'BIZZ-KREIG' AT IBAB

Buying, selling, negotiations, hard bargains and bending the rules were rampant at IBAB on Feb 26, day 3 of Entrepreneurship Week India, as student-teams competed to outdo each other at the entrepreneurship related business game.

The event was kicked off by Dr. Gayatri Saberwal dividing the students into eight groups, each of which constituted a virtual company, which was further distributed among two countries having four teams each.

Each 'company' was provided with incomplete pieces of four jigsaw puzzles and some amount of virtual currency. The winner would be decided by counting the largest number of joined pieces. Since the pieces of each puzzle was equally distributed among the companies, it naturally put them in a situation where they had to buy, sell, barter and negotiate to get their hands on the pieces they needed.

Mayhem reigned as companies tried to figure out what they needed and matched wits with other companies to get the best deals for the lowest prices. Spice was added to an already tasty mixture with the 'government' introducing a slew of changes in the 'government policy'. Companies struggling to increase their value were now forced to survive in a different environment. This session came to an end after two exciting hours. A well decided merger, excellent team work, smart negotiations and of course, some luck, were the deciding factors for the winning team.

All of this was followed by a discussion where everything the different teams underwent during the game was related and compared with real life situations. Students realized how different factors like environment and luck can affect the success of a startup enterprise along with important factors like communication, planning, team work, proper distribution of duties, initial investment, and negotiation. Overall, it was an enjoyable learning experience which gave everyone something to ponder about entrepreneurship.

Govind M. Nair, IBAB