作者： chenchen

While the KWHS Investment Competition has been around since 2012, each year it delivers unexpected ideas and experiences. The 2019 Global Finale weekend on May 3 and 4 was no exception. A new first: the top nine teams traveling to Wharton from India, China, Brazil and the U.S. to compete in a stand-alone Global Finale of the best teams from around the world. A new first: a Chinese team from Region 1 placing in the Global top three. A new first: a Friday learning day equipped with spaghetti and marshmallow towers and entrepreneurial innovation. Oh, and a Yeti – it was the first time in seven years we’ve had the Abominable Snowman make it to the 8^th floor of Wharton’s Jon M. Huntsman Hall as part of a Global Finale team presentation.

What wasn’t new, other than the players? More than 50 determined and financially savvy high school students, led by educators and advisors, showing up to give the 10-minute presentations of their lives. They had all contributed to 10 weeks of team trading, deliberating and strategizing in hopes of landing potential client Sachin Rekhi, resulting in the submission of nearly 550 final investment reports in December 2018. Then came three regional final rounds in India, China and the U.S., identifying the top nine teams from those countries (plus a tenth wildcard pick from the U.K.) They would go in front of a panel of five industry experts, two representing the day’s sponsors – Aberdeen Standard Investments and Vanguard — in hopes of winning the title as the competition’s most competent, reliable and creative asset-management team.

The full lineup of Saturday’s competitors included:

• Pegasus, YK Pao School, Shanghai – Region 1, China, First Place
• Filter Coffee Investments, Amity International School, Noida – Region 2, India, First Place
• EVA (Eagles Value Added), Graded American School, São Paulo – Region 3, Brazil, First Place
• OG, RDFZ, Beijing – Region 1, China, Second Place (chose not to present in the Global Finale)
• Scion Capital, Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur – Region 2, India, Second Place
• Yeti Investors, Maclay School, Tallahassee – Region 3, U.S., Second Place
• CFuture, WHBC of Wuhan Foreign Languages School, Wuhan – Region 1, China, Third Place
• Olympians, Amity International School, Vasundhra Sector 6, Ghaziabad – Region 2, India, Third Place
• Sage Hill, Sage Hill School, Newport Coast – Region 3, U.S., Third Place
• DC Capital, Dulwich College London – Region 3, U.K., KWHS Wildcard Pick

Following nine impressive team presentations and in-depth Q&A sessions by the judging panel, four top teams (including a tie for third) received trophies and $5,000, $2,000 and $1,000 respectively for their schools from sponsor, Vanguard.

The 2019 KWHS Investment Competition Global Finale winners are:

• First Place: Filter Coffee Investments
• Second Place: Scion Capital
• Third Place: Pegasus
• Third Place: Yeti Investors

Taking a front-row seat for the festivities was this year’s Global Finale panel of judges. They included Srinath Chigullapalli, senior IT program manager at Vanguard; David Lawrence, founder of RANE (Risk Assistance Network+Exchange) and long-time managing director at Goldman Sachs; Charles Rejonis, senior IT director in the Wharton Research Data Services group at the University of Pennsylvania; Fionna Ross, senior ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) analyst on the North American Equity team at Aberdeen Standard Investments; and John Squires, a partner at Dilworth Paxson law firm and former chief IP counsel for Goldman Sachs. Special guest Chris Demetriou, CEO for the Americas, Aberdeen Standard Investments, returned for a second year representing the competition’s long-time sponsor, to welcome the teams and provide insight into trends in asset management.

Underscored by words like “phenomenal” and “inspiring,” the judges honored the competing teams with their reflections on the day. “I was so excited to come judge again this year,” said Ross, who also judged the 2017 Global Finale. “You all show such professionalism and competence. It was a difficult decision to try to sort out the rankings. You should all be extremely proud of how you performed today.”

