The Wharton Global Youth Program celebrated a first on Tuesday, April 7: the announcement of the top three teams in Region 1 of the 2019-2020 Wharton Global Investment Competition – on a special live Zoom webinar.

And, of course, we also celebrated the Region 1 winners:

• 1st Place: Money Scooper, Shanghai High School International Division, Shanghai, China
• 2nd Place: SH Reeves, Shanghai High School International Division, Shanghai, China
• 3rd Place: Plutus, Saint Paul Preparatory School, Seoul, South Korea

While we could never have imagined when this year’s investment competition kicked off back in October 2019 that we would be hosting a virtual final in April for the top 12 teams from eastern and central Asia, the coronavirus pandemic has demanded that all of us respond to our new at-home reality with innovation.

That’s just what the top student teams did in March, when we asked them to create final video presentations detailing their team investment strategies and competition experiences and submit them online. Students then replied in writing to questions about their presentations, and a panel of industry judges – including Patrick Yung of Independence Blue Cross, Yanbing Qiu of CICC Fund and Hansi Mo of China Merchants Bank — selected the winning teams.

“Building an investment strategy is a tough and time-consuming process, but we deeply appreciate what we have learned from it.” — Kelly H., Team Leader, 1st Place Money Scooper

During Monday’s live webinar announcement for team leaders, team members and advisors, Wharton Global Youth Program executive director Eli Lesser thanked Region 1 sponsor China Merchants Bank for its support of the competition. To the teams, he said, “We know this is a difficult time for you as students and your families as well, and we want to thank you for continuing to compete with us. We are really excited to share this announcement tonight of the winners and also to welcome our top three teams to the Global Finale in May.” Competition “client” Reshma Sohoni, for whom all 533 competing teams around the world created their investment strategies, wished the Region 1 finalists well in a special video message.

Following the webinar, Kelly H., leader of the 1^st place team Money Scooper (which also participated in the 2018-2019 competition), shared her team’s reaction to the big news. “We feel incredibly excited and grateful that our hard work over the past two years has paid off. This result is rewarding, and we are thrilled because we never dreamt of reaching first place. Building an investment strategy is a tough and time-consuming process, but we deeply appreciate what we have learned from it. We definitely cherish this precious opportunity, and we all look forward to the global finale.”

The Wharton Global Youth Program will be announcing the winners of Region 3 on Monday, April 13, during a live Zoom webinar for that region’s top teams. You can also read about the results of February’s Region 4 and Region 2 finals. The investment competition’s virtual Global Finale for the top teams from all four regions is scheduled for Friday, May 8. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter and stay tuned to the KWHS Bulletin for all the results.

Congratulations to our Region 1 winners!

It was 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 22 at the Infosys Limited headquarters in Electronics City, Bangalore, India. While the walkways were clear for the weekend of the thousands of employees who regularly strolled the campus, the activity was frenetic around the N. Narayan Murthy building.

High school students from across India clustered in small groups on the back lawn, practicing presentations and encouraging teammates; Bhawna Bhardwaj, an educator from Amity International School, Vasundhara, talked excitedly on her cell phone; and students from Jayshree Periwal School in Jaipur, India, crowded around a table of judges while they sipped their morning coffee and enjoyed a hot breakfast.

“It’s time!” announced Kisha Gupta, head of global academic relations at Infosys and the day’s host in partnership with the Wharton Global Youth Program. Soon enough, the nearly 100 students, teachers, parents and executives filed into the high-tech R. N. Tata Hall and were greeted with these words: Welcome to the 2020 KWHS Investment Competition Region 2 Final!

What unfolded over the next five hours was a showcase of incredible poise, knowledge and presentation prowess as the top 12 student teams from Region 2 – 11 from India and one from Singapore – presented the colorful details of their winning investment strategies and KWHS Investment Competition experiences to the room and a panel of five financial professionals. This year’s judges included Shamita Chaterjee, senior vice president and global head of compensation and benefits at Infosys; Vivek Kulkarni, founder of Brickwork Ratings in Bangalore; Rajat Kumar, chief of staff of GirnarSoft; Rajesh Sehgal, founder and managing partner of Equanimity Investments in Mumbai; and Yatrik Vin, group chief financial officer of the National Stock Exchange of India in Mumbai.

