One of the current best in the country at Business Quizzing, Naveen Giles was the first Keralite to win the Economic Times Brand Equity Quiz, the biggest Corporate Quiz in India. He did the same representing Goldman Sachs in 2006 and it fetched him prizes including a Ford Ikon car, holidays and so on. His 2 other big wins were the CNBC channel’s CNBC Challenge Corporate Quiz (with prizes including a Singapore holiday, Designer hampers, Car audio system etc), and the Brand Mahaguru title at the Indore Management Association which fetched him an Enfield Bullet motorbike and a Pinnacle Saporiti furniture set. Who said quizzing doesn’t pay? ;-)
Long before getting into Business Quizzing in a big way, Naveen was a a regular in the active Kerala Quizzing circuit during the 1994-1999 period representing the Dept. of Ship Technology, CUSAT. He considers himself lucky to have quizzed alongside stalwarts such as Devadas Krishnan, Sachin, Gigi, Lloyd etc. Despite the high quality of competition, he won several quizzes during this period, notably ones at the MACE, and at the Kottayam Book Fair. He happily states that engineering days were mostly spent in traveling from one quiz venue to another. His best show; yet a big regret; was at the National Inter-University Quiz where he partnered Devadas and Bharadwaj to reach the National finals representing CUSAT. However, the finals saw Calicut University narrowly edging past the CUSAT team by a solitary point to win the title and also a chance to represent India at the SAARC Quiz.
After his BTech, Naveen joined the KJ Somaiya Institute of Management in Mumbai. He got interested in Business Quizzing and soon became a major player in Inter-B-School biz quizzes, winning almost every quiz he participated during his MBA days. After 15 or so titles in those 2 years, he continued his passion after joining the corporate life and has represented Citicorp, Goldman Sachs, CSC and FICO in various Corporate Quizzes. Winning the “Brand Equity Quiz” established him as one of the very best in India. This followed a stint of a couple of years in Tokyo, away from quizzing but rearing to get back to the action. While there, he tried to keep in touch with the quizzing scene back in India and noticed that now there were several blogs on quizzing but that it was difficult to keep track of updates in each. So, after getting back to Bangalore in 2008, he envisioned the Quizblogroll www.quizblogs.com , which links more than 250 quiz blogs and sorts the linked quizblogs based on how new their updates are. This has now grown into a one-stop-shop for quizzers, with around 10,000 hits every month! Moreover, he started the first service in India to inform quizzers on upcoming quizzes via SMS. The thrill of competition that once took him all over Kerala continues to propel him to greater heights, and the will to innovate more and give back something to the quizzing community that he is a part of reflects in his ventures.
Naveen’s Quiz Blogroll: www.quizblogs.com
Naveen's Quiz videos: CNBC Challenge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Achievements:
- Winner of India’s Biggest Corporate Quiz “Brand Equity Quiz 2006” representing Goldman Sachs – Won Ford Ikon, Holidays, Digi Cam, other stuff worth 50,000 etc
- Won CNBC Challenge Corporate Quiz Dec 2004 ; Only the second team since inception of the quiz to go all 4 rounds in the Quiz . Won a Singapore Holiday, a Sri Lanka holiday, Blaupunkt Audio System etc
- Runners Up at Business Today Acumen Quiz , Bangalore round 2006
- Second Runners Up at Tata Crucible, Bangalore in 2006
- Winner of the “Brand Mahaguru” Quiz conducted by Indore Management Association and IIM Indore, 2002 (Won a Enfield Bullet , Pinnacle Saporiti furniture set etc)
- Won about 15 Business Quizzes at the B-School level.
- Was Runners Up at National Level Inter-University Quiz in Jan 1999 (along with Devadas and Bharadwaj) representing Cochin Uty
- Won some Quizzes, came runners up etc in some others in 1994-1999 period in various forums in Kerala including MACE, Kottayam Book Fair, Talentime, St. Thomas College, PAICO Quiz and so on.
1 comment:
I do know Naveen fairly well, having worked with him in the same organisation for a couple of years and partnering with him on several quizzes. Had partnered with him for the brand mahaguru quiz at indore that gave both of us an enfield bike each. He is indeed a terrific quizzer. Havent been in touch with him lately, I believe he is still in Japan. Hope he returns back some day to India and becomes an active member of the quizzing circuit. Cheers.
Post a Comment