Big Idea Start-up Challenge 2010 - S P Jain Centre Of Management Walk Away With Top Honors

Online, October 25, 2010 (Newswire.com) - The stage was set for the Grand Finale of the Big Idea Start-up Challenge 2010 on 24th OCtober at the Dubai Knowledge Village Auditorium for the aspiring student entrepreneurs amongst the top Institutes in UAE to present their Business Plans .

Reena Banerjee, Idea Director & Co-Founder at Big Idea set the tone for the evening by welcoming the dignatories and talking about the innovative platform being provided to the Ideators and Innovators of Tomorrow.'Big Idea Start-up Challenge 2010 is just a beginning of the journey.Our objective is to nurture the aspiring entrepreneurs and transform them into success stories' said Reena.

The Keynote Address - 'Release the Entrepreneur in You-Lift off to Success' by Carole Spiers, Entrepreneur, BBC broadcaster, Motivational Speaker & CEO of Carole Spiers Group UK,left the audience spell-bound and charged up to passionately believe that everyone has the potential to become an Entrepreneur.

Khalid Al Jowder, winner of Young Business Leader Award from Mohammad Bin Rashid Establishment (MBRE) & Chairman of Al Jowder Group shared his success story and the journey that he started from nothing to a multi million dollar group.

The aspiring entrepreneurs were given valuable tips on the role of banks in shaping and supporting the start-up enterprises by Satyajeet Roy -Head of Commercial Banking at Citibank.

Amir Farha & Rabih Brair, Managing Partners at Tandem Partners spoke about what it takes to be an Entrepreneur.

Top 5 shortlisted ideas were presented by the aspiring entrepreneurs which then went through an extensive grilling session by the distinguished panelists. Yasar Khan, Regional Head-Middle East for Cool FM brought his media expertise to the panel of judges and quizzed the budding entrepreneurs on their marketing strategy.

'Face to Face' an interactive session with the panelists provided an opportunity to the students to pose questions to the panel and learn from their expertise.

The Team from Heriot Watt University consisting of Nida Fatma, Shabbar Fayyaz , Farida Haider , Nigel Pinto, Fatima Ahmed walked away with the 'Big Idea Start-up Challenge 2010 Winner- Gold' for their Big Idea 'Ezy' - an innovative scrub gloves that is a combination of scouring pad, rubber, plastic, and cotton cloth which are all stitched one under the other for the comfort of the wearer.

'Big idea Start-up Challenge 2010 Winner - Platinum'was bagged by the team from S P Jain Centre of Management consisting of Ankur Kumar Daftuar, Apurva Bhargava, Archit Jauhari and Shreyansh Bhandari who presented their Big idea 'Trailblazer' - Social Media Marketing (SMM) Services for companies in Business to Business (B2B) segment.

The top honor, 'Big Idea Start-up Challenge 2010 - Winner - Titanium' went to S P Jain Centre of Management represented by Murtaza Bakir, Neha Om, Pravin Koshti , Syed Shafaat Ali & Tarun Kushwaha for their Big Idea 'Highway Help Inc'- an innovative concept for onsite help for vehcile breakdown on highways.

Kaustubh Joshi, Niyati Gupta, Rohit Singh from S P Jain centre of Management won the Big Idea Start-up Challenge 2010 - Best Business Planner Award for their Big Idea 'PathFinder' - a device that gives you not only the names of all stores offering the product of your choice, at your budget but also the shortest and fastest route to reach those shops in malls.

'Big Idea Start-up Challenge 2010 - Best Innovator Award' was given to Faisa Abderezak from Heriot Watt University for her Big Idea 'Y.E.P.(Youth Empowerment Project)'which provided tailor-made Internships, Mentorships and numerous, highly valued educational, empowering programs to youth.

Beside the Student Awards, the Institutes were felicitated with the 'Big Idea Mentor Awards 2010' for the innovative practices and methodology implemented in nurturing the students. 'Big Idea Mentor 2010 - Gold' went to Heriot Watt University,while 'Big Idea Mentor 2010 - Platinum' was bagged by Institute of Management Technology.Murdoch University won the 'Big Idea Mentor 2010 - Titanium'.

S P Jain Centre of Management was adjuded the 'Big Idea Mentor 2010 - Institute of the Year'.

Myuni.Com - a University Program review website, Zephyr-the Styling Store for Women, Autoscrap.com - an online portal to buy auto parts and scraps, Zen Lounge-providing healthy lifestyle, GamezUnlimited - online game rental portal, BioFuel-non fossil fuel, Big Idea Start-up Challenge 2010 brought out the best of ideas amongst the aspiring entrepreneurs from the Institutes across UAE.

Big Idea has partnered with Tandem Partners to set up an Incubation Lab where the shortlisted ideas will be mentored, guided & simulated to make it robust and financially viable before being presented to industry specific Venture Capitalists.

Students from University of Wollongong Dubai, HULT International Business School, BITS Pilani, Heriot-Watt University,Murdoch University, University of Waterloo, Skyline University, Institute of Management Technology, SP Jain Centre of Management, Manipal University Dubai, competed for the top honors.

The event was energized by Cool 94.7 FM & partnered by Alcatel Mobile,G-Hanz Germany, Cowon-Digital Pride, Casio,Dubai Dolphinarium,iFLY Dubai,Bombay Chowpatty, EMDI & MCS Printing Solutions.

XXX