Teens start firm, put investment profits into community

Eugene Kublanov (from left) and sons Zachary and Max discuss Saturday their investment firm benefiting nonprofit groups.
(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Flip Putthoff)
Eugene Kublanov (from left) and sons Zachary and Max discuss Saturday their investment firm benefiting nonprofit groups. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Flip Putthoff)

ROGERS -- Max and Zack Kublanov discovered the value of investing in their community at an early age.

The 15-year-old twins from Rogers formed the Humana Capital Partners investment firm in 2018 as a means of putting capital into companies with strong environmental, social and governance missions. They donate most of the returns to local nonprofit groups, Zack said.

The teens made their initial donation of $375 on Jan. 6 to the Boys and Girls Club of Benton County, he said, fulfilling the firm's mission to support organizations working to improve the environment and eradicate hunger, poverty and violence.

"It's really exciting for me as a dad to watch this sort of emerge," said Eugene Kublanov, the teens' father and investment adviser.

The money that the teens donated may seem modest, but it's impactful, said Matt Taliaferro, Boys and Girls Club of Benton County chief executive officer.

"Every dollar helps when you're talking about nonprofits," Taliaferro said.

The clubs are in Bentonville, Rogers, Bella Vista and Pea Ridge. They serve 3,000 young people throughout Northwest Arkansas through club membership, sports and community outreach, he said.

The donation is enough to sponsor one child's tuition at the club for the summer, Max said. It also could help pay for sports equipment for a club for the summer or provide snacks for a club for a month, Taliaferro said.

"Their desire to give back at this age, and to do what they are doing, is amazing," he said.

Eugene Kublanov, who works as a partner at a consulting firm, said the seeds for Humana Capital Partners were planted when he was driving Max and Zack to school at Haas Hall Academy in Rogers. The sophomores have attended the school since the seventh grade, he said.

"Part of it is my fault," he said with a laugh.

Kublanov would listen to Bloomberg News on the radio in the car, which led Max and Zack to ask questions about the nature of investing and why some investors are more successful than others, he said.

Zack said he read an article in The Wall Street Journal in 2018 about how investing in companies with environmental, social and governance missions was on the rise when the concept for the firm began to click.

"We could get ahead of the game and jump in on this before everyone else does, and we could actually do something good with it," Zack said.

The brothers were inspired to give back locally after volunteering at the Samaritan Community Center shop and food bank in Rogers. Families they observed seeking support at the food bank moved them, Max said.

"Some were older men and women, but it was mostly parents," he said. "We went back home and did some research and saw that there were 500,000 people in Arkansas that were food insecure and about 160,000 of them were children."

Zack financially analyzed the companies they would invest in, and Max built the firm's website and researched potential donation recipients, Kublanov said.

Kublanov and his wife, Allisson Butler-Kublanov, provided $10,000 in startup capital for the firm, with Kublanov investing the capital in four companies that the teens selected in 2019.

"They're not quite old enough to deploy capital quite yet," he said.

The initial investments grew by about 6.5%. The boys donated 80% of their profit to the Boys and Girls Club and reinvested 20%, Kublanov said.

The teens hope to sustain the company for many years, Zack said.

"We want to expand on the amount of local charities we donate to," he said. "We just want to keep growing our stocks and finding new companies to add to our portfolio."

Both teens said they plan on attending college but aren't considering careers in finance. Zack is interested in sports management, while Max wants to learn more about a career involving space.

"I'm extremely fortunate in my position to witness youth do great things," Taliaferro said. "But these two youth are special in that they're going places."

Do well by doing good

Learn more about Humana

Capital Partners and their cycle of investing and giving online at https://www.humanacapitalpartners.com/.

Source: Humana Capital Partners

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