Sabahan Overcomes 13,750 Participants From 95 Countries To Win Int'l Investing Competition

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The online competition saw record numbers of participants generating a total traded value of over USD8.2 billion by trading in companies with the best ESG rating (environmental, social, and corporate governance), as the aim was to achieve the best impact for future generations, according to the organisers.

The competition, 'Reply Sustainable Investment Challenge 2022', was created by Banca Generali and Reply in collaboration with MIP Politecnico di Milano, MainStreet Partners, and CFA Society Italy.

The objective was to invest in a sustainable way with the participants tasked to present sustainable but profitable investment strategies, making choices influenced by the ESG ratings of the companies they invested in. It also enabled participants to broaden their general finance and investment skills.

The Malaysian student, Nigel Cledwyn Motinius, who is currently studying law at the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE Bristol), took first place with a ranking value of 98,852.47.

"From the outset, participants demonstrated an ability to identify and invest in products with a positive ESG rating, in line with the competition's sustainable investing objective," a statement from Reply said.

ESG is a scoring system that's aimed at informing investors of the sustainability of companies' business to prevent polluting companies from receiving investments and reward companies that focus on their sustainability efforts. For context, Tesla, the world's largest electric vehicle maker, was deemed no longer a socially responsible company and was kicked out from S&P Global's S&P 500 ESG Index last week.

Paolo Fabris, a partner at Reply, was all praise for the 22-year-old Malaysian student.

"Nigel's report is the best one of all investment editions so far, he presented excellently the investment strategy he was going to follow, and he actually [followed] the strategy he designed," he said.

"For example, a law firm will not have the same score weightage when compared to a paper company, these will all have to be coordinated by the government which will then have to abide by international standards. And the standard is being realised by big groups like the EU, US, and big investment firms," the Sabahan said, adding that any country that wants to be competitive will have to double down on this effort.

Nigel, however, opined that ESG in Malaysia will grow rapidly through programs and actions taken by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), including a working visit by MITI to the US.

According to the 22-year-old, the working visit to the US will reinforce Malaysia's value proposition as the preferred investment destination and trading partner with ESG as the main focus.