On March 2, the final of the Spanish division of the CFA Research Challenge 2020 competition was held at the Madrid Stock Exchange, where EADA‘s team took second place. EADA has consistently placed among the top three at the Madrid finals since beginning to compete in the Challenge.
In the CFA Research Challenge, participants from top business and law schools compete with the objective of compiling a professional analyst report of a publicly listed company (this year Repsol). This year, fifteen teams representing eleven institutions competed for a place at the final in Madrid.
EADA’s top-placing team was made up of five participants from the International Master in Finance and Master en Finanzas – BIlingüe: Gianfranco Astaldi (Italy), Ahmed Elmenoufy (Egypt), Florian Hügli (Switzerland), Kenya Guilarte (Bolivia) and Felicia Miller (Uruguay). The team was hand-picked in October and worked on the report from November until February.
Making it to Madrid was mind blowing, but the minute we entered the room and started presenting, I realised that we had been preparing for this moment for months.
Last week, EADA’s team learned that it had passed on to the final in Madrid after months of hard work preparing the report. According to Programme Director Jaume Bonet, the advantage of participating in the CFA Research Challenge is twofold. “Not only do participants improve their technical skills in financial analysis, forecasting and company valuation, but they also put their soft skills to the test,” he says. “Teams must focus on effective teambuilding and time management, as well as presentation skills and effective communication to succeed.”
For Kenya, both hard skills and the soft skills came into play on the big day. “Making it to Madrid was mind blowing, but the minute we entered the room and started presenting, I realised that we had been preparing for this moment for months. We had applied our financial knowledge to a real company, and our presentation was excellent – it had great flow, we all expressed ourselves very well, and we enjoyed every minute of it.” Ahmed and Felicia agree that the highlight was the once-in-a-lifetime chance to present at the Madrid Stock Exchange.
All of the members of EADA’s team wholeheartedly recommend participating in the CFA Research Challenge to future participants. “This is one of the best ways to learn and EADA supports you with the best faculty and resources,” says Florian. “You will achieve much more than you expect at the beginning – enjoy the journey and have fun!”
