With many niche and course-specific societies drifting around campus, Trinity SMF is one that most students are unaware of. As it turns out, its complete title is the Trinity Student Managed Fund. Trinity SMF is the main finance society on campus. But in fact it is more than just a student society and it’s overall goal is to “educate students in equity analysis”.
Speaking to The University Times, Gavin Dolan, the CEO of Trinity SMF, is eager to emphasise that its role extends beyond that of a simple fund. It is a financial organisation that is 100 per cent run by students. Its aim is to allow students to develop skills in business analysis, investing and risk management, to name but a few vital teachings. Students can learn all of this within a secure corporate governance structure.
SMF is structured like no other society on campus. Its “investment portfolio” is split into 10 sectors, each with a sector manager in charge. This is how students initially get involved. When you join, you’re assigned a sector with which you meet once a week. In your own time, you research stocks and organise your presentation for the meeting.
Now that SMF is seven years old, many of its past members are working in companies that current students are interested in getting involved in. As a result, current members can gain crucial experience from past members, and also obtain exclusive internship opportunities that are only available to SMF members. Each year, the society holds two large conferences, the Women’s Leadership Conference held just last week, and the Leadership Perspectives Conference, taking place in February. On a smaller scale, it has regular in-house career workshops where the team will help guide you through the daunting interview process and tell you exactly what goes into a cover letter.
Commenting on the type of student who engages and benefits from the services that SMF provides, Dolan admits that a large cohort of SMF’s membership is made up of business and economics students. However, there is another group of students , within which he includes himself, who are from other backgrounds. “I accidentally went to an SMF event the first time”, Dolan explains. Having originally had no interest in finance as a career, he now finds himself as the CEO. Dolan also explains that the educational aims of SMF are holistic, teaching students presentation and research skills. “We’ll help you get up to speed with the business and economics students”, he assures, and being a maths student he explains that he “didn’t have modules on finance or investing”. SMF is evidently a good resource for anyone wanting to explore a career in finance.
Dolan emphasises that “the earlier you get involved the better”, as there are many internship opportunities for first and second years. As you progress through the years, SMF holds many graduate-focused events and has a great CV clinic. In addition to all of this, it runs classes, where its corporate sponsors come in, not just for a “boring seminar about why their company is so great”, but an “educational presentation with graduate information”. From this, Dolan maintains, membership in SMF remains strong because students undoubtedly benefit from these events.
This highly organised and driven society maintains a low profile on campus that should, by all accounts, be raised. While it’s branded as a finance society, it’s evident that you don’t need to be a BESS student to get something out of Trinity SMF. Whether it’s learning crucial presentation skills or trying out a corporate internship, SMF has a lot to offer students from all backgrounds.
