SMU team wins the tie-breaker at Tata Crucible Campus Quiz, Singapore

Fourth edition of the annual campus quiz crowns new winners in an exciting contest

2 November 2010, Singapore – The teams from the Singapore Management University (SMU) emerged big winners at this year’s Tata Crucible Campus quiz, Singapore, sweeping the top three prizes of this exciting business quiz in which nearly 140 teams took part from across key Singapore universities. The annual business quiz was held on Friday, 29 October 2010, at Suntec City’s Rock Auditorium. The SMU team of Abhishek Kumar and Nabil Rasheed took the first prize and walked away with a cash prize of $7,000, other goodies and offer of an International Internship.

The runners-up Chang Weilong Ivan and AbbasAli Mohamed Irshad took away a cash prize of S$ 3,000, while the second runners-up Sayanee Basu and Varun Arora got a cash prize of S$ 2,000. The top two teams will be invited to compete against the top two teams from India and the UK in the international finals, to be held in India early next year. The event was graced by Guest of Honour Rear Admiral (NS) Ronnie Tay, CEO of Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, who gave away prizes to the winning teams.

“We are really honoured to have won the quiz and this means a lot to us, given the amount of time we spent preparing for it. We also congratulate the other finalists and wish them all the best, said Abhishek Kumar. “We are definitely going to give our best at the international finals next year,” added Nabil Rasheed.

The Tata Crucible Campus Quiz was anchored by veteran quizmaster Giri Balasubramaniam, aka ‘Pickbrain. A new format of preliminary round saw 26 questions from A to Z, followed by a wild card round amongst team nos. 7-14 to select 2 teams who joined the top 6 scoring teams to make it a 8 team Final. The Final teams on stage included 5 teams from SMU, 2 from NUS and 1 from NTU, who were tested with five rounds of live quizzing, e.g., Mapping Excellence, Uniquely Singapore, etc. A last round tie-break pitched the two SMU teams in title for the crown, which was won by Nabil Rasheed and Abhishek Kumar with the answer ‘IKEA’, leading to quizmaster remarking they may become loyal buyers of the IKEA furniture in future.

“The Tata Crucible Campus Quiz is an exciting event that encourages youth in Singapore to look beyond academics and apply their knowledge to the business world, including the use of infocomm. Such efforts by Tata group can contribute to preparing students for their careers in the future” said Rear Admiral (NS) Ronnie Tay, CEO of Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and Guest of Honour for the event.

Brought into Singapore in 2007, the Tata Crucible Campus Quiz has once again proven to be popular with the students of tertiary institutions including NTU, NUS, SMU, etc. This year, nearly 140 teams from higher education institutions took part in the intense battle of wits, where they were tested on business subjects ranging from business houses and history, to people and products. The first business quiz of its kind here, the quiz is an initiative of the Tata group, a global business enterprise with more than 90 operating companies across seven business sectors under its wing.

Vivek Kamra, President & CEO, NatSteel Holdings, a Tata Enterprise, said: “As the Tata group expands its presence in Southeast Asia, it continues to be committed to the local communities it operates in. This challenging quiz enables us to reach out to the youth and stimulate their minds. We are very pleased with the overwhelming response and sheer enthusiasm of the local student community.”

For more details, log on to www.tatacrucible.com/sg

Channel News Asia is the official broadcast partner of the event and will be telecasting it in two episodes at the following times :

Episode 1 - Friday, November 19, 2010 : 9.30 p.m. (Original)
Saturday, November 20, 2010: 7.30 a.m., 12.30 p.m., 5.30 p.m. (Repeats)
Episode 2 - Friday, November 26, 2010 : 9.30 p.m. (Original)
Saturday, November 27, 2010: 7.30 a.m., 12.30 p.m., 5.30 p.m. (Repeats)

ABOUT TATA
The Tata group comprises over 90 operating companies in seven business sectors: communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals. The group has operations in more than 80 countries across six continents, and its companies export products and services to 85 countries. The total revenue of Tata companies, taken together, is $67.4 billion in 2009-10, with 57 per cent of this coming from business outside India. Tata companies employ around 395,000 people worldwide. The Tata name has been respected in India for 140 years for its adherence to strong values and business ethics.

Every Tata company or enterprise operates independently. Each of these companies has its own board of directors and shareholders, to whom it is answerable. There are 28 publicly listed Tata enterprises and they have a combined market capitalisation of about USD 100.26 billion (as on October 28, 2010), and a shareholder base of 3.4 million. The major Tata companies are Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Global Beverages, Indian Hotels and Tata Communications. Tata Steel became the sixth largest steel maker in the world after it acquired Corus, later renamed Tata Steel Europe. Tata Motors is among the top five commercial vehicle manufacturers in the world and has acquired Jaguar Land Rover. TCS is a leading global software company, with delivery centres in the US, UK, Hungary, Brazil, Uruguay and China, besides India. Tata Global Beverages is the second largest branded tea company in the world, including brands like Tetley and Tata Tea. Tata Chemicals is the world’s second largest manufacturer of soda ash and Tata Communications is one of the world’s largest wholesale voice carriers.

