On April 14, 2020, we organised our annual inter university business and cultural festival – Magnate 2020. We hosted 5 competitions that saw over 10 universities compete and a cumulative of over 70 submissions.

Spearheaded by our Jaguars, the festival invites undergraduate and postgraduate students from UAE-based universities. Started in 2016, it has continued tradition passing from one batch to the other at the Dubai campus. Each year, layers of competitions are customised to match the personality and competitive advantage of the batch.

Our undergraduate students from the 2018 cohort were planning this year's edition of the marquee event when the COVID-19 pandemic hit us. “Instead of cancelling the event, as we had already put in months of work, overnight, our student committees, clubs and council restructured all events to go online.  And, so, our 4^th edition became our 1^st edition of an online SP Jain inter university festival bringing in series of competitions that included: Writing, Dance, Singing, Art, Photography, Business Pitch and Sustainable Pitches (Read more). Besides the rush of competition, the intent was to keep the momentum going among our undergraduate and postgraduate cohorts and engage positively with the university community,” said Megna Kalvani, Senior Manager, Global Learning & Student Life – Dubai Campus, SP Jain.

“I would like to commend that our students rose to the challenge – exercising their social media marketing skills at its finest – going all out to promote the event using social platforms, creating partnerships with different stakeholders, identifying and liaising with judges, coordinating with student teams and individuals part of the contest, taking up roles like online hosts, moderators, program curators and, best of all, being able to participate themselves while being in quarantine in their own countries and between their e-classes/projects,” Megna added.

“The best part of collaborating with our partners – not only did we learn from each other but selected winners and participants have been offered virtual internships with AIESEC UAE (online overseas volunteering based on SDGs - Sustainable Development Goals) and Trift (travel and lifestyle blog based in Ireland).”

“It's been hard continuing our regular programs even at our own campus. So, thank you for creating such events that allow us to return to a sense of normalcy in our existence. It means a lot and I appreciate the SP Jain team for that!” said Hafsa Ahmed from New York University Abu Dhabi, first place winner of Involve (a CSR competition dedicated to SDG 3).

“I love that SP Jain continues to keep our youth engaged during this pandemic and opportunities like this one allow them to grow and learn from each other. I wasn’t sure if an online competition would do justice, but everything was well organised, all in real-time, from scoring to interactive engagement, and all together seamless,” said Rekha Setpal, in5 director (judge of Jaguar Think Tank – an entrepreneurial competition).

“Thank you for inviting me to judge the Involve competition. It was a great experience to witness the way SP Jain was able to attract brilliant students with impactful ideas to join the competition and pitch. This event creates a great social impact on a different level,” said Shaima AlQassab, CEO of AIESEC UAE (AIESEC – world’s largest youth organisation).

Congratulations to the Winners!

Moments from Magnate 2020:

A Student Presentation from BITS Pilani

A Business Pitch from Middlesex University

SP Jain students Tanishqa Kambli, Chinmay Naik and Abhimanyu Shivaji win the 2nd place in Jaguar Think Tank and Involve

Hafsa Ahmed & Team from New York University Abu Dhabi win the 1st place in Involve