IEN's Student Corporate Engagement Challenge puts a new spin on the traditional approach to investment competitions by focusing on the responsibility of investors to directly engage company management on the risks and opportunities they see.
SIGN UP FOR THE 2024 CHALLENGE
Interested in participating in the 2024 Challenge? Learn more here, and sign-up to compete by January 5th.
BENEFITS TO PARTICIPATION
Participating students will receive a variety of benefits, including access to mentorship and networking opportunities, free and discounted registration to educational workshops and industry events, presentation opportunities, and multimedia interview opportunities. Student groups and their institutions will be highlighted in press releases, on the IEN website, and through media campaigns and communications, raising the profile of both the institution and the participating students, thus building professional networks and uncovering career opportunities.
In January, we will have our first full call with participants to review deliverables, timeframe, and share a schedule for office hours, peer learning calls, and educational and mentorship calls.
All participants will gain access to a library of recorded, as well as live, workshops on how to develop their written investment recommendations and engagement strategies.
Additionally, we will aim to have a minimum of one call a month with experts in the field to address specific questions related to each team's investment recommendation and engagement strategy.
IEN will provide participating institutions with a mentor from an IEN member firm to guide the development of their investment recommendation and engagement strategy.
Previous participant examples of their written recommendations and engagement strategies, as well as introductory materials to support the development of written recommendations and engagement strategies, will be provided.
GUIDELINES FOR PARTICIPATING TEAMS
Students from any degree program (business, finance, environmental science, engineering, communication, policy, etc.) and any degree level (associates, bachelors, graduate, etc.) are welcome to participate.
Teams must have no less than 3 and no more than 5 students. If more than 5 students at your institution are interested in participating, you are welcome to have more than one team submit deliverables. We cannot guarantee more than one mentor per institution.
The Challenge will be split into two judging categories: one for undergraduate students, and one for graduate students.
TIMELINE
October - December: Sign-Up to participate
Early January: Participating teams announced.
February: Investment recommendation and engagement strategy one-page prospectus due.
March: Written deliverables due.
April: Recorded oral presentations due.
Late April: Finals will take place & the winning teams will be announced.
DELIVERABLE & JUDGING
Student teams will work to select the publicly traded company that will be the subject of their investment recommendation, and to identify the risk area they will address in their shareholder engagement strategy. Teams will submit a one-page prospectus that will include the name of the company and an overview of: (1) investment beliefs and objectives, (2) the metrics and analysis datasets, tools, and models used for financial modeling and ESG assessment, (3) the identified risk area that will be addressed in the engagement strategy, and (4) the primary ask of the engagement strategy.
Teams will receive feedback on their Prospectus, and will then submit both (1) a written investment recommendation (investment thesis, financial model and valuation, quantitative ESG research and analysis, explanation of the company's situation in the market with comparison to industry peers, and risk identification), and (2) a proposed shareholder engagement strategy to address an identified risk area. Lastly, the final deliverable is due: (3) a recorded oral presentation outlining the potential of the investment recommendation and engagement strategy.
A panel of judges will review each team’s deliverables and submit a score for each written deliverable and the recorded presentation. All teams will be present at the Finals, and the recorded presentation from the top two teams in both the Undergraduate and Graduate judging category will be live streamed at the event, followed by judge Q&A. The winning teams will be announced at the Finals.
SIGN UP FOR THE 2024 CHALLENGE
Interested in participating in the 2024 Challenge? Learn more here, and sign-up to compete by January 5th.