“We believe each group has equally unique and valuable experiences.” — Kevin Zhang, Team East Capital K

It was the culmination of 12 weeks of investment portfolio and strategy development, supported by teamwork, research, innovative thinking, Wharton resources, and teaching and motivation from team advisors and mentors. Presenters delivered insights on the requirements of their case study client, Reshma Sohoni, long-term and short-term investment goals, stock-selection strategies, asset allocation, portfolio values, global competitiveness, risk management and creative portfolio personalities. Overall team quality was incredibly strong. In the end, however, three Region 2 teams took home trophies.

The teams advancing to the Global Finale at Wharton in Philadelphia on May 8 and 9 to compete against the top three teams from the three other competition regions are:

1. East Capital K, United World College of South East Asia, Singapore
2. Scion Capital, Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur, India
3. Mavericks, Amity International School, Sector-46, Gurugram, India

East Capital K, which likened the U.S. stock market to Roald Dahl’s Big Friendly Giant, created a client-focused top-down approach and identified industry leaders in sustainable practice as part of their approach. Scion Capital, working the chess analogy, created a PAWN score for Portfolio Analysis Weighted Numeric. The PAWN score assessed six different financial prospects of businesses in alignment with client Sohoni’s interests. Mavericks, building on Sohoni’s love of food, designed the NUTRITION strategy, which considered News, Undervalued stocks, Technical analysis, Responsible investments, Integrated analysis, Turbulence, Industry, Opportunity and Novelty in selecting stocks for their team portfolio.

The judges, who questioned each team for five minutes following their presentations, praised the students’ level of knowledge and sophistication with new investing concepts and urged all of them to build on this foundation of teamwork and skills, regardless of the careers they pursue. Many of the teams like the MillenZees from Amity International School in Gurugram, also incorporated a financial literacy component into their competition journey, sharing their new knowledge and financial confidence with younger students and others throughout their community. That social mission, agreed the judges, was truly inspiring.

The announcement of the winners was met with cheers and tears – and lots of questions and reflections. “These past few months have truly been unforgettable,” said Kevin Zhang, team leader of East Capital K, which was unable to travel to Bangalore due to the coronavirus outbreak, but presented virtually on February 22 over the Web X platform. They became the first virtual team to ever win a regional final. “My main takeaway isn’t the amount of technical knowledge, formulas and models I’ve picked up, but rather, the skills in leadership and interaction that I’ve developed as a result of close collaboration, support, and sleepless nights with a wonderful team,” added Zhang. “We went into this hoping for the best, but never expecting anything, and seeing the result today was a huge shock to all of us.”

And while the top teams often win the glory, this year’s Region 2 final represented countless vibrant stories of devotion, empowerment and challenging team dynamics. Take, for instance, CitD, or Chai in the Desert Investments. The truly international team included members form Saudi Arabia, India and Malaysia (hailing from South Korea). “We faced considerable challenges with respect to team dynamics due to the fact we spanned five of the 24 time zones,” noted team leader Vikramaditya Singh.

As another successful Region 2 Final ended, observers commented on the commitment and creativity on display from all the teams. Said judge Kumar as he sat down in the deliberation room over lunch: “This is an incredibly difficult decision.” Perhaps East Capital K’s Zhang summed it up best: “As a team, we know that just because we won this time doesn’t make us a better team than all the others. We believe each group has equally unique and valuable experiences. However, we are all ecstatic in knowing that our win today will extend our journey further, as we try to push on even harder for the Global Finals.”

Be sure to read about the winners from the Region 4 Final in São Paulo on February 15, and we are preparing for the Region 3 Final, to be held on March 16 at Wharton in San Francisco. The Wharton Global Youth Program will see you in Philadelphia!

