ATU Galway city students take second place in National Investment Competition

A team of nine students from Atlantic Technological University (ATU), Galway City, competed against teams from some of the most prestigious universities in the country to secure second place at the Goodbody Student Managed Fund National Final in Dublin last week.

The Goodbody Student Managed Fund Programme is an education initiative where staff from financial services firm Goodbody volunteer their time to help undergraduate students to get hands-on experience of managing equity funds. Students are exposed to a variety of disciplines, including research, asset allocation and portfolio management. They then compete with each other -  including teams from TU Dublin, UCD, UCC, NUI Maynooth, UL and DCU.

The winning ATU Galway City team,  comprising William Figueras, Ikechukwu Ogbuchi, Frederick Kee, Arlene McGrath, Hans-Magnus Rüdinger, Ross Severs, Nessan Leahy, Connal Reilly and Zara Feeley, took the award for their acumen in managing their portfolio and reacting to risk, including inflation and the possibility of rising interest rates.

John Boylan, Associate Wealth Manager in Goodbody Personal said, “I thoroughly enjoyed working with the students in this year’s Goodbody Student Managed Fund. William and the team performed and presented themselves to the highest level, while demonstrating strong teamwork and investment techniques. To finish in second place speaks volumes of the university, who faced stiff competition against experienced colleges in only their second year in the SMF.”

While the ATU Galway City Student Managed Fund is driven and managed by students from the Bachelor of Business in Finance and Economics in the ATU School of Business, it welcomes students from all disciplines, to promote cross disciplinary collaboration. This year, the fund included students from the Computing and Digital Media degree, Event Management degree, and Masters in Computing.

Marie Finnegan, Chair of the Student Managed Fund and lecturer in economics at the ATU said, “The Student Managed Fund allows students to have hands-on experience related to their Finance and Economics Degree programme while working in a collaborative and interdisciplinary way with students from across the university.”

Team captain William Figueras won best overall speaker at the event on 31 March, the eve of GMIT, Sligo IT and LYIT becoming Atlantic Technological University (ATU).  William, the fund’s CEO, said it was a great experience for everyone on the team. “To be able to represent GMIT on the eve of Atlantic TU’s birth and give back to our community is a memory none of us will ever forget. I truly couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to share this experience with.”

The team won €4,000 to donate to a charity of their choice and they picked COPE Galway. William Figeuras added: “COPE aims to support the homeless, domestic abuse victims and seniors. That really resonated with how we wanted to give back to our local community.”

For further details on the Bachelor of Business in Finance and Economics and other programmes in Atlantic TU School of Business, see: https://www.gmit.ie/schools-campuses/school-of-business