Ofori: Ok, so now a team has been formed, given a company to use as a model and briefed. Now tell me, what goes on during the analysis and research phase?

Vanessa: Basically, for the research phase, there are certain things that have to come into play; you need your company or business overview, establish the services rendered by the company, determine how to carry out your evaluation and carry out an ESG analysis. An ESG analysis being the Environmental, Social and Governmental analysis; that’s the impacts the company-in-focus has made in these three areas, as they are very important. An Investment thesis is made as well and for the whole report, these are some of the things that come into play. At the end of it all, an in-person competition is held where you give the company and event-organizers a breakdown of how you executed your analysis and arrived at a decision.

Ofori: So what tools are used in the research and analysis phase to arrive at a conclusive point that we are going to sell, hold or buy stocks? What tools play vital roles in all of that?

Vanessa: Excel was the main tool used and we turned to online research for the research aspect; reading articles, information about the company and their recent activities, the trends and all of that.

Ofori: Were there any difficulties in this particular phase of the competition?

Japheth: Initially, yes. We actually had our mentor from CFA step in to help us. In actual sense, we faced more challenges in the evaluation part of the work but he stepped in to direct and guide us on what to do.

Ofori: During the in-person challenge, what drove your presentation in convincing them of your final decision with regards to what action ought to be carried out concerning their stock?

Ezekiel: The essential thing for any stock purchase is conviction. You derive conviction from the certainty of the research you’ve don. In the end, it boils down to how well your research was carried out. You may attempt to create or falsify figures but in the moment of presentation, you’d get caught by questions from the organizers and company because the numbers do not reflect your research. So your certainty stems directly from the place of great research.

Ofori: Now, the panel has heard your presentation and that of other schools, what do you believe influenced their decision in agreeing or disagreeing with you? Do you believe there were loopholes in your research and analysis and if yes what were they and how would you recommend the next team tackle it?

Ezekiel: Again, conviction is everything in this field. We’re sure they agreed with us about our work and research being concrete. Proof of that was well displayed in our question and answer part of our presentation. So many things go into their final decision and it may either go your way or not. They looked at financial analysis, how well the presentation was made, the quality of the materials presented or used, teamwork and the rest. In the end, when the overall marks are displayed, you really can’t pinpoint where you were lacking but we are confident in our research and presentation and believe they agree with that point of view.