Unilever Bangladesh’s 12th edition business competition kicks off

To develop leadership quality and analytical skills among the youth, Unilever Bangladesh (UBL) flagship business case competition ‘BizMaestros 2021’ kicked off Sunday.

The website of BizMaestros 2021—https://bizmaestros.site—has already gone live, where students can register their business cases for the evaluation, said a press release.

Marking the milestone of 11 glorious years in providing students with the thrill of real business, BizMaestros returns this year with the theme “Navigating in the New Normal".

This year, UBL is expecting a direct engagement with over 600 students in the first round. Last year, the company engaged with more than 30 universities across the nation, where over 400 students in 145 teams participated in the first round of BizMaestros 2020.

“BizMaestros is the gateway for students to experience the thrill of real business, receive quality mentoring from industry leaders and gain access to recruitment opportunities at Unilever Bangladesh,” Sakshi Handa, human resource director of Unilever Bangladesh, has said.

“Through this competition, we have identified some of the brightest young minds and moulded them into future leaders. I am truly excited to see how the students will respond to our challenges this year," he added.

The first round of the competition will focus on the context of the new normal, highlighting significant shifts in the consumer landscape and how Unilever’s purpose-led brands can have a dynamic way to connect the consumer to drive sustainable business growth, the release said.

Three-member teams hailing from the same university will submit their solutions. The second round will be a live presentation assessment round, where 30 qualifying teams, selected from the first round, will present their solutions virtually to the judges.

They will be aided with mentoring and learning sessions in this stage. After the virtual two rounds are over, ‘BizMaestros 2021’ will conclude with a grand physical finale, where the top six teams will compete with each other for the championship. They will have top corporate leaders of this age as their judges.

panel of judges comprised of renowned business leaders -- Rupali Chowdhury, managing director of Berger Paints Bangladesh; Syed Nasim Manzur, managing director of Apex Footwear; Zaved Akhtar, chief executive officer and managing director of Unilever Bangladesh; and KSM Minhaj, managing director of Unilever Consumer Care -- will announce the name of ‘BizMaestros 2021’ champion and runner up teams officially.

The champions will have the unique opportunity to represent Bangladesh in the Unilever Future Leaders League (FLL 2022)– the global competition of Unilever that happens in the UK every year where champion teams from across the world battle it out to win the global championship.

The champions will also get fast-tracked in the recruitment process for Unilever's flagship Management Trainee programme, the Unilever Future Leaders Programme (UFLP).

The top 3 teams of the competition will also be provided with the opportunity to avail an internship programme under ULIP (Unilever Leadership Internship Programme).

Apart from the top 3 teams, those who qualify for the second round throughout the competition will be in the talent pipeline of future recruitment opportunities in Unilever Bangladesh.