Lawrence, who also judged the competition in 2018, praised the teams’ energy and knowledge. “When I left Goldman Sachs, I told the then-head of [the company] that my compensation at Goldman was never reflected in my W-2 statement, it was in the relationships that I was able to form,” noted Lawrence. “I know this is an investment challenge, but your investment in friendships and associations is no less important.” Adding that every team showed “extraordinary teamwork,” he urged participants to value collaboration in all that they pursue.

Eli Lesser, KWHS’s new executive director of high school and summer programs, was amazed by his first KWHS Learning Day and Global Finale. “Our dean, Geoffrey Garrett, has a vision of Wharton as a place that ‘incubates ideas to transform business, to power Insights to reinvent decision-making, and create leaders who change the world.’ I am proud that in our Global Finale this past Saturday we saw high school students embody this vision,” noted Lesser, who began his career as a high school teacher. “Each team presented the ideas that they incubated during the current school year; used new powerful insights to build a team and make decisions; and ultimately become leaders that we know will someday transform the world! In my new position, I am looking forward to continuing to meet young people and their teachers through our programming.”

For more information on the KWHS Investment Competition, please visit the KWHS Competitions Page. Be sure to follow us on Instagram @KWHSLife, Twitter @WhartonHS and check out our KWHS Facebook page for many more photos and reflections from this year’s 2019 KWHS Investment Competition Finale. We will begin promoting the 2019-2020 competition soon, so make sure you are registered with KWHS to receive all the updates! #KWHSInvests

Students arriving at the Penn Wharton China Center in Beijing, China, on the morning of Saturday, March 2, 2019, for the KWHS Investment Competition Region 1 finals, were greeted by a statue of Benjamin Franklin sitting on a bench — a familiar icon to anyone who has visited the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, Pa. Franklin, in addition to being a founding father of the U.S., founded Penn in 1755.

These high school students were also familiar with a Ben Franklin quote found on the KWHS Investment Competition website: “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

The March 2 event was a living testament to that sentiment. Throughout the day, 12 teams of high school students from Region 1 who had been selected to compete in the semi-finals – primarily from schools in China, and one from Mongolia – presented their compelling investment strategies and demonstrated their new financial knowledge to a panel of industry judges and an audience filled with students, teachers and parents.

David Lin, a teacher from YK Pao School in Shanghai, watched with particular interest as the presentations unfolded. Lin was the mentor and advisor to two finalist teams from YK Pao, Pegasus and YKPS Unicorn. “I am in total agreement with KWHS’s mission to spread financial literacy among young people through this Wharton Investment Competition,” Lin noted. “It’s becoming even more important nowadays for the next generation of the rising wealthy families in China, who are mostly single children, to receive earlier business/financial education to help them preserve and better manage their wealth soon to be inherited in the next decade or so.”

The KWHS mission of financial literacy was an unmistakable theme of the day, as students pitched dynamic investment strategies informed by everything from micro and macro economic (interest rate hikes!) and stock market trends, to corporate profits and portfolio values. In the end, however, the judges selected three top teams to proceed to the KWHS Investment Competition Global Finale at Wharton’s Philadelphia campus on May 3 and 4. The winners of the Region 1 finals were:

• 1st Place: Pegasus, YK Pao School, Shanghai, China
• 2nd Place: OG, The HS Affiliated to Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
• 3rd Place: CFuture, WHBC of Wuhan Foreign Languages School, Hubei, China

Evaluating the day’s presentations were I Chuan Tao, executive general manager of wealth management, China Merchants Bank; Eric Leng, managing partner at Crescendo Capital Management, a hedge fund based in Beijing; and Yanbing Qiu, chief investment officer and board secretary at Hetai Life.

The judges were especially impressed by the logic and data used by the winning teams to support their creative investment strategies, as well as those teams that expressed a charismatic teamwork style that set them apart from the lineup of finalists.

