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Lessons gained from competing on a national stage

Having participated in numerous entrepreneurship programs before university, the dynamics surrounding growing companies have always fascinated me. After getting involved with the University of Waterloo’s Student Venture Fund (SVF) during my second year in the Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) program, I combined my background in operations with a newly found interest: early-stage investing.

Experiences from an unusual Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC)

Earlier this month, I was fortunate enough to participate in the Canadian Venture Capital Investment Competition as part of the University of Waterloo’s undergraduate team. While the event is usually held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, it was moved to a virtual setting because of the global pandemic. This presented a new set of challenges for us to face and overcome.

Anna, Kyle, and Sabrina met in their first year of university as Associates in the ACE Consulting Group. Their collaboration started three years ago working on delivering consulting engagements to start-up clients, and later on leading the ACE team. The three of them worked well together, had a passion for strategy, and enjoyed the thrill of case competitions. After a successful run at the School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) Strategy Case Competition, they decided to collaborate again at the International Collegiate Business Competition (I.C.B.C.) hosted by Queen’s University. 

Participating in the CFA Ethics Challenge has provided me with an amazing opportunity to learn about the CFA Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct and to apply these ethics standards to a real-life scenario. All the feedback from faculty and the time spent together as a team in preparing for the presentation led to our team winning the local competition of the CFA Ethics Challenge!

On February 18^th, three students representing the University of Waterloo’s School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) competed at the 2021 CFA Institute Research Challenge (IRC) Ontario Finals. Led by Faculty Advisor, Steve Balaban, student team members Brendan, Anna, Noah - all upper-year Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) students - competed against teams from Brock University, Carleton University, and York University and won first place!

Question: How has being a Fellow and the extra connection you have with your Honouree helped you transition to an online learning environment successfully?

In my past 4 years in AFM, terms such as environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) have increased exponentially in importance and frequency when discussing any business. Given my past co-op work terms in finance, accounting, and most recently a not-for-profit organization (NPO), I was interested in how this renewed focus on sustainability would play out as we as a society continue to challenge the responsibilities and duties that a corporation should undertake.

In the first week of January 2021, we, Michael K., Roberto B., and Isaac D. competed at the 14^th annual Battle on Bay (BoB) case competition organized by the Ryerson University Finance Society (RUFS). The BoB is a three-day event where students from more than 10 schools across Canada work in teams of three to four members and compete by developing a stock pitch and completing a crisis case.

A conference is only as successful as the team who plans it, and while hosting STRIVE virtually for the first time was indeed a challenging decision, it turned out to be very successful! During the summer while I was applying for the STRIVE case competition, I thought to myself, “why not take it one step further and apply for a CBA position rather than being just a delegate?” I thought it would be interesting to take on a role I had never tried in the past.

Now, first things first, as a student in the Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) program at the University of Waterloo, my knowledge of coding is pretty limited. I had the misconception that only students who knew how to code or “hack” could participate in hackathons. For anyone else with similar notions, let me tell you that you are entirely incorrect!