Unilever empowering university students with real life business know-how

Thursday, 4 December 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Unilever Challenge seeks to empower Sri Lankan university students with real world business know how and exposure in how brand management works. This year ‘Lipton Talent Hunt’ gave the students a platform to showcase their talents and skills which is being held for the second consecutive year.

From left: Marketing Director – Foods Ramani Samarasundera, Category Head – Beverages Manindri Bandaranayake and Manager – Leadership Development Aarthy Arunasalam The competition saw 40 teams from 10 universities in the private and public sector participate – their task was to develop an innovative 360 campaign with the case study given. “In addition to giving the participants an over-all sense of working on an actual real life campaign for a product, it also gave them the unique window on the way business is done in the real world of consumer marketing,” says Unilever Sri Lanka Brand Manager – Lipton Abitha Pathmanathan. “The competition which is structured into three stages provided an outstanding hands-on learning experience for young men and women aspiring for a corporate career,” says Unilever Sri Lanka Category Head – Beverages Manindri Bandaranayake. “This process enables them to go from one level to another, giving them insights along the way.” The winners of the Grand Finale were the Team Jeaters from the University of Kelaniya, while the First Runners Up were the Team T3 Consultants from the Faculty of Finance and Management from the Colombo University. The Team Grineedia from the School of Computing University of Colombo were the Second Runners Up while Team Green for Health from the APIIT Campus became the Third Runners Up. Members of the Team Jeaters will enter the assessment centre of Unilever Management Trainee Program. In addition, the three best individuals selected, Inesh Perera of the University of Kelaniya, Romanthi Anandappa from the University of Colombo Faculty of Finance & Management and Minura Jinadasa of the University of Colombo School of Computing will have the opportunity to visit London to represent Sri Lanka at the Future Leaders League, which would showcase their talents internationally.