A trip to the UK – no passport required

Wednesday, December 9, 2020
by Isaac W., AFM Student

Tackling the impact of Brexit, one Zoom call at a time

There aren’t many opportunities in life where you will have the privilege to compete on an international stage, and even fewer chances to do so as a student representing your university. So, when I was invited by the School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) to represent the University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ at the 2020 McGill International Portfolio Challenge (MIPC) alongside three of my peers, I knew this was an opportunity I could not pass up. Despite the heavy workload from my internship and my unfamiliarity with the world of portfolio management, I’m still so glad I pursued it.

isaac
From the late nights working alongside my teammates to finalize our report, to the hours spent recording our 10-minute pitch, to the many rounds of feedback we got from our SAF faculty mentors (Professor Ranjini Jha and Lecturer Andrew Ecclestone), and finally, to the thought-provoking questions from our judges, the juice was worth the squeeze. The 2020 MIPC case centered around a fictitious sovereign wealth fund in the UK, established to tackle the impact of Brexit on the UK population and economy challenged the team to think beyond North America, beyond traditional industries and avenues of investing, and beyond our usual lenses of stock picking. Through this competition, our team had the opportunity to engage with senior investment managers, to hone our presentation skills, and to test our analytical problem solving and decision-making – all invaluable assets to our personal and professional development.

I implore all students, regardless of your post-secondary program or geographic location, to take advantage of the wide variety of case competitions and extracurricular opportunities that are available at the University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ. You never know who you’ll meet, what skills you’ll develop, and most importantly, what passions you may find!