On April 13, 2020, the Wharton Global Youth Program announced the top three teams in Region 3 of the 2019-2020 KWHS Investment Competition. Student competitors, advisors and judges logged on at 6:00 p.m. eastern time for a live Zoom webinar led by Wharton Global Youth executive director, Eli Lesser.

Region 3 (North America, Europe, Africa and Oceania) had 260 competing teams, including 1,328 students and 115 advisors. The top 12 teams in the region, which submitted final videotaped presentations on March 23 that were judged virtually, joined Monday night’s webinar to discover which three teams would advance to the competition Global Finale.

And the Region 3 winners are:

1. 1st Place: Over the Moon Investments, Maclay School, Florida, U.S.
2. 2nd Place: Compass Capital, Walter Payton College Prep, Illinois, U.S.
3. 3rd Place: Females in Finance, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York, U.S.

A panel of industry judges reviewed each of the top 12 reports and selected the winners. They were: Claire Kinney, W’82 and WG’86, (Former) Managing Director, Wells Capital Management; Jonathan Coslet, W’87, Chief Investment Officer, TPG; Heather Crist, Head of Field Engagement, UBS Wealth Management USA; and Jeanette Ourada, WG’92, (Former) Vice President & Corporate Comptroller at Chevron.

“In my experience in business, diverse teams almost always deliver superior results.” — Jeanette Ourada, Region 3 Judge

Ourada spoke to the teams during the Zoom announcement. “All of you are further along in your finance journey than I was at your age. I didn’t really discover finance until I was a graduate student at Wharton,” noted Ourada. “I was so impressed with the quality of your video presentations. You all did a very good job demonstrating the financial knowledge that you learned through the course of the competition. The other thing I would applaud is you articulating your journey as a team. That was sometimes just as complicated as understanding those financial concepts. The other thing I noticed is the diversity of the teams. In my experience in business, diverse teams almost always deliver superior results.”

Competition “client” Reshma Sohoni, for whom all 533 competing teams around the world created their investment strategies, wished the Region 3 finalists well in a special video message.

The April 13 Region 3 results complete the 2019-2020 investment competition regional finals round. Following the virtual announcement on April 7 of the Region 1 winners and the previous Region 4 and Region 2 events held in February in Brazil and India, we have identified the top three teams from each region.

Here are this year’s best teams (by order of region and regional-final placement) that will be competing in the virtual Wharton Global High School Investment Competition Global Finale on May 8, 2020:

• Money Scooper, Shanghai High School International Division, Shanghai, China
• SH Reeves, Shanghai High School International Division, Shanghai, China
• Plutus, Saint Paul Preparatory School, Seoul, South Korea
• East Capital K, United World College of South East Asia, Singapore
• Scion Capital, Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur, India
• Mavericks, Amity International School, Sector-46, Gurugram, India
• Maple Tree Capital, Colégio Santa Cruz, São Paulo, Brazil
• Lions of Wall Street, St. Paul’s School, São Paulo, Brazil
• Eagles Value Added, Graded American School of São Paulo, Brazil
• Over the Moon Investments, Maclay School, Florida, U.S.
• Compass Capital, Walter Payton College Prep, Illinois, U.S.
• Females in Finance, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York, U.S.

Congratulations to the top 12 investment competition teams from around the globe!

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter and stay tuned to the KWHS Bulletin for the results. Visit the Wharton Global Youth High School Investment Competition page for details about the upcoming 2020-2021 competition season.

February is a festive time in Brazil. The country has spent the past few weeks preparing for and reveling in Carnival, an annual festival known for its dancing in the streets.

Members of the Wharton School’s Global Youth Program team took to the Brazilian cityscape for reveling of a different kind during our first-ever Investment Competition Region 4 Final in São Paulo on February 15. The 10 finalist teams of high school students from our newest Latin American and Caribbean region (all of which were from Brazil) gathered at the headquarters of BTG Pactual, the event sponsor, to deliver their 10-minute investment-strategy presentations to a panel of financial professionals. It was the culmination of 12 weeks of investment portfolio and strategy development, supported by teamwork, research, creative thinking and teaching and motivation from their team advisors and mentors.

