Columbia Business School MBAs Win $100K in Investing Competition

This year’s first-place prize of US$100,000 went to Windsor Cristobal, Anji Lin and Isabella Lin – all members of the MBA class of 2018 – for their pitch concerning Yum China (YUMC), which separated from Yum! Brands (home to KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell) at the end of last year. Yum China is said to have generated over US$8 billion in system sales in 2015.

Last year’s winners, meanwhile, Thais Fernandes, Melody Li and Joanna Vu, went on to pitch their idea on CNBC’s Fast Money.

“Participating in the challenge itself is rewarding. It allowed us to work as a team; form lifelong friendships; do semester-long, in-depth research; and present to distinguished investors,” Li said.

“I’m particularly impressed by how strong Columbia Business School’s network in investing is. We improved and moved beyond our comfort zone each time we pitched to them.”

The challenge caps a three-month competition among 40 student teams from Columbia’s ‘Applied Security Analysis’ course, taught this spring by adjunct assistant professors Naveen Bhatia and Rishi Renjen. Each team is tasked with putting together a stock pitch, with Ackman selecting the top five to be presented at the Pershing Square event. A panel of judges listens to each team’s pitch and selects the winners.

Another team clinched second prize — US$50,000 — for their presentation of Smucker’s (SMJ), a US manufacturer of fruit spreads, ice cream toppings, and peanut butter.

Business schools have increasingly tried to move learning outside of the classroom in a bid to bridge theory and practical experience — something they call experiential learning. Finance professor and director of the Heilbrunn Center, Bruce Greenwald, underscored the importance of the hands-on experience for would-be-investors.

“Giving students the chance to apply what they’ve learned in Applied Security Analysis to a real-world investment scenario, where they are pitching their ideas to top industry practitioners, is invaluable,” he said.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students to test-drive their work while gaining exposure to the field and learning firsthand about the responsibility that it brings with it.”