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Strat-Edge: The Strategy Case Competition by IIM Calcutta

Swapnil Mandrekar

1. First of all, congratulations on winning. How do you feel about it?

Reaching the national finals in the competition was an amazing experience and I still can't believe it actually happened. I feel humbled and incredibly grateful for the opportunity to showcase my skills and represent my school. Of course, getting to the nationalfinalswasn'tawalkinthepark-ittookalotofhardwork, sweat,andall-nighterstogettothispoint.Butitwasallworthitin the end! And to be honest, I couldn't have done it without the support of my mentors who were there with me every step of the way.

2. Could you brief us about this competition? What hurdles did youfaceandhowdidyouovercomethem?

The competition was a unique and challenging experience. I must admit, I was sweating bullets trying to answer some of those questions! But with a bit of luck and a lot of preparation, I managed to make it through to the next round. The second round was all about submitting a one-slide executive summary of my approach to a case. This was a bit tricky for me since I had very little idea about the fashion industry, and the case we were given was specifically related to Zara. But with their help, I was able to puttogetherasolidsummary.Ihadtosubmitadetailed