The six-person Pegasus team, for example, incorporated clever animation into its presentation that elevated its creativity scores and added a new dimension to its solid “High Yield ESG [Environmental, Social & Governance] Equity Portfolio Proposal.” Judges loved the team’s holistic presentation approach, incorporating the technical, analytical and teamwork aspects of their competition journey. The team declared, “As we worked together as a team through all the late nights, weekends, and after-school meetings, we ensured that we met at least eight hours per week. Now that we are at the end of the investment process, we have gained confidence both inside and outside of our class as well as the fulfillment knowing that we have acquired financial knowledge that can serve us for a lifetime.”

The seven members of Team OG used both top-down and bottom-up analysis to evaluate investments and risk and develop a tech-focused strategy fitting for tech entrepreneur and potential client, Sachin Rekhi. The team focused on industries with stable growth rates and companies with “good leadership, strong monopoly power, less cyclical earnings, and high ethical standards.” OG team leader Hangbo Guo was also a member of last year’s Region 1 winning team, RDFZICC.

CFuture delivered an especially energetic presentation as the team’s six members detailed a creative “Rock and Roll” investment strategy for short and long-term investments. The team’s deep commitment to learning was evident: “Initially, we hardly knew anything about real-world investment,” they said. “We started fresh from learning terminology, to investigating industries, analyzing corporation’s financial reports and finally designing a portfolio of our own. We are amazed that we successfully analyzed different sectors and companies by using a variety of methods (SWOT analysis, Porter’s Five Forces, and all kinds of financial ratios).”

The winning teams were awarded plaques, as well as $500, $300 and $200 USD respectively for their schools, given by generous KWHS Investment Competition award sponsor, Brickwork Ratings. All the teams were also treated to words of wisdom by the day’s judges, who urged them to keep working hard and to look to the “humanity” of their financial decisions, not just the numbers. They also reminded students to drill down to the basics through all the many layers of new financial knowledge. “Investment is a very uncertain business,” suggested Qiu of Hetai Life. “It’s very hard to find the right way to do it. Go back to the fundamentals of risk and return and that will serve you well.”

After a busy few weeks traveling the globe, during which the KWHS team also held a dynamic Region 2 investment competition finals at the National Stock Exchange in Mumbai, India, we are now preparing for the third semi-final round to be held this Saturday, March 16, at Wharton in Philadelphia, Pa. With teams from Brazil, Canada, the U.K. and the U.S., it promises to be a powerhouse of financial skills and collaborative creativity. Stay tuned for the results and for a final list of the winning teams that will advance to the KWHS Investment Competition Global Finale at Wharton on May 3 and 4.

On the morning of Saturday, February 23, 2019, teams of high school students and their advisors streamed into the sunlit atrium of a Mumbai-based financial hub that few outsiders ever access: The National Stock Exchange of India. Many of them gazed in awe at the NSE logos, banners, and monitors delivering news about the financial markets, and they took a moment to visit the vibrant rangoli, a colorful, floor-based design of rich red, blue, green, pink and orange powders, that was created especially for this day. Manvir Singh Rana, a teacher at Amity International School in Noida, India, noted that he has long taught a unit on the NSE to his students, adding: “It’s incredible to actually be here.”

And so began the fourth-annual KWHS Investment Competition Region 2 Finale, during which the top 12 teams from Region 2 – this year all from India-based high schools — spent a full day at the NSE for a chance to present their team strategies and new investing knowledge to a panel of six professional judges. The judges included: Pankaj Dinodia of Dinodia Capital Advisors, Kisha Gupta of Infosys, Vivek Kulkarni of Brickwork Ratings, Rajat Kumar of ABP Digital, Rajesh Sehgal of Equanimity Investments, and Yatrik Vin of the National Stock Exchange of India Limited. The National Stock Exchange partnered with KWHS to host the event and Brickwork Ratings was an event sponsor, providing financial prizes for the winners. Dr. Biswajit Saha, director (skill education and training) of the Central Board of Secondary Education in India, was the keynote speaker.

