"The theme of HSBC is consultancy. Anyone who enjoys cracking difficult cases and thinking up solutions on their feet will love this competition. No internet, no fancy slides. Just 20 pages of solid data and the human brain. It's addictive stuff," said Mastura Tasnim, a finalist of the HSBC-IBA Business Case Competition 2016. 

The grand finale of the HSBC-IBA Business Case Competition 2016 took place on April 22 at Lakeshore Hotel, in Banani, Dhaka. Out of 42 teams, 6 made it to the final round, representing the leading universities of Bangladesh. The finalist teams – two each from the Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University (IBA-DU), and North South University, and one each from Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP), and the Faculty of Business Studies (FBS), Dhaka University – had to solve unpublished business cases within 2.5 hours and present their solutions in front of a panel of judges for a chance to compete in the regional grand finale in Hong Kong. 

The judging panel included Rezaul Islam, Head of Marketing, British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB); Farhanul G Choudhury, Head of Finance, HSBC Bangladesh; Kazi M Hassan, Senior Director and Head of Transformation, Grameenphone; and Sabbir Ahmed, Partner, Hoda Vasi Chowdhury and Co. 

The case was about the infrastructure of the mobile and telecommunications industry. After the 15-minute presentations, the teams received 10 minutes to answer questions from the judges.

Alison Blake, British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, presented awards to the winners as the chief guest of the ceremony. Francois de Maricourt, CEO of HSBC Bangladesh, and Professor Dr. Syed Ferhat Anwar, Acting Director, IBA-DU, along with officials from both institutions were also present at the event. 

During his speech, Professor Dr. Syed Ferhat Anwar stressed the fact that while all businesses are for profit, modern businesses should serve society above all else.

Anticipation reached its peak when the winners were announced. Cheers and applause broke out when Team Second String (BUP) was declared the winner. Team Challenge Accepted was the 1st runner-up, while Team Potter bagged the 2nd runner-up award. The Gold, Silver and Bronze teams received development funds of BDT 75,000, BDT 50,000 and BDT 35,000 respectively. The Gold team also won the opportunity to compete in the regional grand finale in Hong Kong against teams from 24 universities of 19 different countries.

Team Second String from BUP was in a celebratory spirit. Amin Ul Bashir Alvi, from the winning team, said, "I'm amazed, I still can't believe we won this competition. In the process, we've learnt to tackle problems in a calm, formulated manner, and explored our capacity to overcome just about any hurdle – given the effort."

Mithi Chowdhury is a dog-loving-movie-watching-mediocrity-fearing normal person. Either that or a penguin. Find out at mithichy612@gmail.com