Institut Teknologi Bandung

P&G PEAKathon is a global-scale Hackathon competition organized by Procter &Gamble, a multinational FMCG company. This competition provides an opportunity for students from around the world to 'dive in' and solve real-life cases and problems encountered in the workplace.

The CEK team consists of Kinanti Wening Asih (Information Systems and Technology, 2021), Clara Alrosa Fernanda Sinaga (Information Systems and Technology, 2021), and Eli Sulistyowati (Management, 2024). The competition began in November 2023 and continued with national selection stages.

The national preliminary round was held online through the Metaverse. Over 3000 participants in Indonesia competed to complete the Quiz and Quest. The CEK team advanced as one of the top five teams to participate in the national final stage.

In the national final stage, the five teams were tasked with solving a marketing case study provided by P&G, particularly related to their Gillette product line. Each team was also asked to create a One-Pager containing innovative marketing solution proposals.

At the end of the national final stage, the CEK team emerged as the national champion in December 2023 and secured a spot in the top 6 globally. “We were invited and funded to participate in the global finals held at the P&G Singapore Headquarters,” said Eli.

Eli shared that at the Singapore Headquarters, their team participated in the global finals for 3 days, pitching in front of the P&G Board of Directors. Eventually, on Thursday (2/1/2024), their hard work paid off as they emerged as the runner-up after competing with a total of more than 9000 participants from over 15 countries.

Kinanti stated that advancing to the national stage was something they had never imagined, let alone reaching the global stage. “During the national stage, many of our friends and seniors were far more experienced than us,” said Kinanti.

However, they turned it into motivation and a challenge to continue pushing themselves and developing further.

Moreover, the case study was open-ended, presenting an additional challenge to elaborate on complex issues and provide innovative solutions in a compact 1-page format," said Eli.

Meanwhile, Clara mentioned that at the global stage, competing abroad was certainly not an easy feat.

"While adapting to the environment and culture in Singapore, we continued to work hard to deliver the best presentation to the judges in English," said Clara.

They were also grateful that all competitors and organizers were very friendly and provided adequate accommodation. This allowed them to compete comfortably. “In the end, the presentation we delivered led us to the runner-up title,” said Clara.

Clara mentioned that participating in this competition was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Winning a global hackathon is one of their biggest dreams. “The fellow finalists from 5 other countries became our close friends during our time there, and it's great to travel with your expenses covered!“ she said.

Kinanti advised us to always believe in ourselves and believe that nothing is impossible. “If someone had told the three of us that we could hope to attend and win in the global finals, we wouldn't have believed it at first. Keep working hard and believe that you can overcome anything and any obstacles!“ said Kinanti.

Reporter: Satria Octavianus Nababan (Computer Science, 2021)

Translator : Firzana Aisya
Editor : Anggi Nurdiani (Management, 2024)