Internships - 2021/22

Internships- Year 4

PRAYAAS CAPITAL

Year 2021/22

About me

Hello, my name is Ankur Jain and I run an investment management firm, Prayaas Capital (Chennai, India). 

I try to invest in good quality businesses, run by good managements and available at reasonable valuations. This investment philosophy has been beautifully practiced by Buffett and Munger through their investment vehicle: Berkshire Hathaway.

I started internships a few years back. The idea was to share my learnings with people who have embarked on their investing journey and have a deep desire to learn. I offered them for 3 years. After a break, I am opening internships this year again.

Method

We are going to pick up one business case and work through it over 2.5 months. Participants would be expected to work on the case during the weekdays followed by a discussion session every weekend. There would be 10 sessions of upto 90 minutes each.

I would choose a business which I feel covers a lot of ground in terms of the investment aspects- moat around the business, risks, quality of management, valuations, position sizing etc. I would pick up a business which I have already studied. That would allow me an opportunity to discuss the case in depth.

Case Study Method

Let’s read what Li Lu (Himalaya Capital) has to say about learning investment management.

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Do you have any advice for students who are interested in getting into investment management?

The most important thing in understanding the investment business is by doing it. There is no substitute to actually doing it. The best way to do it is study one business inside and out for the purpose of making the investment- you may not actually invest. But having gone through the discipline of understanding one business as if you own 100% of that business is very valuable.

(Li Lu, Himalaya Capital – interviewed by Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing)

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It reminds me of a simple advice to teach cycling to children.

Step 1: Put your foot on the pedal and start pedaling

Step 2: Keep pedaling

Similarly, to learn investment management, nothing is better than reading an actual business. Thus, we will pick up one business and learn about it. Hopefully, you would continue to pedal, there on. 

Batch size and medium of learning

The internship will have 2 batches. The number of participants would be 15 per batch. Sessions would be conducted over Zoom. 

Requirements

This internship will not cover value investing basics. Participants are expected to have read and hopefully practiced value investing for atleast a couple of years. The idea is to polish what you might already know.

The second requirement is that you should have sufficient time at your disposal. If your academic/ professional work is demanding and doesn’t spare you atleast 3 hours a day to work on the internship, it won’t be value accretive.

Thirdly, you should have a basic idea of accounting.

Selection Process

If you are interested, please fill in the google form and deposit an application fee of Rs 100.

Application fee to be paid by UPI to internships@apl

The number of applications is limited to 300. 

Once all the applications are in, I would share a set of business-related exercises to the applicants. You would be required to submit your answers to those exercises. Based on the responses, I would choose the best 30.

The application window is open till June 25^th 2021 or 300 applications whichever is earlier.

 

Pay it Forward 

There is an application fee of Rs 100 to be paid by all applicants.

There is an internship fee of Rs 5000 to be paid only by the selected participants.

This year’s internships are dedicated to Yogyata Education Trust. This trust provides monetary scholarships to meritorious students of Class X studying in the Government Schools. A small reward can act as a powerful incentive for students who are trying to do something meaningful with their lives. Yogyata has been founded by my friend and cousin, Anurag Jain. Knowing him, I know that the trust is ethically run, with bare bone overheads. Your contributions (both application fee and internship fee) will go to this trust.

FAQs 

Ques:    What’s the timeline for the 2 batches?

Ans:      Tentative commencement dates: 

              Batch 1: August, 2021                    Batch 2: November, 2021

 

Ques:    Will all participants work on the same idea?

Ans:      Yes, all participants in the same batch will work on the same idea. However, they will                                           work independently. Research would be individual and discussion would be in a group.

 

Ques:    Do I need to send my resume with the application?

Ans:      No

 

Ques:    When does one pay the application fee and the internship fee?

Ans:      Application fee of Rs 100 is to be paid at the time of applying. If selected, an internship fee of Rs 5000 is to be paid 1 week before the commencement of the respective batch. Fee once paid is non-refundable.

Application fee being a small amount across large number of applicants would first be pooled in an individual account and then passed on to Yogyata. Internship fee has to be transferred directly to Yogyata.

 

Ques:    Do I get income tax benefit on the contributions made to Yogyata?

Ans:      Yes, the trust enjoys exemption under Section 80(G). Tax exemption receipts would be issued only to the participants who get selected and pay Rs 5000. Given the logistical challenges, no tax exemption receipt would be issued for Rs 100 paid as the application fee. 

In case of any other query, please write to: 

internships.prayaascapital@gmail.com