The wait is over for the most exciting business competition of the year. Battle of Minds ‘14 kicked off this year at the auditorium of Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka last Wednesday, September 10. With the slogan “Are you next in the Legacy of Leaders?” previous BBA graduates of IBA who are working for British American Tobacco (BAT) Bangladesh came to their university campus to motivate the talented youth.
The excitement of participating in the prestigious business competition was felt within students throughout the auditorium. Sajeed Alam, a student of BBA 20th batch of IBA, said: “Battle of Minds is very structured with a thorough assessment and a very lucrative performance appraisal system. A job with BAT Bangladesh thereafter, or any prospect of being involved is quite interesting.”
Assistant Professor at IBA Ms Homayara Ahmed took to the stage first, prompting silence from the entire auditorium. She welcomed the room full of excited students from the 19th to 21st BBA batches to the ceremony, praising their earlier achievements and hoping for more successes to come.
IBA Director, Professor Iqbal Ahmad was then given the floor by Ms Homayara. He expressed his pride that various managerial positions at BAT Bangladesh are represented by IBA students. He said: “Those who are working at BAT Bangladesh are similar to you except that they have experience and corporate attributes. They are here to train you in the ways of the corporate world.” He emphasised how the programme will give the students a flavour of working in one of the top multinational companies (MNC) in Bangladesh, nurture their skills, and that a number of them will be recruited from the competition.
Ms Homayara expounded the necessity of choosing a company to work for based on mentors and organisational culture.
A short video captioned “Champions return home” featuring all alumni of IBA working for BAT Bangladesh was then showed to the audience which was received with tremendous applause.
The ceremony was brought to life by an inspiring and humble speech by Managing Director of BAT Bangladesh Shehzad Munim, also from the BBA 1st batch of IBA and the first Bangladeshi to hold the top position in the 103-year-old company. He expressed his pride in returning to IBA after so many years. He said: “You should feel proud as students of IBA, as you are getting the best business education of Bangladesh. The ambiance, teaching quality and uncertainty that you are faced with in IBA are planned. This prepares you to tackle any challenge thrown at you. The world is not a perfect place and you should be ready.”
Shehzad Munim then took the audience through his career path, from joining BAT Bangladesh after graduation in 1997, becoming brand manager, joining the New Zealand team operations as head of brands, moving to Australian operations, and coming back to Bangladesh as head of marketing in 2007. In July 2010, he became the area head of marketing – South Asia, and finally realising his dream as managing director of BAT Bangladesh since October, 2013.
He asked the students to dream big, stay hungry, and to keep pursuing new challenges. He then handed the stage over to the recent recruits of BAT Bangladesh, Fayruz Ahsan and Jawaad Bin Hamid from the BBA 17th batch of IBA.
Fayruz Ahsan in his speech said: “A few years ago, I was sitting amongst you. It was a very big decision for me to choose a career path. However, I am glad to have made the right decision. I have found that BAT Bangladesh is the best learning institute in Bangladesh. At BAT Bangladesh, you either accomplish tasks or learn how to do them. There are times when you will be wrong, however you are given opportunities at all stages to learn and correct yourselves.
Marketing HR Executive Jawaad Bin Hamid shared his experiences with the company next. He expressed his enthusiasm about how he was given bigger challenges consistently. Also, at BAT Bangladesh, the work culture is such that you can ask anyone for help. You will come out as a better person who is more knowledgeable than the one who went to your seniors for guidance. Indeed, you are pushed further continuously to exceed even your own expectations.”
The speech ended with massive applause, and a video about the organisational culture was shown on the big screen.
Afterwards, Adrita Datta, Talent Manager of BAT Bangladesh announced the official commencement of Battle of Minds 2014. She also explained how Battle of Minds gives a feel of a real-life experience of working in one of the biggest MNCs of the country and can act as a great transition platform to get the students prepared for their work life. Adrita, then shared the key information to join Battle of Minds 2014 and encouraged participation of the students.
HR Business Partner and Ex-Project Manager of Battle of Minds Md Jahid Shafique next appeared on stage. He said: “Battle of Minds is a competition that challenges you in representing your education institute on the national level encompassing more than two thousand students from all the reputed universities of the country.”
The last speaker for the day was Rumana Rahman, Head of HR of BAT Bangladesh. Rumana in her speech shared a few unique attributes of the company – freedom of speech and the care from the company. She asked the students to be always humble about themselves.
Finally, the BAT Bangladesh team took on the stage to have an open discussion with the students. In the discussion, various questions from students about work culture, trade marketing, relationship with retailers, and recruitment criteria were answered.
The session was concluded by Rumana Rahman wishing the students the best for taking part in Battle of Minds 2014!
Although the competition is a recruitment tool for BAT Bangladesh, it is unlike any other business competition. In the competition, participants from top universities of Bangladesh go through real-life challenges of working in a multinational company. Moreover, contestants who do not make it to the final stages also end up gathering necessary skills to compete for high-demand positions in top multinational and local companies. There is a chance for all contestants to be called upon for joining BAT Bangladesh in various entry-level positions.
For participating in Battle of Minds, undergraduate students will have to visit the BAT Bangladesh career website. The registration will continue from September 15 to October 15, 2014. It is mandatory to have accounts in Twitter and LinkedIn for interested participants.
