The grand finale of investment strategy competition 'MetLife presents Capitalizer 2021' ended on February 19, 2021, at Le Meridien. Organised by Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP) Finance Society (FS), Capitalizer 2021 had 157 national teams participating from 27 universities.
Capitalizer is a platform for undergraduate students, where they explore their expertise to excel in cases related to investment decisions. It commenced on January 22 with a session titled 'Dream Big: Exciting Career opportunity as an actuary,' conducted by MetLife. Two online workshops were taken. The challenging first-round saw the top 24 teams advance to the semifinal round. Praiseworthy solutions and efforts led the country's six best teams to compete in the final round. The judging panel consisted of Nafeez Al Tarik, managing diretor and CEO of AT Capital Partners Asset Management Limited, Ala Uddin, CFO of MetLife Bangladesh, and Sakib Chowdhury, deputy head of research of UCB Stock Brokerage Ltd.
'Team Medallion' of Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka (DU), 'Bottleneck' of Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP), and 'No Surprises' from IBA, DU, achieved the championship, first and second runner-up positions respectively, and were awarded prize money of Tk 100,000, Tk 60,000, and Tk 40,000 respectively.
The US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R Miller attended the finale as the chief guest, along with guest of honour Major General Md Moshfequr Rahman, vice-chancellor (VC) of BUP and the special guest Ala Ahmad, general manager at MetLife Bangladesh. Moreover, the attendance of Pro-VC M Abul Kashem Mozumder and Brigadier General Md Moazzem Hossain, dean of business studies faculty enlightened the event. Dr Jannatul Ferdaous, chairman of the finance and banking department, and the chief patron of BUPFS, and Farhana Yasmin, moderator of BUPFS, were the figures behind designing the event.
"The best thing about this year's Capitalizer was the cases of each round tested different financial capabilities. We, as sophomore year students, having done only one course on finance in our undergrad life, found it equally challenging and exciting," said Afnan Faruk from the champion team.
Abdullah Hill Nahian, president of BUPFS, said, "Peter Lynch once said that know what you own and know why you own it. After three years with an amazing and brilliant bunch, I know why I own this club. Here in BUPFS, we work for each other, together."
BUP Finance Society has successfully organised national competitions and innovative seminars since its inception, and they plan to offer more in future.