It was truly another commendable achievement for UTAR when a team of two Actuarial Science students from the Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES) won the champion title at the “Pertandingan Kuiz Pelaburan Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) 2019” in the higher education institution category. The competition was held on 03 October 2019 at Kinrara Resort.

Representing the university were Tan Wei Jia and Andy Teo Wei Ming. They received RM12,000 in the form of Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB) unit trust. The duo beat four other teams, namely Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Tun Hussein Onn, Johor; Multimedia University, Cyberjaya; Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu in the final round.

The “Pertandingan Kuiz Pelaburan PNB 2019” also known as PNB Investment Quiz Competition is one of the financial literacy programmes organised by PNB as part of their corporate social responsibility efforts. Held annually since 2001, the quiz aimed at promoting awareness and appreciation among Malaysians of the merits of prudent investing as well as developing a society that is investment-savvy, which is also in line with the government’s vision.

The competition had four categories, namely the general category open to Malaysians above 18, the secondary school category open to students from Form One to Five, the higher education institution category and the uniformed bodies category. A total of 79,072 people participated in all the four categories this year.

The contestants had to go through two stages of competition, the preliminary and finals consisted of quizzes that contained questions on investment and financial management.

One of the elated winners, Teo enthused, “We study actuarial science and finance so we were quite interested to participate in the quiz when we saw our lecturer’s post so we decided to team up. We are pleased and proud to have won this competition in the final stage of our university life. It was our first time representing UTAR for a competition and we managed to emerge as the champion in PNB Investment Quiz Competition since its last win in 2008.”

He added, “Personally, this win is very much significant to me as it boosted my self-confidence and marked a wonderful ending to my undergraduate studies. By winning this competition, it also enhanced my resume and hopefully, it will be an advantage in searching for my first job. In addition to that, the knowledge we acquired while studying actuarial science was beneficial to our victory, as we were able to apply them while answering the quiz.” He added that through this competition, his teammate and he learned a lot about investment and ASNB products.

Last but not least, he also advised the juniors, “Stay out of your comfort zone and reach out to various events, talks and competitions, particularly those related to our programme. The experience will be invaluable and advantageous to our personal development.”