Four of our students were given the opportunity to travel to The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania to participate in the final of an investment competition. The Wharton School is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Here is the report written by Yash Ramchandani, one of our participants:

With the trophy

A little over half a year ago three of my best friends and I had a conversation about sustainable and ethical investing. As a result, we started on a journey to prove that it is indeed very possible. We founded a Trading Club (EAC) at teh College with the sole purpose of accumulating knowledge about investing sustainably and ethically. By November we had gained the confidence to enroll a team in Wharton School of Business’ Global Investment Competition for High School students. The competition consists of a 10-week trading period with deadlines for mid-term and final investment strategies. In this way, every team has to prove that their approach to the stock market generates satisfying returns and is well-structured.

Our investment strategy was built on the same values as the UWC movement as we believe that the reputation of the financial services has long been blighted by actions that do not, of necessity, need to be linked to the field of investing. In fact, we have come to believe that investment has the potential to invoke positive change in our societies. In April we were informed that we had qualified for the Global Final taking place at Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia U.S. Here, the 15 top teams would pitch their investment strategy to a jury. The jury consisted of professional investors and asset managers. The Final also included a learning day where we heard from influential guest speakers, the admissions office and had a campus tour.

Today, we find that we came third in the competition having started with more than 600 competing teams from all over the world. We never even dared to dream of such an achievement but it is indeed a product of hard work and humility. Today, we stand as proud of the journey towards the final as of the result itself. We hope to repeat the success next year where we will work even harder to communicate our idea of ethical and sustainable investing.

Here is an audio interview with the team, from the Wharton website.