Team Speaks
Cerebration 09
Anupam Bhandari, Bobby Brenman, Kyle Gardner, Vishal Patel - The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
"The competition was a fantastic experience, a capstone event in our MBA education. Throughout the competition rounds we learned a great deal about the online travel industry and the Asia Pacific market as we evaluated the strategy, marketing, financials, operations and technology of Asiatravel.com. The whole process was thoroughly engaging and rewarding, especially as we were able to provide a growing firm with a set of actionable recommendations. Cerebration provided a wonderful opportunity for us to come together as a team and apply our classroom knowledge to a real-life setting.
The Cerebration team from NUS Business School did an excellent job organizing the events, attending to all necessary logistical details, and hosting a distinguished panel of judges to question our ideas. The overall quality of the event was superb, and our "team buddy" as well as the Cerebration volunteers made us feel at home, halfway around the world.
Top-notch talent, a great location, and engaging organizers - Cerebration truly is the premier global business competition."
Artem Boltyenkov, Arpit Sharma, Samir Varma - LN Stern School of Business, New York University
"Cerebration 2009, as rightly said, is the biggest battle of minds. The competition provides an awesome experience, which is very close to a real consulting assignment. We got a wonderful taste of the hospitality of Team Cerebration which was truly impeccable and one of the highlights of the competition.
The Grand Finale saw an overwhelming number of 200 guests and a power-packed panel of ten distinguished judges from the Singapore Corporate world. The presence of so many dignitaries was inspiring and made the competition more intense and realistic as they questioned every recommendation we made for feasibility and realism.
Finally after the strenuous Q&A session, our hard work was rewarded and our joys reached limits when the results were announced and we learnt that we grabbed the 2nd spot in the Finals, the only team of Part Time students to get that far. The grueling days were well balanced with fun filled parties hosted in the night by the Cerebration team. This made the entire experience even more pleasant and memorable.
Cerebration 2009 will be one of the highlights of our MBA programme. The experience was very rewarding and provided a great stage for learning that could not have been paralleled by any classroom setting. I would encourage every student who wants to make a career in Management Consulting to participate in this event, which was truly a 'Cerebration'".
Anant Kumar, Ankush Grover, Ashutosh Mishra, Pallavi Kheria - Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay
They claimed "Then Cerebration has it all for you" and they proved it does. Cerebration '09 truly delivered on its promise, from a wonderful planning to the final execution of the event. A thoroughly mesmerizing event with some wonderful get-togethers, organized by an ever-cheerful team, made our stay even more enjoyable. Our wonderful six-day stay at "Singapura" started off with greetings by our team buddy who with his pep talks got us going throughout the stay.
A grand welcome at the venue of the finale with a splendid glowing stage confirmed a "once in a life-time experience". This platform provided us not only the opportunity to present our ideas before some of the greatest minds in the corporate world but also provided us with immense learning opportunities from the other participants.
You have the greatest learning of your life when you present in front of a panel of 10 esteemed judges and bravely respond to the grilling questions they shoot at you. This was certainly a trip to remember and cherish for all the exposure and learning we experienced. We really appreciate and congratulate NUS MBA for organizing a magnificent event and wish them all the success for their future endeavors.
Cerebration 08
Jack P. Huang, London Business School
"Cerebration was definitely the most worthwhile competition during my MBA career. The event was impeccably organized and a terrific learning experience. Upon arrival, our team was greeted at the airport by our friendly "team buddy" who took every measure to help us settle in and get going.
During the competition, our team took a slightly drastic approach of completely revamping our business recommendation after the 1st day of feedback in Singapore - creating a brand new assessment and deliverable in less than 24 hours. Our "team buddy" was kind enough to take us to the client site that same afternoon to do some on-site due diligence. The experience proved invaluable in helping us maximize our learning of the client business, of ourselves, of teamwork and of creativity in general.
The evenings (outside from work), were typically packed with great food/drinks and a particularly good nightlife. It is no coincidence that Singapore consistently ranks highest in Asia as the best place to live, work, and play.
We sincerely thank our hosts at Cerebration for providing such a great forum for business students worldwide, for their care in coordination and for their genuine hospitality."
Montu Gupta, HEC Montreal
"If you want to test the strategy, marketing, operations, and financial modeling concepts you learned in the classroom on a real life case scenario, then the NUS case competition is a must. Furthermore, the toughest phase of the competition begins in Singapore where you have to convince over ten judges in two rounds of presentations that your business plan is a world beater. This is as close to the real world as it gets. Competition is fierce, clients are demanding, and the proposal has to be implementable! Add to this, the fact that NUS was an excellent host and a meticulous manager of a world class event, which only made the experience all the more professional, enjoyable and memorable. I wish NUS all the success in making this event the number one event for all MBA students worldwide."
