2016 National Investment Banking Competition and Conference

Jake Kang is a rising senior majoring in Business Administration. He was awarded a Spring 2016 Conference Grant which he used to attend the National Investment banking Competition and Conference in Vancouver, Canada.

From March 22^nd to March 25^th, I traveled to Vancouver, Canada to participate in the 2016 National Investment Banking Competition and Conference (NIBC). In order to earn this great opportunity, I formed a team with three other BBA students and competed in the first round of the competition from October to November. We were initially tasked to understand AT&T’s business model and deliver solid ideas along with creating financial modeling works as well as pitch a book for the presentation. There were total of 335 participating teams from undergraduate and graduate schools all over the world, including Canada, the U.S., Hong Kong, Singapore, and Europe. Out of all the entries, only 24 undergraduate and 24 graduate teams were invited to the final round. This year was Emory University’s first time to participate and, thankfully, our team was invited to advance to the final round of competition and conference.

We arrived at Vancouver International Airport at around 2pm and the weather was amazing. We went straight to the Pan Pacific Hotel, where we stayed during the entire conference. Since there was nothing scheduled for the first day other than registration and kick-off meeting at 10pm, after unpacking, we decided to go out and explore the city, since it was the first time visiting for all of the team members. We went to an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ restaurant for lunch, then went to Stanley Park, a public park that borders downtown Vancouver and is almost entirely surrounded by the waters of Vancouver Harbour and English Bay. We rented bikes to ride around the park which was so big and beautiful that it took us almost two hours to return to the bike rental shop.

On the first night, we went to the kick-off meeting and met students from other universities. It was amazing to meet and network with students from all around the world. We were instructed to go to bed early the first night as we would be given exactly seven hours to solve the final round case beginning at 6am the following morning. The next morning, we woke up 30 minutes early to take a shower and change into suits. At 6am, the case was delivered to our room and we began working on the case non-stop for the next seven hours. We drank lots of coffee and energy drinks to stay awake to overcome jetlag and the temptation to sleep, and successfully delivered the pitch by 1pm.

Once we turned in our work, we began rehearsing our presentation as we were scheduled to deliver a live pitch in three hours in front of real investment bankers at the Royal Bank of Canada in the company’s office in Vancouver. We practiced numerous times and went through our parts to perfect our delivery and presentation skills. At 4pm, we were at the RBC office waiting to go into the board room to give our pitch. We walked in and there were four professionals greeting us and waiting for our pitch. Although we worried that we would make mistakes, due to our strenuous effort, we successfully gave our pitch. Although we were not selected to be the finalists, we were pleased with our performance and experience from the competition.

The next day was the conference that highlighted the final teams’ presentations on the case and keynote speakers, who were Mr. Peter Brown and Mr. Noah Wintroub, Chairman and Founder of Cannacord Genuity Group and Vice President of J.P. Morgan, respectively. It was fascinating to see the top participating teams’ pitches on the case that we worked and learn how they approached the case. In addition, hearing career experience and insight into the current market from successful figures in the industry was also a very valuable experience. After the conference, there was a networking reception where we got to mingle and socialize with other student participants and professionals in the investment banking industry.

Overall, it was an extremely great opportunity for educational purposes as well as networking with people that are currently working and planning to go into the industry that I want to get into. I would definitely recommend other students that seriously consider investment banking as their career to participate in this competition, as I believe that it will be a great learning experience and networking opportunity, which are both essential parts of breaking into the investment banking industry.

Visit the Undergraduate Research Programs website to learn more about applying for Conference Grants.