Quite simply, we were keen to learn more about finance and to see the impact of the economy on the markets from the inside. As all five of us have an economics background, the financial concepts we study can be abstract. We therefore wanted to apply this knowledge in a concrete way, and develop it through the management of our stock portfolio and our club. As for the choice of members, it was a natural one: we are a group of friends and all five of us wanted to get involved in a stimulating project. Our working methods are complementary, so we knew that the collaboration would go well. So we just went for it!

Although we started behind the other clubs, we did not feel disadvantaged. On the contrary, we took this handicap as a challenge and it motivated us in our work. At the beginning, we thought about a solid strategy that could be maintained in the long term, although we were prepared to be flexible in order to seize opportunities to increase our profitability, especially in view of the level of the markets. Indeed, the real difficulty we faced in relation to our delay was that we entered the competition at a time when markets were at their highest. So we had to adapt to this situation to ensure a return comparable to other clubs.

In our view, the strength of our management lies in our responsiveness to the market and to macroeconomic events. We adapt our portfolio daily to remain competitive and seize opportunities. To do this, we try to keep a sufficient amount of liquidity to be able to buy securities. This is the strategy we apply in this period of earnings releases, by buying shares of companies that are about to publish, and thus benefit from value appreciation.

To ensure that each member of the team is able to reconcile university life and involvement in the challenge, we have set up a division of tasks. The functioning of our club is based on a team work, which allows us to optimize the quality of our work while providing each one of us with reasonable efforts. For example, the news items that we publish daily are produced by a different member each day. In addition, we have also assigned each of us to manage a specific area. Ethan and Nil are responsible for the strategy of our portfolio with regard to macro changes. For the purchase of new stocks, Adam and Sébastien are responsible for company analysis. Finally, Kheira combines these two counterparts to manage the portfolio.

We believe that everyone has a responsibility in the ecological transition. We are convinced that finance must be at the service of the major ecological challenges of our time, which is why we have integrated responsible investment into our strategy. This is why we have integrated responsible investment into our strategy. As a result, ESG criteria are part of our analysis and we invest the majority of our capital in companies with an ESG rating between A and C.

The NextWise experience has given us a lot of intellectual and personal insight. It encouraged us to deepen the financial foundations we had in order to develop a sound investment strategy. In addition, it has encouraged us to organise our student life better in order to be able to commit ourselves fully to the adventure, so we have gained in discipline. Finally, we are convinced - due to the wealth of skills that the challenge has allowed us to acquire so far - that our participation in NextWise will bring us added value in finding a future internship or a job in the field. We are therefore very grateful to have the opportunity to participate in this formative and rewarding experience for any finance student.