Sixth form girls at Auchinleck Academy have beaten off stiff competition to scoop first place in the inaugural Growing Future Assets Competition, with a high-powered judging panel that included Young Money Blog founder Iona Bain.
Pitching Illumina Inc, a cutting edge medical device company, the girls demonstrated innovative, strategic and analytical thinking, when presenting their chosen business as a viable and recommended investment opportunity.
The Growing Future Assets Competition final took place virtually this week, with the teams all presenting and taking questions from a 7-strong judging panel, including leading Scottish fund managers and investors. The competition introduced scores of senior schoolgirls across Scotland to the world of investment for the first time, giving them an unique opportunity to learn about its operation, relevance and impact as well as the range of careers available within the sector.
The competition was organised by Future Asset, a charity that aims to demystify and promote finance as an exciting career path for young women. Iona says:
“All the entrants were incredibly strong and had many things to commend them. But the girls from Auchinleck presented a winning analysis of Illumina, clearly demonstrating how well they understood the long-term prospects, profits and sustainability of the company. It was also wonderful to see how the competition sparked a real passion for investing among the girls. I am hopeful that even with all the challenges we face today, all the amazing finalists we saw this week will retain the knowledge, skills and enthusiasm for investing they built up throughout this competition.”
The winning team received £1,000 for their school and £200 for each of the team members in vouchers of their choice. The runners up were Eyemouth High School, pitching Greggs also won £500 for their school and £100 worth of vouchers for each team member.
Jacquie Ross, Vice President of Investor Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility and Communications at Illumina, says:
“Illumina’s culture builds on our commitment to innovation and to enabling a more sustainable and equitable future for all, and we are thrilled our story helped to inspire the next generation of Scottish female investment professionals. We look forward to seeing the contributions each of the participants will make toward improving our global community through finance, corporate responsibility, and beyond.”
Peter Gilchrist, Head Teacher at Auchinleck Academy says:
“At Auchinleck Academy we are so proud of our Business Girls who won the 2020 Growing Future Assets Competition. Well done to Abbie, Ailey, Alice, Eva and Katie who have worked brilliantly on this project from start to finish.”
As a direct result of the success and level of high-quality entries this year, Future Asset have confirmed that they will hold the second Growing Future Assets competition next year. More information on the 2021 event programme, will be available at https://www.futureasset.org.
Future Asset believes that being female should never be seen as a barrier to progressing in a chosen career. Their goal is to enable girls in the senior phase of high school to learn how investment can change the world for the better, gain valuable, transferable skills and consider the benefits of possible future careers.
Congratulations to the girls from Auchinleck and all the finalists in this year’s competition!