TATA PRESENCE IN SINGAPORE
Singapore is an extremely important market and hub for the Tata group. The group has significant business interests in Singapore, including the APAC headquarters of Tata Consultancy Services, and offices of Tata Communications, NatSteel Holdings, Tata Technologies, Voltas, Tata Chemicals, Tata Power and Tata International, among others. The Tata group has an employee base of over 2000 people in Singapore. The Tata Crucible Campus Quiz offers a unique opportunity for Singapore's student community to involve themselves in the subject of international business, in an engaging and intellectually stimulating contest. The Tata group has its own structured engagement activities for Global Talent Development including the International Internship Program and MoUs with a number of universities including SMU. Thus, the Tata Crucible Quiz seeks to add value to both Singapore and the Tata group.

For media enquiries, please contact:
Chan Kwai Seng
Telephone: +65 6424 6383
Mobile : +658207 1665
Email: chank@fleishman.com

Teo Wei Qi
Telephone: +65 6424 6375
Mobile: +65 8102 2110
Email: weiqi.teo@fleishman.com
Press Release
For Immediate Publication

NUS team wins at the Tata Crucible Campus Quiz
Third edition of the annual campus quiz sees new winners walk away with cash prizes and internship opportunities
23rd October 2009, Singapore – The Tata Crucible Campus Quiz 2009 came to a grand close last Friday, with Bai Zhiyong and Tay Shi Jia of the National University of Singapore (NUS) winning the $7,000 cash prize and a coveted internship position with a Tata company in India. The second position went to Singapore Management University (SMU) team of Hie Guang Long and Navin Nair who took home a cash prize of S$ 3,000. The team of Sohail Sardana and Nabil Rasheed also of SMU stood third and won a cash prize of S$ 2,000.

The top two teams from the quiz will participate in the grand international finals to be held in India early next year.

Tata Crucible Campus Quiz, now in its third year in Singapore, is the first business quiz of its kind here. The quiz, which was held at the Rock Auditorium in Suntec City, is an initiative by the India-based Tata group of companies. Senior Minister of State for Trade, Industry and Education Mr. S. Iswaran graced the event as the Guest of Honour. Hosting the quiz was Giri Balasubramanium, the witty quiz master who also conducts the Indian and UK editions of the quiz.

Brought into Singapore in 2007 (which was also the international debut of the quiz), the Tata Crucible Campus Quiz has proven to be popular with students. This year, a total of 137 teams (of 2 students each) from higher education institutions were tested on business subjects ranging from business houses and history, to people and products. Some interesting questions included in the quiz were: Who is a transumer? (People who shop while they travel); What is White Star Line Company famous for? (The Titanic); Which company started as “Galvin Manufacturing Corporation?” (Motorola); Which ice cream chain has a "free cone day" every year? (Ben & Jerry’s)

Mr. Girija Pande, Executive Vice President and Head of Asia-Pacific, Tata Consultancy Services, said, “Through Tata Crucible Campus Quiz we have been able to strengthen our direct connect with the student community in Singapore. Along with the International Internship Programme and Tata Crucible, we continue to reach out to these young sharp thinkers and are delighted with the strong, enthusiastic response received over the years.”

TATA PRESENCE IN SINGAPORE
Singapore is an extremely important market and hub for the Tata group. The group has significant business interests in Singapore, including NatSteel Holdings, Tata Communications, TATA Technologies, Tata Power, TATA Chemicals, Voltas, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata NYK Shipping, York Transport Equipment, Tata Precision, Corus and Tata Capital. Tata companies employ more than 2000 people in Singapore.

The Tata Crucible Campus Quiz offers a unique opportunity to Singapore's student community to involve themselves with the subject of international business, in an engaging and intellectually stimulating contest. It is of mutual interest coming from the Tata group of companies, which has its own structured engagement activities for global talent development including the International Internship Program (IIP) with key Singapore universities.

ABOUT TATA
Tata companies operate in seven business sectors: communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals. They are, by and large, based in India and have significant international operations. The total revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was $70.8 billion in 2008-09, with 64.7 per cent of this coming from business outside India, and they employ around 357,000 people worldwide. The Tata name has been respected in India for 140 years for its adherence to strong values and business ethics.

Every Tata company or enterprise operates independently. Each of these companies has its own board of directors and shareholders, to whom it is answerable. There are 27 publicly listed Tata enterprises and they have a combined market capitalisation of some $60 billion, and a shareholder base of 3.5 million. The major Tata companies are Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Tea, Indian Hotels and Tata Communications.

Tata Steel became the sixth largest steel maker in the world after it acquired Corus. Tata Motors is among the top five commercial vehicle manufacturers in the world and has recently acquired Jaguar and Land Rover. TCS is a leading global software company, with delivery centres in the US, UK, Hungary, Brazil, Uruguay and China, besides India. Tata Tea is the second largest branded tea company in the world, through its UK-based subsidiary Tetley. Tata Chemicals is the world’s second largest manufacturer of soda ash and Tata Communications is one of the world’s largest wholesale voice carriers.