HKUST MBA SUNDIAL

9^th Issue (June 2020)

ENRICHMENT TALKS
Turning Challenges into Opportunities

Investment during Economic Downturns Workshop

In the online workshop, Chris Lobello taught students how to make wise investment decisions during downturns.

From protests to epidemic, Hong Kong seems to have had more than its fair share of crises recently. In truth, though, crises happen all the time. For investors, some of these events are short-lived buying opportunities, but others can be structural readjustments that cause serious long-term economic and financial loss. How can investors differentiate between these, and how can they enhance their investment process to robustly handle “unknown unknowns”?

We invited Chris Lobello, Head of Strategy of Hex Trust and guest lecturer at INSEAD, to deliver a 7-hour workshop on how to invest during economic downturns. Chris has worked in Asian financial markets for more than 20 years, in roles ranging from risk modeling and quantitative analysis to country and regional management.

In the workshop, Chris probed into the history of the Asian financial crisis in the late ‘90s and during the SARS epidemic of 2003, sharing key learnings for investors when dealing with the COVID-19 crisis.

The workshop was a great success. Participants were impressed with how it covered people’s blind spots and the history of previous financial crises, as well as the use of historical examples to help them navigate through the difficult waters in the current crisis.

MBA Mentoring Roundtable Live Chat

Our mentoring community has always been a place for support, information and inspirations. The COVID-19 crisis has driven us to explore alternative ways to bring the wonderful people of our community together. We debuted our first roundtable live chat in March to connect mentors and mentees online.

The open mic format provided a virtual stage for eight mentors from a variety of professional backgrounds to share their perspectives on how they and their companies and countries handled the crisis.

Over one-third of the entire mentorship community participated in a candid discussion on a range of hot topics: effective crisis management, new business opportunities, adoption of technology, best work-from-home practices, virtual teamwork tips, ideal leadership qualities and personal attributes in turbulent times, and advice for MBA students to overcome the current crisis.

“The roundtable gave us a valuable opportunity to interact with senior alumni and learn how their businesses have survived, and even thrived, amid recent challenges. It also introduced me to new professionals from diverse backgrounds, some of whom I have already had follow-up conversations with,” said Melanie Wallinger (Full-time Class of 2021).

Our deepest thanks to the eight mentor panelists for contributing their expertise and experience around the table (from top left to bottom right):

• Ling Ho (Full-time Class of 2017)
• Cecilia Chan (Part-time Class of 2006)
• Terry Tsang (Part-time Class of 2018)
• Sankar VS (Part-time Class of 2012)
• Fabian Gruber (Part-time Class of 2014)
• Tina Law (Full-time Class of 2014)
• Simon Kong (Part-time Class of 1999)
• Ray Chan (Part-time Class of 2000)

Christy Wong, Academic Team & Renee Cheng, Alumni Team

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