China Development Financial Holding (CDF) has organized a semester-long postgraduate practicum course titled “CDF Lectures on Venture Capital and Investment Banking” in collaboration with the National Taiwan University (NTU) Department of Business Administration since school year 2013. Given the business transformation and operating growth of CDF over the last six years, the focus of the course has also gradually shifted from conventional venture capital investment to the more innovative segments like private equity and digital finance. CDF believes education is the most rewarding investment, and that sharing first-hand experiences is the most straightforward way a business can give back to the society. As such, organizing the practicum course and sharing its almost sixty years of hands-on experiences in the financial industry with students is probably one of the best ways CDF can fulfill its corporate social responsibility.
2018 marks the sixth year of the CDF Lectures at NTU. As in the previous five years, the lectures were primarily delivered by top-ranked executives of CDF, but this year, ten other CDF employees with different expertise also contributed to the course as mentors facilitating discussions on case studies, and helping students develop the mindset of people in the industry. CDIB Capital Group Vice Chairman Chen Shin was the first lecturer of the 2018 practicum course. Having contributed to the course for six straight years, Chen is very serious about his lectures, and has shared his over thirty years of experiences in investment, which students wouldn’t have accessed as they are not available on any books or the internet. Unreserved, Chen walked the students through every stage of venture capital investment from due diligence at the very start to the most important exit timing, showing them the big picture of this seemingly mysterious business.
NTU professor Chen Wun-hwa said that Taiwan has been in pursuit of innovation at government, academia and business levels in recent years. The establishment of many business innovation accelerators and start-up funds speak volume about such efforts. Against such a backdrop, NTU Graduate School of Business Administration began the partnership with CDF six years ago, and has been revising the content and formation of the course based on student feedback each year. Now, CDF Lectures is one of the most popular courses of the graduate school, attracting a huge number of enrollments each year. Professor Chen said CDF is the largest and most experienced venture capital managing institution in Taiwan, and its contribution to developing future entrepreneurship and capital management professionals is truly commendable. The purpose of the course is to inspire students to engage in business innovation through real case lectures, and the participation of mentors in assessing students’ proposals will give students who wish to enter the venture capital business the opportunity to put what they’ve learned in practice.
Lecturers of the 2018 CDF Lectures at NTU included CDIB Capital Group Vice Chairman Chen Shin, President Ho Chun-huei, Executive Vice President Kathy Young, KGI Securities Chairman Hsu Daw-yi, and CDIB Venture Capital Chairman Liu Shao-liang. Lecture topics covered fundraising, venture capital case development, financial technology innovation and operations of global capital market.
