The much anticipated final round of Numero Uno started after lunch on Sunday. After the presentations of the money spinner round, people were anticipating a fitting end to the three day long marathon that tested every trait of the participants. As they say, its takes a lot to be crowned Numero Uno.
The final began with the compere (Sathya, who happens to be one of our ex-students) announcing the names of the six finalists who would compete in the last round of Numero Uno on the basis of their performance in all the rounds conducted till that point in time. Pretty much as expected, the top six included Roberto (Yale University, USA), Sabina (McGill University, Canada), Geet (IIM Bangalore), Nikhil (FMS, Delhi), Hiranjith (Great Lakes, Chennai) and Rahul (IIM Calcutta).
Each contestant had to deliver a self pitch as to why he/she should be chosen as Numero Uno initially, followed by questions from the Judges, a few insightful comments from the compere here and there and some pretty pointed questions from the audience. The order of appearance was decided by draw of lots and as it turned out, our first speaker was Nikhil from FMS. Nikhil spoke extensively about his efforts as a founder of non-profit as well as for-profit organizations and his passion for everything he does. He came across a poised and serious individual, but the charisma that defines a leader was somehow not visible.
The next one up was Hiranjith from Great Lakes, Chennai who also happens to be a national level badminton player. Though he overshot his timing for the self pitch yet after that he was pretty entertaining. The fact that he hesitated to make decisions unilaterally, became pretty evident from his responses to the Judges’ insightful grilling sessions.
Sabina was up next and dazzled the audience with her speech as well as her well chosen replies to the questions she was asked. For a moment, it felt like here was one candidate better than the rest. Just when people started settling down cozily in their seats, confident of having identified a front runner, it was time for Roberto to come up on stage. Probably the least formal of the people present and the most upbeat of the finalists, he was definitely having fun on stage. He even had a dig at Sathya when the time seemed right!
Geet and Rahul were spot-on with their speeches as well but Roberto had already made a deep impact on the audience as well as the judges. Though we have to say that Geet had a distinct advantage of playing on home turf yet there were times when people had to agree that on this day it was Roberto who shone the brightest.
The results vindicated the general opinion and Roberto Jimenez representing Yale University went on to be declared Numero Uno for Vista 2008, the second year in a row when an exchange student has won the coveted title of the Next CEO!
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