Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Delhi beat MDI-Gurgaon in a battle of reason to win the Business Today Acumen 2006 North Zone Debate finals. IIFT’s Arka Bhattacharya and Swarnim Bharadwaj (in the picture) will now compete with the teams from East, West and South Zones at the finals on November 4, 2006 in Mumbai. The debate that saw them through to the finals was on ‘Amitabh Bahchan everywhere: Celebrity endorsements don’t work’.
A little about the winners.
Arka Bhattacharya
A 2003 batch Metallurgical Engineer from College of Engineering, Pune, Arka worked for one year as a management trainee with ESAB India Limited, handling marketing and sales of specialised welding products in Mumbai. He then spent another two years with TIME Institute, Mumbai as Center Manager. Arka has in the past won quizzes and debates at Mood-Indigo (IIT Bombay), Verve, AFMC, Fergusson College and Limca Book of Records events.
Now in the first year of MBA(IB) at IIFT, he keeps himself busy outside of academics by being an avid reader, philosophy enthusiast and a maths and physics junkie. Besides debating and quizzing, he likes rock and Indian Classical music.
“Both of us are way too enthusiastic about speaking and we have a great understanding about exactly what we want to present as our viewpoint and our speaking gels together. We’re hoping that this USP of ours holds us in good stead versus the much tougher opposition we will inevitably face at the mega finals,” says Arka about his team’s prospects in the Acumen finals.
Swarnim Bharadwaj
A St Stephen’s product, Swarnim is Arka’s senior at IIFT and is currently on seventh heaven after receiving a Pre Placement Offer from Hindustan Lever Limited. His interests besides reading and movies include partying, unplanned activities and collecting jokes and gags.