Feature

Shedding the image of centralised education, defending champions Khulna University (KU) turned up the steam in one of the best events of this season in a jam packed auditorium with spectators full of energy and enthusiasm.

The BoM event on the premises of the Khulna University was undoubtedly the highlight of last week's events as the defending champions put up a show worthy of their name. The success of last year's participants has set off chain reaction of positive energy in the country's south-east as students flocked to the auditorium.

The spectators in the jam packed auditorium with capacity of 200 witnessed the event while another 100 waited outside for participating in the interactive question and answer session. The session was conducted by British American Tobacco Bangladesh's (BATB) Head of HR Syed Imtiaz Faruque who answered questions on career path, work environment at BATB, HR practices and much more.

The interactive session lasted for half an hour and just whetted the appetite for the contestants to come and entice the judges with their insightful presentations. The enthusiasm demonstrates that KU will prove their potential this year too.

Not to be outdone, Dhaka put up a fight of its own.

Islamic University of Technology (IUT) and Jahangirnagar University (JU) both took up KU's challenge with sterling performances of their own.

JU was perhaps the more sporting institution of the two as it did not let anything come in the way of their presentations. Displaying a 'we won't let circumstances get the better of us' mentality, the contestants continued presentation using flip-cards amid power outage.

IUT also scored high on the hospitability stakes and the contestants possessed sharp wit and good humour. This added to their tech-savvy solutions to business problems.

American International University Bangladesh (AIUB) put together a superbly well-managed and organized road-show which helped BAT Bangladesh run operations smoothly. The contestants too displayed understanding of great maturity and displayed their best efforts. It was a tough job for the judges to select the best among the best.

BRAC University and Independent University Bangladesh (IUB) also displayed a solid understanding of the subject matter with the contestants digging deeper into the case. Their hard work paid off in the end since a lot of thought and precision were evident in their presentations.

It was refreshing to see the youthful exuberance of the IUB judges which helped them better connect with their students and thus paved the way for better suggestions once the final round comes around next month.

The second last final event was held in Dhaka last week with participants from BUET displaying their show at the BATB headquarters in Mohakhali. BUET came up with the requisite three teams and as expected all of them were strong with their technical grasp of things, suggesting technological advancement to solve the most everyday problems.