This show is a collaboration between the Alumni Association of the AACSB Accredited School of Business of the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras and the Economic and Commercial Development Department (DDEC) of Puerto Rico. Dr. Scott Brown, professor of finance of the business school invited business leader Mohnish Prabai to speak to his students. Prabai graciously accepted the invitation wit
h the stipulation that the interview be filmed and posted to YouTube. Unfortunately, the business school has no filming capacity. For this reason, the UPR MBA students and Alumni collaborated with the DDEC to create a program intended to (1) inspire young Puerto Ricans to aspire to greatness and (2) to create an ongoing venue for educating the world regarding the high potential of Puerto Rican business students destined for upper management or entrepreneurship. Ismael Falcón, CPA, is the president of the University of Puerto Rico School of Business Alumni Association. CEO Dave Watkins is the president of the Act 20 and 22 Committee of the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce. Annie Mustafá, Patricia de la Torre, Keyla Rodriguez, and Magda Segarra are from the Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development & Commerce. Victor Morales is the director of the film crew. The University of Puerto Rico students are enrolled in my MBA Corporate Finance course. The support and collaboration of each was vital in making this academic forum a success. Cast:
Moderator — Dr. Scott Brown, Professor of Finance of the AACSB Accredited Graduate School of Business of the University of Puerto Rico. Guest 1 — Mohnish Pabrai started at Tellabs after finishing an engineering bachelor of science degree at Clemson University in 1983. His father encouraged him into marketing and sales because the money was best in that department. Mohnish started TransTech in 1991. He founded the company with a loan from his solo 401K and credit card debt. The hundred-thousand-dollar investment reaped twenty million when he sold the firm in 2000. As Mohnish Pabrai grew wealthier he became more interested in stock market investments. He methodically studied each of the letters to shareholders written by Warren Buffett. You can read them here…
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html
“In 2008, my friend Mohnish Pabrai and I sat down with our families for a “power lunch” with Warren Buffett at Smith and Wollensky’s restaurant in New York. Even though I was by then a close follower of Buffett’s, what I learned at that lunch changed my life.” Read Guy Spier. 2008. Opinion: 5 lessons from my $650,000 lunch with Warren Buffett. MarketWatch
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-lessons-from-my-650000-lunch-with-warren-buffett-2014-09-12
I also recommend The Dhando Investor by Mohnish Pabrai on Amazon:
http://tinyurl.com/hzyeyh7
Mohnish began reaping high returns by simply replicating the Buffett methodology. His Fortune 500 background gave him an edge. Friends and family asked if he would manage their savings. Pabrai Investment Funds was founded in 1999. It is a long equity fund with up to a five hundred and seventeen percent net return. This is more than ten times the equivalent forty-three percent return on the S&P as a benchmark since inception of Pabrai Investment Funds. He offers insight into the thinking that has obtained these returns with,
“We have all been taught that earning high rates of return requires taking on greater risks… If an investor can make virtually risk-free bets with outsized rewards, and keep making the bets over and over, the results are stunning.”
He started The Dakshana Foundation to identify India’s most brilliant amidst the poorest. The foundation prepares poor children for the rigorous entrance test of the Indian Institutes of Technology with stipends of up to three thousand dollars per student. Mohnish has agreed to speak to our students on Monday, Sept. 26. Guest 2 – Secretary of Economic Development & Commerce Alberto Bacó Bagué graciously agreed to talk with our students regarding the tax incentives that have brought Mohnish Prabai to the island of Puerto Rico (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Bac%C3%B3_Bagu%C3%A9). MBA Students — The MBA students act as audience and sounding board for the show.
