CFA Institute Research Challenge 2018 National Winner IIM K Nikunj Manpuria's Story

Winning the national round of CFA Institute Research Challenge 2018 was just another milestone in a much longer and rewarding journey. As soon as we were declared the National Winners, a thought ran through my mind. It was to change our entire deck to make it more acceptable for a global audience in the APAC round.

CFA Institute Research Challenge 2018 is one of the most prestigious and globally-recognized competitions. It transcends across the national boundaries and spreads all across. Since I took Finance-major courses in my final year of MBA, this seemed like the right fit.

Unlike most case competitions, equity research is mostly a desk job. We had a dedicated team who came together for this competition alone. We completed a major part of our report building work in the initial months of the competition (Aug-Sept). And that set the stage. We used to pull in a lot of late hours and stays at the library interacting with Bloomberg & Thomson Reuters for our research.

As we progressed across to Zonal Finals (India-South, Banglore) and National Finals (Mumbai), our efforts shifted. We began highlighting the most important points and preparing well structured and animated decks for presentation. The same efforts continued in the APAC Finals as well. In this journey of over 9 months, we evolved with the subject company. Also, our research advanced in more ways than we could count.

Our faculty mentor created our team at the campus. None of us were too familiar with each other. All of us came together for the purpose of this competition in the first place. Therefore, we had numerous conflicts and arguments. Most of them were centered around the way of presentation, including and excluding some parts of the research in the main deck, etc.

However, in the course of this elongated competition, we grew to care for each other and respect each other's opinions. We always managed a coherent solution to our problems and we bonded well as a team over our conflicts.

A total of 8 teams presented in the Zonal Round (South Zone). Out of the 8 teams, only 2 made it to National Finals. At the Nationals, 8 teams were present (2 from each zone) and 3 qualified for the Asia-Pacific Round (Sydney, Australia). In the Asia-Pacific Round, 26 teams were present from around 18 different countries. 5 teams made it to the APAC Finals including our team IIM Kozhikode, representing India.

Nikunj Manpuria - IIM Kozhikode

(Batch of 2017-19)

Nikunj Manpuria, an MBA student from IIM Kozhikode, is a B.Com(Hons) graduate and a qualified Company Secretary; can weave magic on spreadsheets; is good with calculations and can handle anything financial at the snap of his finger.