Mindz’15 : Analyze, Strategize, Ideate

Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education successfully organized Mindz’15, a first of its kind strategy competition in association with JLT India Limited. This was the second year into the association and the competition was held in October-November 2015 and was co-ordinated by the Corporate Relations Committee. The first and second rounds were held from 1^st October,2015 to 9^th October,2015. The finale was held at the JLTI office on 5th November, 2015.

Mindz’15 was an inter college event, that tested the statistical, strategic and analytical skills of the participants. This provided an opportunity to the students to prove their mettle against the best and most innovative B-Schools. The unique format of the competition enabled students to experience an ideal corporate interface like never before. Also, it was a first hand learning experience as they teamed up with people already working in the industry.

The competition consisted of 3 rounds:-

Round 1 - Online quiz: An online quiz consisting of 30 questions to be answered in 30 minutes. The top 3 teams from each college proceeded to the next round.

Round 2 - “Peril-O-Scope”: An online simulation strategy game to be played by the qualified teams. The top 6 teams will qualified to the next round.

Round 3 - Case Study: A Case Study presentation to the top management of JLT India Limited. In this round each team collaborated with one team from JLT itself. Each team was assigned a mentor from the Senior Managers, Heads or Directors of JLTI for the case study.

Participation:

Mindz’15 saw a total participation of over 800 individuals. Entry into the event was by invitation only. A total of 8 prestigious b-schools had been invited to this competition. 

·         Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education (SIMSREE)

·         Indian School of Business, Hyderabad (ISB)

·         Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS)

·         National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE)

·         K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research (SIMSR)

·         Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune (SIBM)

·         Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay (SJMSOM)

·         Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development (SCMHRD)

This competition in itself was unique in the following terms:

·         The online simulation game was played concurrently by the participants and JLTI employees

·         Teams from b-schools which qualified from round 2 were merged with those qualifying from JLTI for round 3 i.e. the case study presentation

·         These teams were assigned a mentor each, who guided them through the case study round

·         The teams had to present the case study to senior JLTI management and their global counterparts for the final round

Prizes:

·         Rs. 75,000/- for the winning team

·         Rs. 40,000/- for the runner up

·         Rs. 10,000/- for the Most Impressive Student

The Finale:

The Final round of Mindz’15- the case study presentation was held on 5^h November, 2015, at JLTI, Mumbai. The top 6 teams qualifying from the second round (Periloscope), both from B-schools and JLTI were given primary topics to present on. Their presentation and ideas were judged by a panel comprising the JLTI management and their esteemed global counterparts. Mr Puneet Stayawadi, CEO JLT India was one of the members on the panel. Every presentation was followed by a comprehensive Q&A round. The contestants were judged on the quality of insights and research on the topic chosen, team work, presentation quality and responses to the questions asked by the panel.

Team 'SimQuest' from SIMSREE won the JLTI Mindz'15 competition after a splendid performance.  
Team 'The Winning Brew' from SIMSR won the runners-up award.

Sanandan Deshpande from the winning team also won the 'Most Impressive Student' award.

 The members of the winning team from SIMSREE were praised for their leadership qualities and the poise shown by them throughout the presentation and the subsequent Q&A round.