Students from Amity International School, Noida (India) ‘The Alchemy of Investments’ won 2nd position with a cash prize of $2000 globally in the very prestigious Knowledge @ Wharton High School Investment Competition, 2018. Amongst 200 teams, the winners were especially strong on content and creativity, punctuated by strategy pitches that dazzled the judges on a professional level.
A team of seven students and one mentor comprising of Jahnvi Vig (Team Leader) , Ananya Gupta, Nitish Lal, Varun Mehta, Rishabh Singh, Veenayak Mittal, Sai Srijan Neti and Manvir Singh Rana (Teacher Advisor), represented India in the competition and created a benchmark for the future competitors to come.
An elated Dr. Amita Chauhan, Chairperson, Amity International Schools congratulated the students on their achievements who have made both the school and the entire Nation proud by winning such a coveted international Competition. She apprised that Amity has always focused on providing knowledge beyond classrooms to each student. She further added that Amity students have won this competition for the 4th consecutive year.
KWHS investment competition organized by Wharton Business School, USA, promotes business, financial literacy, entrepreneurship and leadership among high school students and educators around the world through quality online content and competitions. The importance of financial knowledge is a key message of the KWHS Investment Competition, as well as the broader Knowledge@Wharton High School initiative, which promoted business literacy and financial literacy globally among high school students and educators through content, competitions and seminars.
The contest stretched for over seven months, putting students in the shoes of global investment experts. This year , this competition was organized in three regions,
Region – 1 (includes, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan)
Region -2 (includes, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste, Vietnam, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.)
Region – 3 (includes, Countries and regions from the Americas, Europe, Africa and Oceania).
KWHS Investment Competition was instrumental in teaching the power of teamwork in a secondary-education world that often advocates individual success.
More than 200 teams in each of the regions were assigned the task of presenting their investment strategies based on global asset management for which they were provided a virtual cash of $ 1, 00,000, which they needed to trade for a period of 75 days in the stock exchanges of U.S.A., U.K., China and India.
Ten weeks of team trading, deliberating and strategizing, resulted in the submission of 300 final investment reports.
It was a journey with an inspirational destination. From 18 thought-provoking team presentations, judging panel selected six top teams – three winners from the top 12 teams in Region 3 and three global winners from among the full scope of competitors.
Gleaming in victorious glory Jahnvi Vig, the team leader of the ‘Alchemy of Investments’ thanked Amity school and University for their unprecedented support.
Jahnvi described the seven months long journey to the victory as a glorious and learning one. Elaborating on the paradigm of selection, she said,
“Initially 14 students were the school based on a multiple choice question test followed by a group discussion. Thereafter there were two round of personal interviews one taken by teacher-advisor Mr.MS Rana and a team of past KWHS winners from Amity respectively.”
She also valued the contribution of her fellow mates in the team and the professors and teachers at Amity University and school for their consistent motivation and guidance in making their project a strong competitor at the global level.
Eminent panel of judges in the Global Finale included, Mukund Rao, Financial Products Architect at Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS), John A. Squires, Partner at Dilworth Paxson Law Firm, U.S.A, Ian Gillespie, Manager – Corporate Strategy, Aberdeen Standard Investments, U.S.A., David Lawrence, Founder and Chief Collaborative Officer of Risk Assistance Network Exchange (RANE), U.S.A., Dr. Scott Stimpfel, Global Head of Learning & Development , Citi Corporate & Investment Bank, U.S.A., Saaras Agarwal, Chief Journey Owner at Vanguard, U.S.A.
When two teams from Amity International School, Noida, ‘The Alchemy of Investments’, and ‘The Pied Pipers Investments’, presented their strategy before the eminent judges and experts, they were highly applauded and appreciated for their innovative investing decisions, risk diversification plans and for their creativity in developing finance strategies.
Mahavir Singh Rana, Mentor to Amity teams credited the utmost commitment, sincere dedication and discipline of participating students, which has resulted in the selection of two Amity teams in the Finals and subsequent win. He shared that students went a step ahead and took a 4 months course to enhance their knowledge in stock market.
Naman Tekriwal, The team leader of ‘Pied Pipers Investments’ also shared his experiences of the stupendous learning journey. Elaborating on their approach to success, he said that their case study was distinguished from others since they ensured to visit their chosen company (Hero Moto Cop) in person and understand the nuances involved in order to analyze their standing in the stock market.
In the allotted time of 10 minutes to present and five minutes for questions from the judges, students articulated their tactics and tools, incorporating details about proprietary algorithms, top-down, bottom-up analyses, risk attenuation and yield capitalization, qualitative and quantitative approaches to stock selection, Porter’s Five Forces and SWOT evaluations, and more — all guided by a long-term, client-focused mindset.
