The turnaround story of a uni society (UNSW I4C) close to my heart over the last 5 years
An introduction like any other
Those closer to me will know I like to be involved in things outside of work. Namely with university/high schools/churches in lots of different capacities. Some are confused as to why I do this. When you're done with high school or university, don't you just move on with life? How do you have time for things of the past?
Nothing wrong with these thoughts, as everybody is different, but for me, I tend to be a lot more sentimental towards the institutions I come from, especially if they've had a major impact on me. I tend to go back to history a lot, because I find it important to learn from mistakes, deal with new problems, and reflect on stories of the past that meant a lot to me (I reflected on 2021 quite deeply here from A-Z).
Along the way, I think my involvement in these different clubs/societies/institutions have kept my life interesting. I'm the kind of person that loves stories, and being involved in UNSW Investing 4 Charity, Sri Lanka Foundation of Goodness, Macquarie Baptist Church, Australian Student Asset Management Society, Atlas Academia, Sydney Science College, North Sydney Boys Business Society, etc has blessed me with lots of stories over the years that I love hearing about. I also love sharing about them to whoever will listen.
A random university society appears - and with it, the beginning of a long 5 year journey
Today, after reflecting on speaking with an exec in the society, it got me thinking about the long journey of that society.
The society that I want to talk about, that I have been part of (in different ways) now for ~5 years is UNSW Investing 4 Charity (since 2017).
UNSW I4C was an interesting society. It served a niche of fostering UNSW students who were interested in learning how investing and charity merge. I call UNSW I4C the closest society with the expression of "compassionate capitalism". The key asset (i.e. intellectual property) which separated UNSW I4C from every society at university (from my knowledge) was the focus on a year-long education program, teaching students how to analyse charities/equities, and then having a pitch case competition at the end to test the students. It was quite unique.
Now, I was a pretty serious workaholic as most of my close friends would remember me back in 2018. Coming off the heels of working as a cadet in Deloitte, and being quite passionate about my commerce studies at UNSW and wanting to do the best (because I could see how it helped my stock picking), a time of my life I remember fondly is late 2017/early 2018.
Some of the UNSW Investing 4 Charity execs over the years, have kindly reminded me of the progress that the society has gone through since I left back in 2018. I like to think some UNSW people will remember the turnaround that I was part of. It was most definitely not just because of me, but I like to think I supported them in some small way (especially in the most dire times), and there were very dedicated student volunteers who did most of the heavy lifting to make the society what it is in UNSW today over the years.
The last 5 years of UNSW I4C from my eyes as an insider, then an outsider
2017-18: I joined as an education director, and had the opportunity to teach a lot of things that my first mentor had taught me
In my final year at UNSW (i.e. University of New South Wales), in my 4th year, I figured I already had a lot on my plate, and was not going to involve myself with a society. Most people who do society stuff, are typically 1st to 3rd years, because by 4th year onwards, I think most students move on and get busy with corporate internships, finding jobs, etc. All very fair points. Not that it's impossible, it's just less conventional. But a friend, with whom I volunteered with back in 180 Degrees Consulting (back in 2nd year) reached out to me, as he was Vice President of Externals in UNSW I4C. We had a really good "corporate" relationship (we just got along really well as a team), and I figured I'd help him just this one time.
I was always only ever going to serve 1 semester (as I told the UNSW I4C President at the time). I think I was lucky, since nobody else applied or wanted to take on the heavy load of being an Education Director at UNSW I4C, and I still got the role despite my conditions. At the time, I liked the idea of making content, and teaching a big bunch of people about analysing companies/charities to invest in, and learning to logistically run events. I got a lot of that in my time at UNSW I4C, plus more. I grew very fond of my class, and one of my teams ended up winning the charity case competition organised by UNSW I4C. So it went got around to 2018 S2 (and a semester had passed), I was ready to throw in the towel and leave the society.
The beautiful irony was my hopefully most chill final semester became the busiest in my entire university career. I stacked my 1 day free on Mon, to teach my Accounting 1B PASS class, do bible study, go to my last finance course, then teach my trainees at UNSW I4C, then travel back home from university to then drive to tutor my high school student for maths at his house, then cram my study for the CFA L1 exam. I was working the other 4 weekdays (from Tues-Fri) at Beanstalk Investment Management as a Funds Management Intern back then. Weekends were just university homework, CFA exam study, and church… I still remember my general 2018 S2 timetable (see below). The time management was close to insanity, but I loved teaching the trainees so much that I persevered continuing with UNSW I4C for semester 2 (one last time).
