BAT 2555.00p About us Our products How we work Sustainability Investors Media Reporting Careers Battle of Minds: and the winners are… 00:00 00:00 The winners of Battle of Minds, BAT’s global business competition, have been announced! Battle of Minds 2021, running for a third time and now in partnership with BAT’s corporate venture arm, Btomorrow Ventures (BTV), aims to discover the brightest, early-career business minds around the globe. This year’s contest was focused on ESG, with each team pitching to solve a challenge focused on culture, farming, waste or energy. ESG is a key driver of BAT’s transformation journey to build A Better Tomorrow™ for all stakeholders and is at the core of our business. The competition saw 2,700+ teams enter from 27 countries, back in May. After a total of 31 local rounds they were whittled down to a final 12, who attended last week’s virtual final. The winners were Team Ijo, from Indonesia who impressed the judges with their proposal to produce environmentally friendly, edible straws made of seaweed. Ijo will receive up to £50,000 from BTV, to implement the idea. They will also be considered for a place on an upcoming accelerator programme for start-ups, which is run by BTV and BAT’s ESG team. The three runners up, from Egypt, Kenya and Venezuela, won up to a £25,000 investment each from BTV, with all winning teams also landing employment opportunities as Global Graduates or interns across BAT. The three runners-ups’ ideas were: Team Egypt: creating a high-quality gelatine out of marine waste. Team Kenya: recycling cigarette butts to make planters for urban farming and manure for cultivation. Team Venezuela: aiming to reduce energy poverty by generating an alternative and clean source of energy from plant photosynthesis. Yulia Begemann, BAT’s Group Head of Talent Acquisition, said: “The standard of entries this year was remarkable and it was incredibly tough to decide on a winner. “Battle of Minds is now a fixture in the BAT calendar and provides a wonderful platform for these early career talents to contribute to our A Better Tomorrow transformation journey.” Participants were tasked with developing an innovative product and were judged on the following criteria: Strong original idea. Solid depth of research and analytics. Business feasibility. High-quality business plan. Presentation skills and teamwork. The promotional campaign for Battle of Minds via our social media channels produced impressive results, reaching 7 million people (up 87% on last year), and generating 35.5 million impressions (+35%). On the BAT judging panel this year were: Lukasz Garbowski, BTV Investment Director; Marcos Salvadego, Group Head of Leaf; Tracy Oates – Senior ESG Policy & Engagement Manager; and Ase Bergstedt, Sustainability Capability Manager. Keen to participate in next year’s Battle of Minds competition? Follow BAT on LinkedIn to find out more. Media Stories and features Key BAT information and images Social media @ BAT News releases Contact the media centre Home Media Stories and features Follow us Latest tweets BAT @BATplc Another great episode of #LeadershipLab from our @RAI_News colleagues 👇 The latest episode focuses on the#Sciencee…twitter.com/i/web/status/1…Z 03 Dec #ICYMI: The latest #MBUnplugged episode looks at our partnership & the great innovations we are driving… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 02 Dec Current UK share price 2555.00p +6.50p 03 Dec 2021 12:03 Quick Links Modern Slavery Statement Gender Pay Report Annual Report Sustainability Report Science and Technology Report Share price data Worldwide websites Standards of Business Conduct Site map Contact us BAT Globe House 4 Temple Place London WC2R 2PG +44 (0) 20 7845 1000 Accessibility Privacy Notice Cookie Notice Conditions of use Financial information We collect and store information on your device when you use this website including setting cookies. Some are essential, while others are used to enhance your experience, and to operate and improve the website. You can withdraw your consent at any time for non-strictly necessary cookies. Please choose the accept all button if you consent for us to use these non-strictly necessary cookies and the personal information they collect for the purposes described in our Cookie Notice. Accept all cookies Disable non-essential Customise settings