The Business Bootcamp really opened my eyes to new ways of teaching, learning, training and sharing. The experience was amazing. It didn’t give us answers to a problem but guided us to find it ourselves, or collaborate with each other to attempt different things. When you and your team brainstorm in finding every solution to a problem without anyone giving you direct answer, it is truly a rewarding one anyone can experience. It certainly develops your confidence and your ability to think continues to grow more and more with every tasks.

The first day of boot camp, we started our trip from CGIM. Everyone there were strangers except for two or three. But that was only for few minutes.  As soon as we got inside the bus, we started talking. I could see excitement on everyone’s face because we weren’t told anything but to ‘expect the unexpected’.

We reached Nagarkot and at around 2:30 pm we gathered and the event started. In the evening, we met Mr. Arun Chaudhary, Founder, CG Holdings. We interacted with him, shared our ideas and had our dinner together. We conversed on various ideas and after dinner we had discussion on the topic ‘politics’. I got to sharpen my knowledge about politics. It was indeed a privilege meeting Mr. Arun Chaudhary.

At night, I and my room partner started researching about our ideas because we had to present our business pitch tomorrow morning. It was already 12 am and we were awake till 5 in the morning.

I woke up at 8 o’clock. I didn’t have much time so I started practicing my pitch in front of the mirror over and over again. When the program started I was a bit nervous because I felt exhausted since I didn’t sleep properly. Then the pitching started. I pitched my idea as well. Out of 14 ideas only 4 were selected. Out of the surprise, I was one of the four.

My group had 4 members. Our idea was to make affordable sanitary pads. We started brainstorming on making a business model. We had mentors and guides. Mr. Saurav Jyoti, Director, Jyoti group, was among them. He shared his experience and we asked our queries to him. Mr. Prayash Rajopadhya from Job Dynamics was also there for motivation and workshop session. I was able to gain knowledge about business, how a case study is done, how to develop business plans and much more.

At the end of the day after dinner, we started preparing the business plan and presentation on our business idea for the next day.  It was almost 3 am in the morning but I hadn’t completed the work so sleep was out of the question.

Next day we had mentors coming, Mr. Hempal Shrestha, Mr. Anjan Kumar Shrestha along with other mentors read our business plan. They revised, edited and refined our idea so precisely that we had to come up with another business plan and presentation to make it viable. That day was exhausting because we were continuously working and not resting at all. After dinner, we planned to play games to relax our mind. That was the moment when I actually felt a relief after a long day.  While we were laughing and enjoying with everyone, I had completely forgotten about the two deadlines at 3:30 am and 5:30 am, irony – it was already 11 pm.

Me and my group started brainstorming, making presentations, designing business plans and finally with a little luck we submitted exactly at 3:32 am. We still had to submit another business plan and presentation (phase 2) at 5:30. We already were feeling sleepy but still we worked on it. Though we had so little time, we were able to submit them on time.

That night while researching, discussing, planning and developing business model I learnt that no matter what when you’re working with your team on a problem, you get different views, opinions, thoughts that help you know more and understand the problem more. That teamwork experience is truly a rewarding one.

Overall experience was amazing at the boot camp. I’m grateful that I applied – I look back at what the boot camp has taught me and I am grateful for it. It taught me the fundamentals – not the shortcuts, or the direct answers but it taught me how to think and how to solve prevailing issues. I wonder where I would be if it wasn’t for boot camp – would I truly understand what business plans are? The fundamentals of business planning? about case study ? I guess NOT.