MDI Students Win
PepsiCo Challenge, Become Indra Nooyi’s Advisors
Post-event Press-release
PepsiCo, the world’s
largest selling Food & Beverage Company, announced the results of its B-school
challenge, ‘Taste the Success - Become Indra’s Advisors’. 'MIDAS',
the team from MDI, Gurgaon were the proud winners of the contest.
Under the challenge, PepsiCo India had invited business strategies for unlocking
the latent demand for beverages in India, from the leading management schools.
The first runners-up of the contest was the team from FMS, New Delhi, and the
second runners-up was again from MDI, Gurgaon.
The winning team members,
Supreet Kaur, Anand Trivedi & Anand Mohan Sharma will now be
flown to PepsiCo Headquarters in New York where they will present and discuss
their case solution with Indra Nooyi, Chairman & CEO, PepsiCo Inc., in
the month of April. If the winning business strategy is found feasible, the team
may get an opportunity to engage as advisors on an ongoing basis with PepsiCo
business to operationalize their ideas.
The first runners-up team,
'Rebels United' from FMS, New Delhi, received a cash award of INR
1,00,000/-, and the second runners-up team, 'Concoction' from MDI,
Gurgaon received a cash award of INR 50,000/-. The top 6 teams from MDI, FMS
& IIM Indore will also get an opportunity to appear for a pre-placement
interview without going through the initial screening process.
Presenting the awards to the
winners, Mr. Sanjeev Chadha, CEO, PepsiCo India, said, "Every case study
that we received from the management students was outstanding in itself. It was
inspiring and heartening to engage with some of the brilliant brains of India.
The case studies that we received were extremely insightful and innovative. It
gives us immense pleasure to present the awards to the most deserving team from
MDI. We are looking forward to working together with the students to implement
the winning business strategy at PepsiCo."
He further added, "Going by the
overwhelming response, we look forward to more such initiatives, further
engaging and leveraging the talent pool in the Indian business schools."
Sharing her experience, Supreet
Kaur, a student of MDI and a member of the wining team said, "It feels great to
be the winner of the PepsiCo Contest. It was an excellent exposure for all the
management students like us. The contest was really challenging for us as most
of the top B-schools of India were participating. We are looking forward to meet
Ms. Nooyi and are confident that our strategy will be implemented in PepsiCo."
The initial selection was done by
Dr. Amit Kapoor, Honorary Chairman, Institute for Competitiveness
India, Chief Economist and former Head for Datamonitor's Economic
Research Practice and Ms. Geetu Verma, Executive Director, Innovation
& Business Development, PepsiCo India. They selected the 6 best business
strategies submitted by the students. The second round was judged by an esteemed
jury of 4 members comprising of Mr. Sanjeev Chadha, CEO, PepsiCo India,
Mr. Saurabh Srivastava, Founder, Indian Angel Network and Founder
Member, TIE, Mr. J. K. Mitra, Dean, Faculty of Management
Studies, and Mr. Vinod Rao, CFO, PepsiCo India.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr.
Saurabh Srivastava, Founder & Past Chairman, NASSCOM, Founder Member Indian
Angel Network, said, "It was an exciting competition with some of India’s
brilliant young brains giving their best shots to win the challenge. It will be
really motivating for the winning team if their business strategy gets
implemented at PepsiCo India."
The management institutes that
participated in the challenge were: -
5 Indian Institutes of Management
(Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow & Indore)
Management Development Institute
(MDI), Gurgaon
Faculty of Management Studies
(FMS), New Delhi
Xavier Labour Relations Institute
(XLRI), Jamshedpur
Symbiosis Institute of Business
Management (SIBM), Pune
Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of
Management Studies (JBIMS), Mumbai
