Steel-a-thon II got bigger and better in 2015

The finale was closely contested between teams from 15 different B-schools who presented their business cases live to jury members -  Peeyush Gupta, VP - Steel (M&S), Tata Steel,  Suresh Dutt Tripathi, VP, HRM, Tata Steel,  Debashish Chowdhury, Chief-Procurement-MRO & Services, Tata Steel,Deepa Verma, Chief HRM Services, Tata Steel,  Sarajit Jha, Chief Corporate Strategy, Tata Steel, and Subrat Mahapatra, Head  Education, Corporate Social Responsibility, Tata Steel.

This year Steel-a-thon received 56% higher participation from B-schools as compared with last year, with a total participation of 941 teams (3095 students). Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, emerged as Champions of Steel-a-thon 2015. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, won the 1st Runners up position and JBIMS, Mumbai secured the 2nd Runners Up slot.

Tata Steel initiated ‘Steel-a-thon’ to connect with the young minds of B-schools and provide them with an opportunity to work on real-time challenges faced in the work environment. This event invites students from top-rated B-schools to present their ‘Big Idea’ to the management of Tata Steel. The presentation spanned across business verticals of HRM, Supply Chain Management, Corporate Social Responsibility, Marketing and Sales as well as Strategy Planning.

Suresh Dutt Tripathi, Vice President, HRM, Tata Steel, said: “We are extremely happy to organise the second edition of Steel-a-thon and we congratulate all the finalists who are champions in their own way. We are overwhelmed by the response from the top B-Schools of the country at Steel-a-thon, which witnessed the confluence of the best minds in management and helped us build a unique connect with them.” He further added: “In today’s world, the young minds are always looking for challenges and Steel-a-thon is the ideal platform to dwell on providing solutions to the challenges on a real-time basis. It’s an ideal win-win platform for both the fresh and brightest talent in management and for the company.”

Peeyush Gupta, Vice President - Steel (Marketing & Sales), Tata Steel, said, “Steel-a-thon’s first edition in 2014 received an overwhelming response and we have further raised the level of the competition this year. We at Tata Steel congratulate all the finalists and the winners and appreciate the amazing work done by the students.” He further added: “Steel-a-thon provides an amazing opportunity to all the participants to work on real-life problems in a two-month tenure from their campuses. The challenge also helps demystify the idea that the steel industry does not have good problems to solve that are related to the dynamics of market. The overall response and the success of Steel-a-thon II clearly indicates that we are on the right track in connecting with the brightest talents from the top B-Schools in the country.”

Steel-a-thon 2015 was made more attractive for the ‘future business leaders’ with respect to the rewards. The Champions walked away with a cash prize of Rs 250,000 and a trophy. The first and the second runners up teams were awarded cash prizes Rs 150,000 and Rs 100,000, respectively. Along with a direct entry to the prestigious grand finale, all campus winners received Rs 30,000 and a certificate.

The participants of Steel-a-thon benefited from the mentoring sessions with the senior management of Tata Steel which exemplifies the focus on quality and attention to detail. The platform will also help the budding leaders to open their visage to real time business cases and help orient classroom knowledge on a practical front.