(Black PR Wire) Bloomberg for Education and Bloomberg Human Resources have expanded the reach of this year’s Bloomberg and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Trading Challenge to new universities and shifted to evaluate participant investment performance against a developed market (DM) index.
The Bloomberg and HBCU Trading Challenge exercises the financial acumen of college participants through a virtual investment competition on the Bloomberg Terminal. Geared towards Black students in the US who are typically underrepresented in the finance industry, the challenge was created to help HBCU students build marketable skills and knowledge needed to compete for finance jobs and provide hands-on experience that they will use in their future careers.
This year, students invested $1 million virtual US dollars across companies in the DM index in a closed network, with the assistance of university faculty and assigned Bloomberg mentors. The winner was decided based on the trade performance of participants, benchmarked against real DM indices on the Bloomberg Terminal.
“The new focus on developed markets stocks builds on last year’s ESG-specific challenge to introduce another layer of difficulty and further replicate real world experiences,” said Emily Perrucci, Global Head of User Support at Bloomberg. “Fund managers often must consider ESG factors as part of managing a much larger, diverse portfolio. We want to ensure students have a well-rounded understanding of market indices to be best prepared for future careers in finance.”
Participating universities included Clark Atlanta University, Howard University, Hampton University, Morehouse College, Morgan State University, Spelman College and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU). Jaeden Patterson, a Senior at FAMU was this year’s winner. “The advice I would give to future participants is to take advantage of your resources,” said Patterson. “The mentor that was provided through the challenge helped me navigate unfamiliar functionality on the Bloomberg Terminal. Additionally, I was able to take the Bloomberg ESG Certificate Course, which enabled me to identify ESG investment strategies and apply them to develop a profitable portfolio.”
Students who participated in this year’s challenge were invited to Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York City. There, top-performing students had the opportunity to present their trading strategy to a panel of experts who offered feedback and insights on the students’ experience. Students who participate in the challenge also receive direct access to Bloomberg recruiters who provide professional development support around interviewing and resume creation.
Bloomberg continues to build relationships with HBCUs and contribute to cultivating the success of its students. By providing additional resources, like the Bloomberg Terminal, University professors are able to further enrich their coursework with the same tools that are used by financial professionals.
“Florida A&M University School of Business and Industry (SBI) has a long legacy of training students to be capable and well-prepared young business professionals. Bloomberg plays a role in that training process,” said Dr. Inger M. Daniels-Hollar, Assistant Professor of Finance at FAMU. “Bloomberg access enables us to simulate for our students the experience of sitting on a real-life desk while they’re still in college — much like a law student might argue in a mock courtroom before becoming a lawyer.”
