This year, over 150 business plans will compete in ‘iDeas‘, the B-Plan contest, will receive more than four crores of seed funding from ATCC and Rs150 thousand as Seed Fund for the best business plans. Battlefield, the Case Study Competition will see participation in case studies acquired from a consulting agency Technopak. The winner will get Rs15, 000.
Megabucks will make each one of the participants a resident of a virtual world called Megaworld. Visiting the control desk will give a virtual currency called Megabucks which one can use to enjoy themselves by playing golf or by just gambling it at the casino. To earn more they will have to trade at the virtual stock market and get a feel of Derivatives and Bulls and Bears. After gaining a lot, they can buy real things like electronic gadgets or flowers, which will be put on auction.
There will be a video-conferencing session by Dr Myron Scholes, Noble Laureate for his work, Black Scholes Model. Following suit would be Mr Sanjeev Sinha, Director, UBS will share his experience about how he rose to the top of the financial world at such a young age. A close second will be a workshop on Bootstrapping, a startup being conducted by Rohit Nalwade, Alumni IIT Bombay who started a company when he was still in the third year of his college.
Megabucks’08 would play host to three conferences. In a conference titled, Dropper’s Enclave, one would get a chance to meet six people who dropped out of college to pursue their dreams and are currently bigwigs in their own right. Participants will know about how an IIMA dropout became a World Bank consultant, or how an Osmania University dropout now owns 15 companies. This conference would be covered on national television channel, NDTV. Second conference, Companies Build Nations, will see CEOs of companies and a Harvard Business School professor giving insights to the students as how companies are shaping the destiny of nations. Another conference on Legal Entrepreneurship by INSOL will tell students about the legal proceedings that go behind mergers and acquisitions, or even simple everyday business deals.
Participants can play a 48 hour reality show called the Real Estate for prize money of INR 25,000. Participants in this game would be grouped and given several real world tasks testing sales, marketing and creative skills. At the end of each task one player would be fired from the losing team. In another initiative ‘India Inspired‘, the parliamentary debate between the left and the right will be taken to the next level by pairing the finalists with two renowned dignitaries.
Also, there will be a Marketing Strategy Contest ‘Markstrat‘, an Ad design contest ‘Admad‘ and a Corporate Quiz ‘Cliffhanger‘ hosted by Satyajit Chhetri. There will be several startup firms setting up expos on campus at Impresario and will offer internships. And at the end of the day, it will be time to put the dancing shoes and party in the Discotheque.