More students show off business savvy

Investment Olympians: Philip Knibbs (president of the CFA Society of South Africa) with UCT Commerce students Hannah de Villiers, Sopé Ogunrombi, Josh Gloak, Ziyaad Manie, Mpho Mutloane - off to London for an international investment competition in 2013 - and their academic mentor, Dr Francois Toerien.

London's not quite done with the Olympics just yet.

The city will in April next year host five UCT business science students who will join international peers at the Europe, Middle East and Africa round of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge, dubbed the 'investment Olympics' for university students.

This after the UCT team of Hannah de Villiers, Josh Gloak, Ziyaad Manie, Mpho Mutloane and Sopé Ogunrombi, all in the final year of their degree studies, beat out six other South African universities in the recent South African qualifier. The team's investment report - in which they gave a 'buy' recommendation for listed company Discovery - was one of four selected for the presentation round, where they then got the better of the Universities of Johannesburg, Pretoria and Free State.

Assisting the team were academic mentor Dr Francois Toerien; industry mentor Adrian Zetler, an equity analyst of Coronation Fund Managers and also a UCT graduate; and Claudia Kalil of the Professional Communication Unit in the School of Management Studies, who gave them valuable advice on their presentation.

The UCT students had to draw on all areas of their studies to master the task, say team members. In the end, however, it came down to long application: "Long nights and hours of effort," in the words of Gloak.

"We had a very balanced team - strong presenters, with great analytical insight and excellent writing skills," added Toerien. "The team members need to be able to work in groups and be able to present, which means that it is not only academic ability that counts."