Eveready Innovation Contest

B-School is all about 'learning' and grasping new concepts et al (you get the drift of what I want to convey) So, apparently many corporates believe that since we are assimilating so much knowledge, its good to put our brains to work for solving some of the real-life problems of them.

On similar lines, Eveready Industries India Limited (EIIL) launched a competition in the campus. This competition is launched in 4 campuses across the country - IIM B, IIM L, XLRI and IIM Calcutta. The competition is launched to identify a new business opportunity for EIIL. They are already a leaders in batteries, have recently moved into tea and mosquito repellent distribution in the country, launched their own set of torches and lighting etc amongst other products. They basically wanted to explore a line of business in which they could capitalise on their distribution network, association with colour 'Red' and should be able to generate an expected revenue of few crores in the coming years. The event was open only for first yearites and that too in a team of 4 members. Also, the format of the competition involved two rounds - one campus and one final. Teams would be competing within the campus and only ONE team per campus would be battling it out in the finals.

We also jumped into this competition and pledged to work to the best of our abilities. We need work on it for some time but a far-off deadline decreased our effort rates. But sense of urgency creeped in when the submission deadline came knocking our door. We started working on it and started exploring opportunities in possible industries. We listed down the industries or areas in which the company could explore. After boiling down to around 8 industries or lines of business, we had to narrow down to 1 or maximum 2. This involved reading analyst reports for the particular, future growth potential, competitors and most importantly penetration levels. After rounds and rounds of discussion amongst ourselves, it finally decided to foray into toothpaste/toothbrush and also in biscuits market.

After making a satisfactory ppt with all numbers, growth projections, SWOT analysis etc, we waited for the campus round to begin. We were lucky to be the very first ones to present in front of the company officials. We were cross-questioned to quite some depth. Some questions we were able to answer but some of them really left us thinking and little loss for words. In the end, we were not really happy with our overall performance.

After a few days, the cultural secretary of our campus, who was coordinating this event, calls me up and asks for my room number. He promises to be there in 10 minutes and informs about the news we least expected - we had WON the campus round :) :)

After the news sank in, we got the mail from the company official too informing us about our victory and what was expected out of us in the next round. The final round will be in Calcutta only but in the front of company's Board of Directors!

The finals are on Wednesday, 28th January...wish me luck!