The Young Leaders and Entrepreneurs Summit 2018 was the 8th edition of the event. YLES is the flagship event of the LUMS Entrepreneurial Society, which explains why the event secretariat put so much effort into ensuring its success. This year’s edition was much hyped because of the reward it was offering to the best delegation: A scholarship in the Solve Business School in France.
Catch up on what went down on the first, second, third and fourth day.
Getting straight to the cut, after 6 business rounds spread over 20 individual rounds, Nixor College emerged as the winner of the Summit and managed to grab the scholarship in SBS. Along with the scholarship, they also got a huge winning trophy that is likely to be a benchmark in Nixor’s campus in Karachi.
The first business round of the day was Strategic Business Management, in which teams were given a case study containing detailed business information such as current revenue, current costs, financial budgets and marketing strategies etc. Teams were required to choose between 3 options: Expand the business internationally by taking orders from abroad, take a huge 5000 unit order from within the mainland or finance general expansion of the business. Each team was required to justify their choice using logic in front of a panel of judges in a separate room. A few teams came up with impressive arguments supporting their choice, something which shocked the judges and pushed them to complement the team’s efforts. The participants were given a break for the Friday prayers after SBM ended.
The final round of Idea Junction, in which the teams had to pitch new business ideas to a panel of judges consisting of established entrepreneurs, started after the Friday prayer break. After two rounds of extensive screening and scrutiny, the teams that made it to the final round were tasked with pitching their business ideas to a wider judging panel. They were also required to tweak their business portfolios to include details such as a SWOT analysis and financial details such as a statement of financial position and an income statement. Some interesting ideas included that of the production and provision of solar power through a hire purchase scheme, i.e. the firm, called “Sooraj Power”, to provide solar panels and other electrical appliances such as energy saving bulbs etc. to people in rural areas. They explained how their project’s per unit expense came at par with that of the electricity obtained from the National Grid but gave the users choice of payment on a monthly basis or on a term to term basis, each term consisting of 6 months along with the assurance of an uninterrupted supply.
Other ideas included that of a healthcare silicon band that had a button which sent a signal along with the location to emergency services and kith and kin in times of need and emergencies. The band connected with an app through which users could monitor their vital signs.
When Idea Junction ended, participants who were living in LUMS’ Hostel were given a 1-hour break to move their luggage out of the rooms.
When this was done, the teams proceeded to the venue for the closing ceremony which was right beside the free parking area. The venue was beautifully decorated with chandeliers and flower pots. The white and blue cloth over the tables gave a very “official” look to the venue, something which was necessary considering the nature of the ceremony. The entire host team along with the limited number of delegates present were in formal attire. The closing ceremony started with the recitation of the Holy Quran and was followed by a video message from the event secretariat. One by one, the secretariat started announcing the team IDs of the teams that won the rounds. The teams that won exhibited signs of extreme happiness while the teams that couldn’t manage to get anything exhibited high levels of sportmanship and keenly applauded the victors. The final announcement came with the name of the best delegation of the Summit, i.e. Nixor College.
With that, TechJuice signs off. It has been a pleasure covering the event. Godspeed!