A screenshot of my 2018 S2 timetable, and UNSW I4C was stacked amongst the other stuff outside work, on Mondays… I was just a bit of a mad man in hindsight (I care a lot more about rest now…).
As you can probably tell, seeing the students learn and appreciate the lessons I was sharing, especially with my own personal stock picking stories, became the highlight of my week. And it was very synergistic, as I was studying for my CFA L1 exam, and then teaching parts of it to students in PASS class and trainees at UNSW I4C, and consolidating my knowledge picking stocks at the fund I was interning at the time! It was a 1 + 1 = 3 kind of situation for me (aka doing things that had synergy - which I was a massive proponent of with my life tracker here). Here is the last FB post during my time formally at UNSW I4C, as an Education Director. My 2018 self summarised the time at I4C better than I could if I was writing this now (there's just a cringe joke about “investing” in the post so be warned!).
2018-19: One more year with the only sponsor... But some cracks showing from a change in timetable landscape at UNSW
X (i.e. a large corporate sponsor) had always been the only corporate sponsor with UNSW I4C, ever since its inception. It was also the first year of trimesters at UNSW (i.e. 3 semesters a year). A lot of students said I was lucky for leaving when it was still 2 semesters a year... Frankly I think I got lucky, and I felt for the team navigating a different schedule from the past. It was definitely unchartered waters. Things were gonna break inevitably when there is change.
I was invited to speak at a guest panel event once at I4C but I was inundated by work at Antipodes at the time (which was a very deep learning curve for me), and I ended up just not being able to travel to UNSW in time to speak. That wasn't a good experience, but I still checked in on the UNSW I4C President privately here and there. I didn't think I would be more involved with UNSW I4C at the time (but little did I know I would return)...
2019-20: The fall of the only sponsor (COVID did not help), but for whatever reason I believed in the society, and brought the idea of an “individual” sponsor
COVID-19 struck in early 2020. And with it, I would say to some degree the relationship with X took a negative turn. I don't think it was anybody's fault. These things happen all the time. Guards change. Everybody make mistakes. It's how you respond after that often says more about the people/society then what led up to it. I suppose though, losing our only sponsor was a material negative headwind.
It was frankly dire times for UNSW I4C with a limited amount of cash on balance sheet, and a team that probably lost its way a bit given being rattled by not having any sponsor, yet still having to run all these different programs like the prior years. I really felt for the team at the time. It was a perfect storm of just being in the 2nd year of adjusting to trimesters, having a lot of plans cancelled because of COVID lockdowns (and having to quickly adapt to zoom, teams, etc), and losing the only corporate sponsor (which to some degree could feel like a vote of no confidence)...
When I heard about the situation from the new UNSW I4C President, I was convicted to do something about this. My theory was that, if somebody could give them a second chance and believe in them, other corporates may in time take UNSW I4C seriously again. To my knowledge, I think UNSW I4C was the pioneer of taking individual donations, at least in UNSW. So I became the first new sponsor to UNSW I4C, with my donation. Personally, I think it was quite wild at the time (although it sounds pretty trivial now), but no UNSW society I was aware was, had a corporate sponsor that was actually just an “individual”. This laid the ground work for restoring confidence for the team in my opinion, and the later years that followed for UNSW I4C. I got involved speaking in the inductions for the trainees, and I judged their charity and stock pitch finals in my own time to show I was not just a money driven sponsor. This was the beginning of a deeper relationship with UNSW I4C again for me.
2020-21: The slow recovery from the trough, and finding corporate sponsors is tough
1 year on from COVID, and still running events in person presents itself to be a logistical nightmare. I could certainly feel the pain of the students at times when hearing all their plans had to be scrapped because of UNSW regulation or whatever. But I certainly was convicted by the work the students were tirelessly putting into UNSW I4C. I renewed my sponsorship though admittedly we were late to capturing any corporate sponsorships early in the year. Again, we were only 1 sponsor (who wasn't exactly a corporate, but an individual), but I then had the idea of reaching out to 2 funds management industry friends. I figured if I told them I was donating money, it would inspire them to donate too if they liked what UNSW I4C was doing. Again it worked, out of the generosity of the hearts of Jackson and William who ended up becoming individual sponsors to UNSW I4C like me after a year of consideration.
