Today, we spoke with the HR Director at Vizag Steel, a business professor of Corporate Governance at Gandhi University and a prior student of Professor Darwin. After a thought-provoking discussion with several civic leaders, each of the teams continued working on their presentations.
We sought advise from the American judges that traveled to India, and re-visited our discussion with the Indian students for insight on how to improve our business model and product. Many of us re-evaluated our solution to make sure it was suitable for solving Vizag’s problems.
Later, we visited the Indian Institute of Management of Visakhapatnam (IIM Vizag), and met with judges to receive feedback on our models. IIM Vizag students gave us a tour of the campus and local eateries. Per Professor Darwin’s recommendation, he suggested the zoology department in Andhra University because it was the department his father attended, and later on curated.
At the end of our presentations, judges provided constructive feedback and commended teams for changing their projects in order to adapt to the culture in India. A leading Smart City consultant in India complimented the class for correctly identifying pain points of the Indian culture. The judges appreciated our genuine, clear, and implementable solutions.
For our nighttime activity, we went on a fun excursion to the shopping district at the center of Visakhapatnam. We ended the night with an Indian buffet dinner. This day couldn’t have been more exciting!
Itzel Martinez