Kenya's John Tingoi finishes third in International Quant Championship

The competition, organized by WorldQuant BRAIN, tests skills in finance, statistics, and programming.

Tingoi tied with Taiwan's Chia-Chun Chung in the competition that brought together 80,000 competitive participants from 11,000 universities across 142 countries.

The first position was held by MinKyeom Kim from South Korea and Sumit Kumar from India came second.

Twelve teams, representing the top 0.02% of participants, gathered in Singapore from September 28-30 to compete in the finals for the chance to win from a prize pool of Ksh.12.9 million ($100,000).

Before hitting the international stage, Tingoi beat over 9,000 participants in Kenya owing to his part-time work as a WorldQuant researcher remotely, even as he continued with his studies.

Tingoi said that he competed as an individual, but teams were allowed to choose up to four members. His final submission was on logic, risk strategy and originality.

"There we countries that were solo for example myself. It was a good and tough competition, especially going to compete against those who have been participating in this industry for a long time," he told NTV.

He added that the victory enabled him to achieve financial sufficiency, noting that there are numerous opportunities to expand innovation and create job opportunities.

"It is sustainable because I don't need to call my mum asking for rent. I am sure that with the right tools and innovative ideas we can achieve alot in this world. There are many opportunities," he added.

Chuka University welcomed the tech maestro in a ceremony held on campus as Vice-Chancellor Prof. Henry Mutembei lauded his stellar performance, calling it “a proud moment that affirms Chuka University’s rising influence in science, technology, and innovation.”

The Department of Computer Science, led by Prof. David Mwathi credited his victory to departmental mentorship programs, hackathons, and partnerships with Teach2Give, TheJitu, and HealthIT.

How it works:

The International Quant Championship is a three-stage, team-based competition running from March to September 2025.

Stage one sees teams of one to four members, from the same university, compete in a qualifier round to create alphas using the WorldQuant BRAIN platform.

Participants accumulate points by building alphas using historical market data and predefined operators to simulate equity positions.

WorldQuant defines “alphas” as mathematical models that seek to predict the future price movements of various financial instruments.

Stage two, termed as the regional round, will see qualifying teams compete in 2 phases - virtual and a virtual/in-person presentation rounds - to determine who will represent their country in the finals.

Stage three is a live competition which determines the global winners.

Winners for stage 2 are awarded Ksh.387,450 ($3,000) for first place, Ksh.258,300 ($2,000) for second place and Ksh.129,150 for third place.

Prizes for global finals are higher as winners are awarded Ksh.2.5 million ($20,000), second place gets Ksh.1.5 million ($12,000) and third place gets Ksh.1.03 million ($8,000)Stage 3: Global Finals

Top performing teams may be considered eligible for the cash prizes (or cash equivalent in jurisdictions where cash prizes are prohibited or restricted by law) to be divided equally among eligible team members.

Well-performed participants may also be considered for BRAIN research consultant, internship or full-time employment opportunities at WorldQuant.