing them on board would ensure the support of pressure groups such as political parties and farm groups because small and marginal farmers form the bulk of their ground-level workforce and support base.

The Insightful Idea Mentors from TIC 2022

I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of the gamified assessment and the Idea Pitch rounds as these tested me across multiple parameters in uniquely innovative ways which were fun and at the same time highly educational. The 50 finalists were assigned Idea Mentors by the TIC team. These mentors were young Tata leaders, who guided us and helped us refine and fine-tune our ideas. The Idea and Personal Pitch interview with senior Tata Executives were truly memorable and fruitful. We discussed everything ranging from the economic feasibility to the socio-economic and political impacts of the idea. The interview panelists shared profound insights from their own experiences, and also shared information about similar projects being undertaken by the Tata Group. Overall, it was a great experience, and I would like to thank the TIC and TAS teams for providing young professionals and students with this opportunity to ignite their imaginations and showcase their ideas.

How Tata Imaginational Challenge 2022 Helped Me Grow?

There were numerous lessons to be learned given the scale and scope of the competition. On a personal front, the most important thing I learned during TIC 2022 was the art of multitasking. This was because the final round of the challenge coincided with the ongoing campus placement process at my B-School. Other important key lessons I took away from TIC 2022 were:

I learned that to solve any problem, especially in a multicultural, fragmented, and uniquely diverse country like India, we need to look at it from all possible perspectives to ensure the support and satisfaction of all stakeholders.
We looking for a solution to a societal issue, and it is important to make the primary stakeholders feel empowered so that they take ownership of the project, lead it, and become its brand ambassadors. To make this happen I took the bottom-up approach involving education, training, and pilot projects to demonstrate the benefits to the grassroots stakeholders.

This approach of decentralizing ownership of the project fits logically into the democratic society of India. And the success of my solution is a testament to it.

A Few Final Words

During the Idea Pitch interview, I mentioned a pilot project undertaken by the Tata Group in a village in Haryana to control stubble burning. The project brought about a behavioral change in the villagers, as 80% of the villagers stopped the practice of stubble burning. Incidentally, one of the interview panelists, Mr. Tarun George, the CEO at Tata Insights and Quants, had worked on the project and therefore knew about it. This made the discussion that followed very special and interesting as I realized the richness of the quality experience that the panel of senior Tata Executives brought with them. This moment gave me a glimpse into the length and breadth of the nation-building work that the Tata Group does across numerous sectors, including its social initiatives. Tata Imagination Challenge 2022 was truly an experience of a lifetime that contributed to my personal as well as professional growth.

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Kanishk Sharma - ISB

Batch 2022 - 2024

Kanishk Sharma is currently enrolled in the Post Graduate Management Program (MBA, General) at the Indian School of Business.