An Investor Is Born
We are pleased to announce that the first class of The Generation Z Investment Club (“Z Club”) has successfully completed Module 1, an intensive 2-month online session under the guidance of Z Club Professors (“Professors”) and Z Club Mentors (“Mentors”). Module 1 is designed to institute the fundamental understanding of long-term and value-based investing through interactive online seminars by asset managers and analysts and through collaboration among Z Club members. The structure was quite similar to a mini-MBA course. To facilitate teamwork, we divided members into 6 groups of 3–4 members. Most of the members have taken several financial courses at their schools, but they have not had an opportunity to practice with real cases.
Here is the Module 1 syllabus:
Member’s Summary
Apr 28 Session
We are particularly proud of the quality of the industry analysis and the company analysis prepared by members. Z Club’s mission is not to teach, but to provide the conditions in which the members can learn. After Professor Lucy Luo’s session, each group identified an industry to dive in and prepared for a 15-min presentation. Despite the lack of prior experiences, these presentations were surprisingly insightful and convincing.
Team Arisaig
Team Cook Pine
- Industry: Chinese dairy
- Company: Yili (600887 SH)
Team GenBridge
- Industry: Chinese Saas
- Company: Glodon (002410 SH)
Team Ginkgo Global
Team Magnolia
Team Star
Team collaboration was the key of the success because one member might not have dug as deeply to find an attractive investment opportunity without the assistance of peers. Most investors make investment decisions on individual companies without having first conducted sufficient industry analysis, yet industry analysis should be conducted first because it allows the investor to gain broader and deeper perspectives of the underlying companies.
We have also launched Module 2: Meet the Manager in Singapore and Shanghai (more in coming months). We provide one-hour roundtable session with our Professors and other managers who share our long-term investment mindset. The roundtable sessions are kept intentionally small (5–6 Members) so that the members have ample opportunities to interact with the Professors. The purpose of Module 2 is to learn how to become an investor by following in the footsteps of our Professors and by learning their philosophy and experiences. Great investors are not made overnight.
Now, we are launching Module 3: Endowment Program. Each team will be allocated with $5,000 to start their own endowment program in May. Members must follow the same analytical framework: first the industry analysis, then the company analysis. Each team will form an investment committee where each member has one vote for his or her own endowment fund. The investment committee meetings are held regularly and require the majority support to buy or sell a stock. Every month, each team must also publish a newsletter describing the performance of their respective endowment fund and any updates on the companies they are invested in. At the end of the year, each team is to be awarded 20% of the profits subject to the high-water mark rule. Hence, we are creating hedge funds managed by university students.
Our newsletters (in Chinese) and other information regarding the program are available on our Wechat Official Account (ID: investorz2018).
An Investor Is Born
Unless you get out there and try to do it, you’ll never know. That’s just the truth. If there’s one reason we’re supposed to be here is to say somethin’ so people wanna hear it. So you gotta grab it and you don’t apologize you don’t worry about why they’re listenin’ or how long they’re gonna be listening for. You just tell em what you wanna say. — Jackson Maine, A Star Is Born
Unless you get out there and try to invest, you’ll never know if you will be a good investor. Our Z Club members have made an important change by joining Z Club, and now “An Investor Is Born”. Just follow your passion.
Thank You for Your Support
We are truly thankful for the resources and support provided by Arisaig Partners in Singapore, Genbridge Capital in Beijing and Ginkgo Capital in Shanghai. Tsinghua University Finance Association, Zhejiang University Investment Association and Beijing University’s Department of Economics are our important academic partners. We also appreciate the time and efforts of our Professors and Mentors, which have been instrumental to the success of Z Club.
If you are interested in learning more about Z Club or joining in our initiative, please contact us. We continue to look for more partners to expand our program globally.
Additional Information
Operating Team
Message from President
“Investment is an important part of education, but it is often neglected, The younger generation study only because of exams. They do not study for “no reason.” So, the key question is: how do we make investing interesting for them?”
“The manga, Investor Z, has remarkable depth and thoughtfulness while retaining the fun elements of comic books. Thus by combining it with a series of online/offline education programs, we can inspire our next generations to become value investors and make a positive impact on the economy.”
Message from Vice President
“I came from the top schools — Nanyang Girls’ High School and Hwa Chong Institution in Singapore, and Tsinghua University in Beijing — but I was practically illiterate when it came to managing my own wealth. And, I would say most of my schoolmates were the same. They were and are clueless.”
“I began appreciating the importance of being a value investor only when I embarked on my first job as an Investor Relations Associate at a hedge fund. As a value investor, not only have I started growing my wealth, but also seeing the world and economy differently. The knowledge I have gained from value investing went way beyond finance.”
“Investor Z says ‘life is an investment in itself’. We want to make differences to the life of the next generations through Z Club.”
About Investor Z
