Team K-Brewers Second Runners Up: The BUD Challenge 2019 by AB InBev was all about innovation and creativity

The BUD Challenge 2019 by AB InBev changed our perspective of the corporate world. It gave us exposure to diverse industrial problems and helped us formulate a disruptive solution for our case. While handling the case we realized that we had to come up with something bold, unique and disruptive to reach the finals. The chances of making it into the top 20 teams out of 2000 submissions from the best schools in the country were minuscule. We decided to leverage our strengths and worked on a sustainability case. Coursework in environmental management and a social development project at IIM K inspired us to take on the sustainability case.

We spent two weeks to conduct secondary research and interviews to get deeper insights into the case. The major problem for the case was the lack of data. We relied on ISRO satellite data and multiple research articles to build a solid case.

K-Brewers is a team of diverse individuals

Our team is a wolf pack of diverse individuals. We have a mechanical engineer from IIT (BHU) Varanasi with experience in academic research and consulting, a brilliant CA who completed the CFA and FRM and a technologist who was an Ex-Goldman Sachs analyst. I couldn't have asked for a better team. I enjoyed the experience. We had intense debates on what would work and what wouldn't. We solved our conflicts over tea and Maggi in the night canteen.

And if we talk about the team’s forte, we believe that it was our open-minded attitude to experiment with new ideas and perform research diligently with clear communication.

Competitions like The BUD Challenge 2019 are about innovation and creativity

Out of all, five teams made it to the national round. During the event, we recognized that every team came well-prepared. Ultimately, it was an intensely brutal competition.

We had the opportunity to present our case to judges who had excelled in industry, academia and business. Our panelists included the South Asia Director, AB InBev, a distinguished professor from the renowned Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Public Policy, and an ex-Pepsi Co-Director who crafts strategies for multiple companies in India as a board member.

Case competitions are about ideas and creativity. Bringing data and insights together to present a coherent solution was the biggest takeaway. For us, the most amazing moment was coming up on stage to present the solution to over 100 AB InBev employees with the song "King King" in the background. The BUD Challenge 2019 by AB InBev made us feel like a rock star. The production setup, the stage, the beer (non-alcoholic, of course!) and the music made the event feel more like a rock concert rather than a case competition. But that's what AB InBev offers you. Also, watching ourselves on CNBC TV18 was a cherry on the cake.

K-Brewers - IIM Kozhikode

(Batch 2018 - 2020)

Team K-Brewers includes Aman Jain, Akshaykumar Sirsalewala and Ameya Marathe. The Second Runners Up of The BUD Challenge 2019 by AB InBev.