“The most amazing thing was to see young adults so enthused with investing concepts and the parents cheering them on and motivating them to learn. We could see how much each team had worked on their projects and how much it meant to them,” said Deborah Mason Pontual, president of the Wharton Clube Do Brasil, the largest Wharton alumni club in Latin America, and head of international affairs and college counseling for Colégio Bandeirantes high school. Pontual and her colleague Stephanie Salem, thrilled to see Latin America become an official competition region this year, have previously run informal finals in São Paulo for the top Brazilian teams in Wharton’s KWHS Investment Competition.

In the end, with the help of five minutes per team of rigorous questions from the judges – including Daniel Arippol, Wharton grad and principal at Quilvest Private Equity; André Lion, Wharton grad and founding partner, Ibiuna Investimentos; Oliver Mizne, Wharton Grad and managing director, GEO Capital; Ilan Ryver, Wharton grad, director of GMK Institute, and founding partner of Mogno Capital; and Regina Sanchez, Wharton grad, associate partner for admissions consulting at MBA Empresarial, and partner at Lucas Melo & Associados – three competing teams emerged victorious. The winners of the first-ever Region 4 Final are:

1. Maple Tree Capital, Colégio Santa Cruz, São Paulo
2. Lions of Wall Street, St. Paul’s School, São Paulo
3. Eagles Value Added, Graded American School of São Paulo

The teams agreed that February 15 was a memorable day, enriched by a presentation from one of the top Brazilian performers in last year’s investment competition, Eagles Value Added (comprised of different students than this year’s EVA team). “The competition ignited my passion for finance,” said Breno Sallouti, adding he planned to pursue a career in the field. The former EVA team also acknowledged the importance of financial literacy, pointing out that some 65% of Brazilians are financially illiterate.

Many of this year’s teams expressed appreciation for their new investing knowledge. “We all had a blast taking part in the competition,” said Isabela Carvalho, team leader of first-place Maple Tree Capital. “The past few months have been ones of intense learning, communication and teamwork, and the confirmation of that came in the Region 4 finals… During the event, we also had the chance to learn more about the investment world.”

Carvalho and her teammates, along with Region 4’s second and third-place teams, are now preparing for the investment competition’s grand Global Finale, held on May 8 and 9 at Wharton in Philadelphia. “Our team expects to refine our presentation and to have a wonderful time getting to know the University of Pennsylvania for the first time,” added Carvalho. They will also get to know students from the advancing top three teams in each of the other three investment competition regions, the finals of which are being held around the world in February and March. Check back to the KWHS Bulletin soon for all the results.

We’ll leave you with a few words from Ilan Ryver, a judge of the February 15 Region 4 final: “You don’t know everything. You won’t know everything. That is the beauty of finance. You are always learning.” The KWHS Investment Competition and the Wharton Global Youth Program help start students on that lifelong journey. #KWHSInvests

The Wharton Global Youth Program is excited to announce the finalists for our 2019-2020 global investment competition!

It has been a dazzling decade-ending (and beginning) challenge, since trading began on the Wharton Online Investment Simulator (OTIS) on October 7, 2019. More than 800 student teams from 25 countries turned in mid-project team reviews in November, resulting in 572 final competition reports submitted on December 17, 2019.

Our Wharton Global Youth and Aberdeen Standard Investments evaluators in Philadelphia read hundreds of final reports through the Christmas break and into the new year, assessing if they met important short and long-term criteria, and looking for several pillars of strength, including a deep understanding of the investment competition client whom student teams are trying to win over, Reshma Sohoni; clear and creative strategies; and extensive analysis and teamwork.

“Our team was impressed by the quality of the final reports across regions in this year’s competition,” says Eli Lesser, executive director of the Wharton Global Youth Program. “Students showcased strong financial knowledge and teamwork, and many worked hard to understand their potential client as a first step toward developing comprehensive, creative and sound investment strategies.”

