Grand Finale Of NIPM National Business QUIZ 2012 AT SCMS-COCHIN A Chat With The Champs

The iconic NIPM National Business Quiz, recognised as the most prestigious of all management quiz competitions, was conducted at SCMS-COCHIN this year on the 6th of September 2012.

Cochin (I-Newswire) September 29, 2012 - The iconic NIPM National Business Quiz, recognised as the most prestigious of all management quiz competitions, was conducted at SCMS-COCHIN this year on the 6th of September 2012. The gruelling showdown between the nine regional champions was held in the grand auditorium of SCMS-COCHIN, with the team of Subhabarata Ray and Dibyajyoti Deb of Birla Institute of Technology, Kolkata, emerging as the proud winners of the NIPM Business Quiz 2012; they pocketed a cool Rs. 1.5 Lakh in prize money in the process. Amazingly enough, Subhabarata and Dibyajyoti were the only under-grads in the competition, with other teams fielding members from PG courses.

Campus journalists of SCMS-COCHIN, Samuel John & Teenu Thomas, caught up with the winners of the NIPM National Business Quiz-2012, Subhabarata Ray and Dibyajyoti Deb of Birla Institute of Technology, Kolkata, quizzing them on how they came out tops in the king of all business quizzes.

Samuel John (SCMS-COCHIN): How does it feel to be the winners of the National Business Quiz 2012?

Dibyajyoti: It would not be correct if I said that we expected it, but we are very happy about it. The regional competitions helped us a lot. The pattern and style was the same as the nationals, so we were warmed up for the finals.

Teenu Thomas (SCMS-COCHIN): How did you go about preparing for the competition? Did you follow a particular system, or is it a trade secret that you can’t share with us SCMS-COCHIN students?

Dibyajyoti: (smiles) Nothing like that! We did a lot of informal studies for the event. We watched a lot of television and movies. We didn’t really sit down and get into the books that teach you stuff. We basically went through websites that list the logos and CEOs of different companies. We knew these quizzes are very media-oriented and we prepared accordingly. If you noticed, the media rounds were where we picked up the maximum points.

Subhabarata: (taking over from Dibyajyoti) In our college, we are taught that management is not through studies alone, but through experience as well. In fact, we watched around 15 movies related to business, economy, finance, etc., on the train to COCHIN.

Samuel John (SCMS-COCHIN): 15 movies? Wow! What movies did you watch?

Dibyajyoti: Movies like ‘The Inside Job,’ ‘The Social Network,’ ‘The Terminal’, etc. We also watched ‘Delhi Belly’, where Imran Khan works in a media house.

Subhabarata: We were the only undergraduates in the competition. The other teams were far better prepared in terms of curriculum; we probably won because of our spirit. We gathered a lot of knowledge observing the lives of others and our own.

Teenu Thomas (SCMS-COCHIN): How did you handle the pressure? You started off with a zero in the first round.

Subhabarata: After every question asked, we would write our marks on a piece of paper right in front of us; somehow, this motivated us to score. The way you guys at SCMS-COCHIN applauded our ‘Kolaveri di’ answer was quite amazing!

Samuel John (SCMS-COCHIN): What are you going to do with the cash prize of one-and-a-half lakhs? It’s too big a sum to party away.

Dibyajyoti: Both of us come from very conservative academic backgrounds. Our forefathers were academicians; studying business doesn’t really impress our families. So we told ourselves that if we win, we would use the money for higher studies abroad.

Teenu Thomas (SCMS-COCHIN): Any words of wisdom for aspirants to your crown?

Dibyajyoti: Be aware about what’s going on and what’s been happening. Be aware of stuff beyond your textbooks; a good manager has to be a jack of all trades; he should be able to handle it all.