UAE’S YOUNG SCIENTISTS

The Higher Colleges of Technology’s Abu Dhabi Women's College’s business students’ team won 1st place in the ADNOCBloomberg Trading Challenge 2023 in collaboration with the Ministry of Education of the UAE in August of this year. This challenge is part of the ADNOC-Bloomberg Education Initiative.. The group of students was able to beat 41 other teams.

In 2019, the UAE Ministry of Education, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), and Bloomberg agreed to implement a training and development program called the ADNOC-Bloomberg Education Initiative.

The HCT team dubbed, the Trojans, was one of the five finalist teams in the nationwide competition alongside other finalists from Higher College of Technology (HCT), United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD),, and Herriot Watt University.

The Trojan team comprised Asma Ameen Al Saleem, Bashaer Eissa Alameri, Fatima Ahmed Al Amodi, Maha Omar Almentheri & Wasmeia Abdulla Almansoori, and was supervised by Business Faculty member, Dr. Kamran Lakhani participated in the 3rd edition of the Trading Challenge that enables students to simulate analysts’ trading and produce original analysis on a range of topics.

The competition, which started in February 2023, was launched under the theme of clean energy translation and the UAE’s role as host of COP28, the UN climate conference, which takes place from November 30 - December 15, 2023, on the site of Expo 2020.

The competition comprised two phases. The first phase was stock trading on the ADX or Dubai Stock Exchange, using Bloomberg Access to achieve the highest capital gains for stocks while the second phase was a detailed research presentation on sustainability technologies that are and could be utilized by UAE businesses and governments.

The program aims to help students develop their skills in financial data analytics and view the market through the eyes of those who use the Bloomberg Terminal every day, such as portfolio managers, investment analysts, and traders, including at ADNOC.

H.E. Dr. Amna Al Dahak Al Shamsi, the Assistant Undersecretary of the Care and Capacity Building sector at the UAE Ministry of Education, praised the effective collaboration among the Ministry of Education, ADNOC, and Bloomberg. H.E. highlighted how this cooperation illustrates the positive influence of public-private strategic partnerships, which aim to refine the skills of young people and empower them to play a pivotal role in shaping a knowledge-based economy, in line with the national development strategy.

H.E. Dr. Amna stated at that time: «The Ministry of Education remains committed to supporting all national initiatives focused on educating the youth and fostering practical experiences. This commitment aligns perfectly with our ongoing efforts to offer educational and intellectual avenues for students, ultimately enhancing the nation›s competitiveness across all sectors and domains.»

Innovation@UAE Magazine spoke with the Trojans to learn more about the competition, their learning experience, and their outlook on the future of sustainability in the UAE and globally.