Sussex Financial Risk and Investment Analysis students to receive industry expertise from city alumni
By: Russell Eke
Last updated: Tuesday, 11 October 2016
A new mentoring scheme set up by Sussex finance academics allows students on the MSc Financial Risk Investment Analysis (FRIA) to receive industry expertise and career guidance from graduates working in the financial sector.
A launch event for the scheme - held at Corney and Barrow in the City of London on 5 October 2016 - was attended by current FRIA students, Sussex academics teaching on the degree, and alumni mentors, almost all of whom are FRIA graduates, including:
MSc Financial Risk and Investment Analysis students, alumni and faculty at the launch event for the student-graduate mentoring scheme
- Robin Cannell (Arbour Partners)
- Nikhill Gopal (RBS)
- Nicholas Ho (OSTC)
- Jaskiran Mangat (RBS)
- Ajay Pankhania (Credit Suisse)
- Hugo Peyre (Altimapa Capital)
- Geronimo Queiros de Faria (Jefferies
Wealth Management) - Sam Stephenson (Deutsche Bourse)
- Violette Taghavi (JDX Consulting).
Other mentors include graduates of other Sussex degrees or former members of faculty, including Carlos Jo-Loo (BMO Wealth Management), Aanand Venkatramanan (Barcap) and Poppy Sumawong (GAM).
Members of the Department of Business and Management's Finance subject area were also present, including FRIA co-convenors Andreas Kaeck and Carol Alexander, convenor of undergraduate finance degrees Michael Coulon, Nikolas Karouzakis, Johannes Rauch and Nina Lange.
Current student Jean Nothomb, who attended the launch event, said:
‘We find ourselves with a fantastic support-mechanism due to the mentoring programme; the invaluable insight and guidance provided by the Alumni will guarantee our successful propulsion into the financial world.
‘The enthusiasm with which both convenors and alumni are approaching this project is alluring, and so it was with zeal that each of us got to know the mentors we had been matched to.’
Jean’s fellow FRIA student Michael Ntakos added:
‘The opportunity for in-depth personal contact with someone who is already working in the financial industry is a great advantage. There is also the added bonus that they have very recent experience in job-searching, employment, and interview procedures.
‘I was able to get a very broad sample of answers to questions such as: "what could I do after FRIA?", "how should I go about approaching firms?", "when should I start the whole procedure?", and "how did other people approach FRIA as course/challenge?".
‘The whole event was very well organised, and being encouraged to continually talk to everyone was a great confidence boost.’
FRIA co-convenor Carol Alexander commented:
'The FRIA degree qualifies students to work in many different areas of financial markets. Incoming students write a short profile of their career aspirations, which we then try to match with their mentor’s knowledge and experience.
‘Together, the student and mentor focus on learning how to prepare for the job market, for example by discussing CV writing and interview skills, networking and searching for job opportunities.
'This is the first year of a scheme that we believe will give students a great boost to their employability. The kick-off event was really animated with a great buzz, nice talks and good networking with lots of laughs and fun. It seemed the alumni, students, staff and mentors had a great time and were all very glad to have this scheme in place.'