The 12 teams each delivered powerful 10-minute strategy pitches, navigating P/E ratios, share prices, SWOT analyses and macroeconomic trends with confidence and conviction. And they all survived a tough five minutes of provocative questions from the judges. Even so, only three teams could be selected to advance to the upcoming KWHS Investment Competition Global Finale at Wharton in Philadelphia on May 4. The winners of this year’s Region 2 Finale were:

1^st Place: Filter Coffee Investments from Amity International School, Noida

2^nd Place: Scion Capital, Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur

3^rd Place: Olympians, Amity International School, Vashundhra Sector-6, Ghaziabad

As the presentations wrapped up, Dinodia, who along with Kumar and Sehgal has judged the regional competition in India for the past several years, remarked, “What a day! The bar just keeps getting higher and higher.”

While all the teams were technically sound, their creative and thoughtful investment strategy themes – and how they expressed them – were often a key differentiator.

Filter Coffee Investments went all the way with its java theme, pouring it throughout the energetic presentation. The pitch? “What is a perfect cup of coffee? A bitter shot of espresso, a frothy cappuccino or a steamy latte? Well, the truth is, there is no one recipe for a perfect cup, as it is a function of different tastes and preferences. Similarly, there is no single portfolio ideal for all individuals.” The team created “The Percolator,” a software that filters potential investments to present “the best possible options for analysis.” The team also incorporated The Magic Cup Model, which identifies under-performing and over-performing stocks, and a COFFEE model of analysis that looked at a company’s competitive standing, financial past, ethics and other key factors.

Scion put forth an equally impressive “Swaying Iceberg” model that inspired the team to use machine learning to inform both its long-term and short-term strategies. The team followed up with a comprehensive analysis of the company Under Armour. Scion’s extensive research and deep understanding of its client’s needs really elevated the effectiveness of its teams strategy.

Olympians, building on potential client Sachin Rekhi’s resolution to run a half marathon, focused on “investing in food, fitness and new technologies that enable us to live longer and healthier lives.” The team spotlighted Nike as a company that followed its strategy and ideals, and the team took on different Greek god roles to illustrate their individual strengths.

Each of the winning teams took home trophies, as well as $500, $300 and $200 respectively from Brickwork Ratings for their schools.

‘I Loved Everything’

The competition marked most teams’ first exposure to trading and investing. And while nine of them couldn’t claim prizes, many valued the weeks of learning. “Our knowledge regarding investments increased manifold over the course of the competition,” said Ketan Kedia, student leader of Mr. Stock’s Enterprise, which traveled to Mumbai all the way from D.A.V. Model School in Durgapur, India. “We were the first team to participate from our school. Our school will continue participating in such competitions both to learn and to become experienced. This competition is a torchbearer for entry of financial literacy into our school curriculum. Indian school children are deprived of basic finance education, which adversely affects their decisions in the future.” Added his teammate Harsh Agarwal: “Traveling to Mumbai and delivering at NSE is a memory I will cherish throughout my life. I loved everything about it.”

The 2019 KWHS Region 2 Investment Competition represented a first-time partnership between Knowledge@Wharton High School and the National Stock Exchange of India, including the NSE Academy Limited. During the event, Vikram Limaye, CEO of the NSE, said, “NSE has been engaged in promoting financial literacy and financial market courses in the country. A step in this direction is the collaboration with Knowledge@Wharton. Financial education for students is an important tool to improve the financial capability of our youth and our communities. We are confident that our collaboration with Knowledge@Wharton will further strengthen our mutual efforts in financial education.”

Serguei Netessine, Wharton’s vice dean of global initiatives, echoed those sentiments, saying that Saturday’s competition in Mumbai illustrated “what can be achieved when partners collaborate on a shared mission of financial literacy and building skills to empower the next generation of global leaders.”

Filter Coffee Investments, Scion Capital and Olympians have already begun to prepare for the KWHS Investment Competition Global Finale at Wharton on May 3 and 4. They will be presenting their strategies to the judges, along with the top three teams from the regional finals in Beijing, China on March 2 and Philadelphia on March 16. Be sure to register with KWHS to get all the results of this year’s KWHS Investment Competition – and updates about when it’s time to sign up for next year’s challenge. For more information, visit the KWHS Investment Competition website.