New app promises: Invest like a billionaire

Algorithmic trading, also known as “algo” trading and “black box” trading, involves the use of fast computer programmes and complex algorithms to create and determine trading strategies for optimal returns.

Powell said that by 2015 he had lost everything and was trying to find a way of getting back into investing when he came into contact with Forbes 2015 Billionaire’s List and contacted Forbes to ask them to work with the Billionaires’ League to build an application which would empower people who had invested and lost money. He said Forbes agreed but more than that offered to provide content on the billionaires.

He said the Billionaires’ League uses five principles to highlight billionaires in the US and the app tracks their portfolios to see what they invest in, which sectors they believe in and how much of their nett worth they invest in each sector and stocks. “So you, as an individual downloading our app can have that first world exposure where you can invest through our app. You’re buying and selling stocks, currencies, bonds on the international market from your mobile with virtual funds.” Those who download the app get US$10,000 in free virtual money to practice their investing skills. “From replicating the billionaires, they could now go to a broker/dealer either locally or internationally and apply it.” He said the application is intended for potential investors who do not have the confidence in their ability to make the right investment choices; people who are uncertain about where the financial markets are going as well as seasoned investors. “We get them started because it’s a journey.

So to get them started we provide them with data where they are comfortable to act and with that data they could go to their broker/dealers and execute those trades. We are targetting the mellenials, investment bankers; broker dealers and users who don’t have the experience to invest.” Powell said the Billionaires’ League was nominated by the World Bank Group; the European Central Bank and the European Investment Bank to represent the Caribbean in a global competition to compete against Singapore and Europe. Based on the novelty of the technology which powered the application, the Billionaires’ League app was chosen Best Portfolio Management Application 2017 by Capital Finance International magazine. “So Trinidad and Tobago should be proud that a product was born here, represented the Caribbean internationally and won. So the award gives us a lot of exposure globally. It gives us credibility and it gives us that edge that we have a disruptive technology that will change the traditional way of how people invest and it also adds credibility by opening up doors for broker dealers and partners to come on board.” He said the application competed against some key stakeholders to win the competition, “so it’s definitely a confidence booster and we have something to show for the Caribbean people that we too could build technology from the Caribbean and compete globally and be disruptive.” The app was launched on July 26, 2017, at the Hyatt Regency, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain, with an audience of high rollers at a function at which Powell said the idea was to demonstrate their credibility and get users started on a journey to become successful investors. He said their success in the competition should make Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean proud to know that the region is recognised on a global scale where technology is concerned and that change is coming “and we have something that we could go global with and compete with some of the most prominent technologies in the investment era” because no one in the investment universe has that technology like Billionaires’ League that could reveal the strategies of today’s leading bankers, billionaires and pension funds, all in real time. No one does that. So we as Caribbean people should be proud.” He credited the World Bank Group and its “Pitch IT Caribbean Challenge” a competition funded by the World Bank Group via info/Dev with the aim of finding and developing young talent in app development in the Caribbean. He said the competition is not just looking for a product, “they look at the person in the driver’s seat, the person who they think could take that idea from an idea stage, an implementation stage, and to a product stage, and when you have the product it should be in a position where it can scale globally so you have to be a global changer, you have to be a global thinker. So in order to do that you have to be in a network that could give you that opportunity where you could open doors for yourself. After that, you will need governance and you will need a structure in place because having a product without a structure doesn’t make sense. So you need to be strategic with your approach.

You need to have that agility to know how and when to release the product. He said with the different entrepreneurial programmes which are being launched for the Caribbean there is a need for more unity among entrepreneurs throughout the Caribbean region that they too could come up with a disruptive technology.” He said the Pitch IT Caribbean Challenge brings together IT entrepreneurs from several Caribbean countries to compete to go global.

Powell said the local Caribbean Industrial Relations Institute (CARIRI) was an incubator and encouraged the Billionaires’ League to compete in the competition to represent Trinidad and Tobago. The application won Best Mobile Application last year which gave it automatic entry into the Pitch IT Competition.