Air Liquide partner of the 1st edition of the Paris Dauphine Nextwise Challenge

The concept 

This project aimed to provide students with an immersive experience simulating the daily lives of investors and management company personnel. Over a period of seven months, students at Paris Dauphine University were given the opportunity to learn about the stock market and financial investments by taking part in an educational program that involved exchanges with listed companies.

To take part in this project, participants were asked to register to receive a virtual allocation of €30,000 to invest. Once registered, students were able to form investment clubs (of between four and seven members) with a virtual investment allocation of €100,000, thereby forming a management company (with an investment committee, a strategy defined by the participants, a vote, etc.). 

Some of the highlights of this challenge included:

• Business meetings for students to develop their investment strategy and establish their investment program;
• Webinars, during which students were able to discuss and debate specific investment-related themes; 
• Pitch battles, where the top investment clubs, based on quantitative and qualitative assessment criteria, presented their views to finance professionals. 

Air Liquide affirms its commitment to promoting share ownership

By taking an active role in this challenge, Air Liquide confirms its commitment to making share ownership accessible to everyone, through instruction and learning. 

Patrick Renard, Director of Shareholder Services at Air Liquide, was a member of the jury tasked with advising and guiding participants. He also hosted a lecture on “Why and how to study a company’s business model” to guide Paris Dauphine students in their thinking and their financial strategy. Around 10 of the students who took part in this project were also invited to attend Air Liquide’s 2022 General Meeting.

An encouraging conclusion

The challenge ended on April 21 at the Paris Stock Exchange, with the three investment club finalists presenting their projects to the jury of professionals (including Patrick Renard). The winners of this first edition were Les Loups de la Défense. You can watch their presentation here (in French only).

This challenge has already been deemed a success and saw the participation of: 

• 500 individual investors
• 25 investment clubs, with an average of six members per club

The next edition, to be held during the 2022-2023 academic year, is already being prepared and will expand the number of participating schools and universities to around 10 institutions and hundreds of new students.