BUSINESS REPORTER
The National University of Science and Technology (NUST) has won the local CFA Institute Research Challenge and advances to the next round where it will compete with universities from Europe, Middle East and Africa.
NUST came out tops for the second year running at the local competition organised by the Investments Professionals Association of Zimbabwe.
The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis and professional ethics. Each student will be tested on their analytical, valuation, report writing, and presentation skills. They gain real-world experience as they assume the role of a research analyst.
The next stage is the regional finals where NUST will meet other 44 teams from Europe, Middles and Asia from April 1 to 2 in Jordan.
The NUST team consisted of Godfrey Muchati, Terence Koto, Baboke Malaba-Ncube, Knowledge Sigauke and Portia Chitengu. Shelton Sibanda of Imara mentored the team while Norbert Mungwini, a lecturer at the university advised the team.
For the students it was a great moment with some seeing that as a big step towards professional life.
The NUST team said success came through hard work.
“Winning the competition was such a great achievement. Getting the certificate and a medal boosted my confidence that I can also make it,” Koto said.
“The research was such a good learning experience while the presentation aspect helped me conquer my fears of the stage.”
Sigauke said he has learnt to gather and consolidate ideas from others which will boost his career.
“For the regional competitions we are going to work on the critical aspects based on the feedback we got from the local adjudicators,” he said.
Shelton Sibanda, the industry mentor for the NUST team said the competition was about helping aspiring analysts to understand the research aspect early enough as well as imparting the CFA norms and values to the students.
Norbert Mungwini, a lecturer at NUST and the team faculty adviser was elated about the winning which he said shows that they are teaching the right things.
Local host coordinator Ranga Makwata commended all the teams that participated for showing great enthusiasm to learn and apply the concepts in a manner expected in the industry, although they had only three months to work on it.
“This year’s competition was a great improvement in our inaugural event and the quality of research reports and presentations is getting better attesting to the tremendous work by the teams and their mentors,” he said.
Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe chief executive officer Tafadzwa Chinamo urged the students to build on the experience gained in the competition to commence their careers as analysts.
This year’s competition started off with 12 teams from 11 universities. Three—NUST, Midlands State University and Great Zimbabwe—qualified for the final.
