Summary
Exhult: Explore the Extraordinary, in association with The Telegraph, saw the participation of over 300 students from the college, many of them freshers. Each of them was on their own. The number kept decreasing with every round; eventually, eight students competed in the final session.
A collaboration between Hult Prize, a global start-up accelerator for social good, and St Xavier's College (Autonomous), Calcutta, saw a battle of business ideas on the college campus on Thursday and Friday.
Exhult: Explore the Extraordinary, in association with The Telegraph, saw the participation of over 300 students from the college, many of them freshers.
Each of them was on their own. The number kept decreasing with every round; eventually, eight students competed in the final session.
The first round was a business quiz, followed by an auction, a case study, a debate and the final presentation.
In the auction, the students placed hypothetical bids for real companies. Every participant who qualified for the next round had to take forward a business proposition linked to the company bought in the auction.
The audience at the inaugural session on Thursday Sanat Kr Sinha
Suyasha Singh, a first-year student of BCom honours, emerged as the winner. She had "bought" Coca-Cola in the auction.
Her pitch in the final round centred on the acquisition of a health drink brand. Once the brand was under the Coke umbrella, it would be given a facelift and fetch greater returns after reintroduction in the market.
"I want to pursue investment banking. I love anything related to finance and number crunching," said Suyasha.
"Hult Prize, St Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata, is a dynamic student society founded in 2020 to foster social entrepreneurship and drive impactful change-making initiatives. It is an intrinsic part of the worldwide 'The Hult Prize' organisation, which advocates for young people to deploy social entrepreneurship to solve issues that arise in society," an organiser said.
Last week's programme was a precursor to the Hult Prize OnCampus Programme, 2024. Victors of this event progress to subsequent regional and international stages.
Apart from the preliminary round of pitches, the first day saw three workshops followed by an online quiz. The principal of the college, Father Dominic Savio, delivered the welcome address.
The Hult Prize at St Xavier's College "has been triumphant in building a community of change via social entrepreneurship," Father Savio said in his address.
The CEO and co-founder of Dot and Key, Suyash Saraf, conducted the first workshop on "Prototyping and MVP".
The aim of a prototype is to understand the idea's feasibility. A minimum viable product (MVP) offers the core features of the product ready to be launched in the market.
Sanjay Kumar Shristav, CFO of Tata Steel Long Products Ltd., led the second workshop, shedding light on the future of digital money in the Indian business landscape, including the evolution from traditional coins to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
The day ended with an interactive session led by Sunil Chandra Saha, CEO and Co-founder of Blue Tea, on pitching and presentation skills.
Last updated on 29 Aug 2023