That kind of support from me, Jackson, and William, led me to go back to Pinnacle Investment Management (the middle/back office for Antipodes, the shop I work at) Charitable Foundation to state my case. The argument was that several industry people were backing UNSW I4C, and I was personally putting my money where my mouth was, by donating to the society. That resonated with the Community Investment Manager of the Foundation at the time, and connecting her to the students at UNSW I4C, and after some back and forth, UNSW I4C signed a sponsorship, and Pinnacle Investment Management became the first new corporate sponsor with UNSW I4C. This was a monumental vote of confidence.
It tears me to think it took a few people in the industry to believe in UNSW I4C. Below is a picture of Jackson, me and William, judging the final stock pitch competition in semester 1 of 2021. Of course, the more sponsors, meant a better capitalised balance sheet for UNSW I4C to aspire to do more, and in a bigger way, hopefully restored more confidence to the credibility and relevance of UNSW I4C.
2021-22: Going from strength to strength, now with more sponsors than anytime in history and a society that is much more recognised
It's important to recognise that this journey had a lot of different student volunteers along the UNSW I4C journey who all contributed in different ways, and that I was but a small cog, but had the privilege to witness the years go by for this society and witness how it evolved. This year's team again, was very ambitious to improve on last year's and I got to witness some very interesting team structure changes that improved agility. One of the outcomes I got to see, was the sponsorship team this year.
They were much more aggressive in chasing sponsorships early on and it definitely paid dividends. They renewed their relationship with Pinnacle Investment Management from last year, but went ABOVE and BEYOND, getting 3 more corporate sponsorships (the 7th one is just pending finalisation and will be announced soon!).
When I think back to ~2 years ago, when I was the only sponsor to UNSW I4C, to now 7 sponsors (corporate + individual). That's not bad at all for such a small team and a society that was struggling ~2 years ago. See the sponsors here: https://unswi4c.org.au/sponsors-and-advisors/
The timeseries shows the history of individual and corporate sponsors at UNSW I4C over the years, from 2017-2022, summarising the story above.
I get emotional when I think about the rollercoaster ~5 years that UNSW I4C has gone through. As always they continue to support me, inviting me for guest speaker events, welcoming the trainees every year (in trainee induction, see below for this year's in semester 1 of 2022), and including me in occasional exec meetings and keeping me updated from time to time. Interestingly, over the last few years of supporting them, other societies started reaching out to me to speak. I have UNSW I4C to thank for that. I was never much of a public speaker, but I think this society gave me so many opportunities that I finally own that title now naturally (I wrote about public speaking recently in my newsletter here).
2022-XX: No idea what the future holds, but I am going to continue supporting the society
Now >2700 followers on the Facebook page, with ~300 trainee analyst program alumni, and >200 hours volunteered for charities.
UNSW I4C have kindly allowed me to use this 2022 group photo
The toughest thing about being in a position of strength is getting complacent and blind spots to start creeping in. These always inevitably happen whether we like it or not. I think something I've learned from my first mentor, is that you should aim to "smooth" out the journey by responding proactively (in wisdom) rather than reactively. That lessens the volatility in the ride, and the peaks and troughs become more manageable (hopefully), and the overall trend line is still going up towards the long-term goal you've envisioned. I’ve been reminded and humbled very recently how easily one can go from making wise moves to very unwise moves in a short amount of time personally.
Of course, that is easier said than done. I still have trouble learning to be patient with people, as my inclination as a stock analyst is to see results immediately and “flashes of green” rather than red. I’m desperately trying to be better at this right now.
History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes - The parallels to another society I am seeing now vs UNSW I4C
There is another society that I am witnessing first-hand, where there reminds me of a lot of parallels to the story of UNSW I4C from ~5 years ago. Again, it is starting from basically zero, except the difference here is there is no legacy debt or baggage. It is also based in a high school, rather than a university, and with it comes its own set of challenges/obstacles. And that is North Sydney Boys High School Business Society (i.e. NSB BSOC).
But that is a story for another time as it continues to unfold...
For those who want to know more about UNSW I4C, please refer to the link and support them if you're interested: https://unswi4c.org.au/. I'm also happy to talk to anybody who wants to know more about UNSW I4C. Thank you to the current UNSW I4C execs for reviewing this blog post and allowing me to post this amazing untold turnaround story of a small UNSW society.
Thanks for reading,
Michael Li
