On December 15, 2017, the KAIST Conference on Emerging Financial Markets was successfully held on campus, and two of our alumni were invited from their home countries. The alumni are the winners of the 3rd KGSF Essay Contest; they presented their research to the faculty and current students. Also, there was a special lecture on “The 2018 World Economy Outlook and Global Trend, by Junpyo Hong, Senior research fellow, Hyundai Research Institute, University of Seoul. After the presentations, the awards ceremony and dinner followed. The winners, current students and faculty members gathered and celebrated the event together.

This event was held after KGSF’s Essay Contest, which is designed to encourage the international alumni to improve their work performance after returning to their home countries. It is the third time this contest has taken place.

According to annual survey by KGSF, many of our alumni said that they have been successfully applying what they learned. They also have been trying to share their knowledge within their organizations. For this reason, KGSF designed the essay contest. The event will increase the alumni’s motivation for applying and sharing their knowledge within the alumni network. We expect this contest will stimulate the alumni to demonstrate their pride and passion for work, which will help them improve their organizational performance. It will be also helpful for the alumni to learn from other people’s experiences.

In the contest this year, many of the alumni submitted impressive stories. All the essays successfully described their education and experiences at KAIST as well as their ways of applying what they learned to their work. The contest was judged by a review committee consisting of four professors through a double stage review process.

The winners are:
○ First Place: Dilshod Inamov from Uzbekistan
○ Second Place: Jessica Andrea Bolanos from Ecuador

Dilshod Inamov, the first winner, a KOICA-KAIST graduate, said that the knowledge gained through the program had many positive impacts on his career. After returning to his hometown, he found a new job opportunity where he could apply his knowledge and skills gained from his education. Now he is working in ‘Eastechgroup’, which is responsible for management of all projects financed by Orient Group, a big holding company in Uzbekistan. His first assignment at Eastechgroup is development of a new project feasibility study for Orient Group. During the project, he introduced a new method of project valuation using ‘CAPM’, learned in corporate finance classes of KAIST, which was not previously used within the company. After that, he signed the contract and further reached to change his company’s policy on making decisions to accept or reject projects, and Uzbek investors supported the new methodology of project valuation introduced by Dilshod.

Dilshod Inamov also studied Green Economy in KAIST, which helped to broaden his interest in the clean energy sector. This interest has expanded and he had the opportunity to present a topic to investors of Orient group, initiating the development of alternative and nuclear energy in Uzbekistan. Furthermore, he gave some proposals based on knowledge gained at KAIST to include some projects in Orient Group’s portfolio regarding development of green finance in Uzbekistan, and the proposal became a large investment deal. Throughout the course, he said that case studies aimed at practical experience and writing research papers at KAIST gave such opportunities.

Jessica Andrea Bolanos, the second winner, described the application of her knowledge and a wide range of knowledge sharing cases in Ecuador. Not long after her return to the Central Bank of Ecuador, she was promoted as Director of Reserve Management. She is in charge of four departments: Reserve Operations, International Treasury, Operations Record, and Gold Trading. She developed reports as useful tools and reformed the manuals. As a result, she has contributed much in the process of each department which has enabled better organizational performance.

Jessica Andrea Bolanos also had some chances to share the knowledge she acquired when she was in Korea. Through her presentation, she offered her understanding of corporate finance, investment and financial accounting with her colleagues, and even discussed practical applications through some country’s development case studies. Furthermore, she was invited by the Direction of Human Resources of the Central Bank of Ecuador to deliver a course about ‘Financial Analysis’. The objective of the course was to analyze the performance and situation of a company through the application of financial indicators using accounting data as a basis. In such processes, she said experience at KAIST enabled her to share the knowledge with other colleagues and gave her the belief that she could contribute to the education of others.
 

*click here to see the essays.
- Dilshod Inamov
- Jessica Andrea Bolanos