With an aim to develop an entrepreneurial spirit amongst youth in India, Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (XIME), Bengaluru is gearing up to host the Grand Finale of National Business Plan Competition 2019 on Saturday, November 30, 2019.

The multi-legged competition witnessed participation from final and pre-final year students from leading management institutions and engineering colleges across India showcasing their innovative ideas to the jury members through different levels of the selection process.

The National Business Plan Competition 2019 largely aims at stimulating young minds to think creatively and work towards innovative business ideas and solutions for the country’s most promising segments such as addressing HR problems using Artificial Intelligence (AI), developing tech platforms to connect people, pet care solutions and socially relevant ideas like helping blind and deaf and empowering women. Over 75 teams across India nominated themselves to pitch their ground-breaking business ideas to compete in the regional levels of the competition.

Out of these 75 teams, 25 from established institutions like IIM Ranchi, IIM Bangalore, BITS Pilani, NIIT University, SIBM Pune, KJ Somiah Institute, VIT Bengaluru, EDI Ahmedabad, Nirma University got chances to present their ideas to the eminent jury members during the regional rounds held at YMCA Central, Mumbai on November 15, 2019, at YMCA, Delhi on November 16, 2019 and XIME Campus, Bengaluru on November 18, 2019.

While each of the participating teams made great efforts in coming up with innovative ideas, a lot of them can be brought to reality and can transform the face of emerging businesses in India. However, jury members finally shortlisted seven teams who met the criteria for judgment including innovation, creativity, and scalability of the idea.

Sharing his thoughts on the competition, Prof S. Suryanarayanan, Competition Director, XIME said, “This national-level search to identify innovative minds among engineering and management students made us realize the quantum of latent talent available in our country. The National Business Plan Competition 2019 is an initiative to help such talented students to transform their innovative ideas into potential businesses. I am sure that their interactions with experienced judges and their valued input will help them align their business ideas in a better way during execution. This contest is a platform for every participant to take away great learnings and memories while winning or losing being incidental.”

During this three-level competition, interested teams submitted their ideas through a one-minute video, an elevator pitch and two-page documents. The elevator pitch broadly addressed – the problem statement, solution to that problem, target/potential customers, a procedure to reach the first customer, and showcasing of any prototype or minimum viable product.

The ideas of the team that could meet the criteria set by the jury were selected to present their business plan at the regional level. A jury consisting of angel investors/start-up entrepreneurs evaluated the presented ideas and selected two teams from each region to compete at the finale.

The Grand Finale, to be held in Bengaluru, will witness the top 7 business ideas out of which three best teams with the most promising ideas as selected by the jury will be bestowed with prizes. Similar to how the regional rounds where winners were awarded Rs 50,000 as the first prize and Rs 30,000 as second prize, winners at the finale will be gratified with Rs 2 lakh, Rs 1 Lakh and Rs 50,000 for the first, second and third positions respectively. Apart from that, the winners at National Business Plan will also get a chance to avail of the incubation facility at XIME to upscale their thoughts.