Rani Salman, HEC Montreal
"Cerebration 2008 was definitely the hallmark of my MBA. I highly doubt any class or academic setting could have enhanced my business acumen as much as this competition did. Moreover, it provided me with a platform to further discover myself and ascertain my career aspirations. It certainly pushed our team's intellect, spirit, and strength to its limits, and hence was a true battle of mind, mettle, and matter. My memories of Cerebration 2008 will last a lifetime, memories which are further made jovial by the spectacular setting of the event (Singapore), the very embracing NUS student body, and the impeccable event management."
Wanda Chan, The University of Hong Kong
"If I had to make a Mind Map of Cerebration, some of the most striking things would be:
Applying - those lessons I learned from the competition for the rest of my life; Accepting - the culture of challenging, criticizing, exploiting, the variation and different angles of believe among our team; Celebrating - the great night in one of the hottest clubbing sites in Singapore with the organizing committee and other participants; Energizing - In receiving support and congratulations from family, friends, colleagues and classmates; Fascinating - the way the competition was organized and managed; Hanging out - at the lovely restaurant providing English breakfast 24 hours a day for the non-stop discussion; Inspiring - with other participants' performance; Thrilling - at my first time in Singapore; Tiring - non-stopped meeting and fine-turning; Wondering - how to achieve the winning formula among 4 individuals with diversified backgrounds and preferences; Welcoming - with the hospitality that we received from the Cerebration Organizing Committee via FaceBook, emails and personal contact in Singapore.
Cerebration 07
INSEAD - Winners, Cerebration 2007
We looked at what would interest an entrepreneur and based on that launched a business into the Middle East. That was the key reason that we won.
As far as the competition was concerned there was immense support from Team Cerebration. The online portal was extremely useful as we could get the latest updates on the competition. - Vikram Natarajan
We would just like to thank you all enormously for the tremendous hospitality we have enjoyed over the past three days. It was a wonderful experience to get the opportunity to meet so many people from the NUS Business School and the competition itself was a credit to your organization. We were commenting the same to one of the external judges after the event and his response was that of all the corporate events he has attended, it was amongst the best organized of what he could remember.
On a personal level, it was striking how friendly and helpful all of your team was and we left with very fond and positive memories both of the Business School and of Singapore in general. - Tim Hill & Dalal Behbehani
NUS Business School - Runners Up, Cerebration 2007
Participating in Cerebration was an amazing experience of working together for eight months. The team got deep perspective into how a growing company in Asia goes on to make a global footprint. - Julie Nathan
MIT Sloan - Semi Finalists, Cerebration 2007
This was one of the most memorable experiences during our School life. The feedback from the Judges at various stages of the competition guided us tremendously.
We were extremely happy to see our "Buddy" on the airport. He was at his hospitable best for our entire stay, which really made it special.- Kentaro Kita
Erasmus Business School - Finalists Cerebration 2007
The competition was simply fantastic. It brought along a deep learning curve for our team members and helped us appreciate the finer nuances of how an Asian company operates.
We were very impressed with the scale of the event. It was professionally organized, taking care of the minutest of details. - Angel Sainz
A&M Texas - Semi Finalists, Cerebration - 2007
The warm welcome which we received after the twenty four hours flight from the US was truly humbling. The competition itself was fast paced and thrilling. Reaching the Semi-Finals was an exhilarating experience.
Bravo Team Cerebration! - Mandar Marathe
Cerebration 06
"The Cerebration competition has been one of the highlights of my MBA experience. NUS offers the world's leading MBA programs the unique opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned in a real life competitive environment. For those that love a challenge this is it." - MICHAEL COLE (Instituto de Empresa, Spain), Winning Team - Cerebration 2006
"The journey in itself from 640 international teams to the TOP was as exhilarating as the end in itself. The feedback from judges brought in motivation and built in confidence and appreciation coming from the company CEO on our proposal was a validation of the hard work put in by the team. Kudos to Cerebration team." - Deepanjan Mukherjee (Instituto de Empresa, Spain), Winning Team - Cerebration 2006
Cerebration 05
"We were more like consultants developing a plan for an existing company and hence it was challenging." - Ashwatraj Yennagudde (Richard Ivey School of Business, Canada), Winning Team - Cerebration 2005
"Good opportunity to put together what we've learned in B-School. Great learning experience covering all aspects of 'business'." - Team GO (Chicago GSB, USA)
"Cerebration was truly international. It was a great experience to see teams from different parts of the world coming together and fighting it out." - Rakesh Vyas (XLRI, India)