And with that, here are the schools that the finalist teams will be representing at the 2020 KWHS Investment Competition regional finals:

Region 1 (Eastern and Central Asia)

• The Affiliated High School of South China Normal University, Guangdong, China
• The High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, Beijing, China (two teams)
• Seoul-St. Paul, Seoul, South Korea
• Shanghai Pinghe Bilingual School, Shanghai, China (two teams)
• Shanghai High School International Division, Shanghai, China (three teams)
• WHBC of Wuhan Foreign Languages School, Wuhan, China (two teams)
• Yali High School, Changsha, China

Region 2 (Southern, Southeastern and Western Asia)

• Amity International School, Noida, India
• Amity International School, Saket, New Delhi, India (two teams)
• Amity International School, Sector 46, Gurugram, India
• Amity International School, Vahundra Sector 6, Ghaziabad, India
• Delhi Public School, Surat, India
• Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur, India
• Podar International School, Mumbai, India
• PSBB Millennium School, Chennai, India
• The Shriram Millennium School, Noida, India
• Tagore International Vasant Vihar, New Delhi, India
• United World College of South East Asia, Singapore

Region 3 (North America, Europe, Africa and Oceania)

• Avon High School, Connecticut, U.S.
• Bergen County Technical High School, New Jersey, U.S.
• Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York, U.S.
• K12 International Academy, Virginia, U.S.
• Livingston High School, New Jersey, U.S.
• Maclay School, Florida, U.S.
• Moorestown Friends School, New Jersey, U.S.
• Plano West Senior High School, Texas, U.S.
• Royal S. George’s College, Toronto, Canada
• Mission San José High School, California, U.S.
• Syosset High School, New York, U.S.
• Walter Payton College Prep, Illinois, U.S.

Region 4 (Latin America and the Caribbean)

• Avenues: The World School, São Paulo, Brazil (2 teams)
• Colégio Bandeirantes, São Paulo, Brazil
• Colégio Santa Cruz, São Paulo, Brazil (2 teams)
• Colégio Visconde de Porto Seguro Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil
• Escola Beit Yaacov, São Paulo, Brazil
• Graded American School of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
• Lycée Pasteur, São Paulo, Brazil
• Paul’s School, São Paulo, Brazil

Congratulations to all this year’s finalists! The student teams from these schools will now compete in the regional final round in February and March, the top winners from each advancing to the Global Finale at Wharton in Philadelphia on May 8 and 9. The Region 4 finals will be held on February 15 at BTG-Pactual in São Paulo, Brazil; the Region 2 finals at the Infosys campus in Bangalore, India, on February 22; the Region 1 finals, sponsored by China Merchants Bank, are scheduled to follow on March 7 at the Penn Wharton China Center in Beijing; and the Region 3 finals will be on March 16 at Wharton in San Francisco. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter and stay tuned to the KWHS Bulletin for all the results.

The Wharton Global Youth team is fanning out across regions this year to attend the finals and meet the top teams – with our very first trip to Brazil in a few weeks to celebrate the results of our newest Region 4 with sponsor BTG-Pactual, a Brazilian investment banking and asset management firm. We are eager to engage more students and educators throughout the region. “This year’s addition of a Latin America and Caribbean region and the resulting finals in São Paulo, underscore our mission to connect high school students and educators around the world with our Wharton business, finance and leadership opportunities,” says Serguei Netessine, Wharton’s Dhirubhai Ambani Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and vice dean for Wharton Global Initiatives, which oversees the Wharton Global Youth Program. “These future business leaders demonstrate time and again through our competition and other programs that innovation transcends borders. We plan to continue to diversify and broaden our reach.”

Stay connected with all this year’s investment competition teams, and maybe even see quotes from your own final report, by following Wharton Global Youth Program on Instagram @WhartonYouth, Twitter @WhartonHS and Facebook.