Vitaly Shmel'kin '09

RenMax, Montevideo, Uruguay

(Summer 2008)

Vitaly Shmel'kin spent August and September in Montevideo, Uruguay as an intern at RenMax, a small brokerage firm, where his duties consisted of daily monitoring of South American government bonds and U.S. Treasury bills, and other financial indicators, such as foreign exchange rates and the price of oil.  He used this information prepare weekly reports on the U.S. and Uruguayan economies. 

Due to the size of the firm, Shmel'kin was fully involved in all aspects of the day-to-day business of the firm.  As a native of Moscow, Russia, he found himself in a position to assist customers interested in investing in developing markets in Eastern Europe, by using his language skills to research companies in their domestic language.

Shmel'kin conducted statistical analysis to evaluate the future performance of stocks and bonds.  He says, "as an Economics and Business major at Cornell, the transition to working in finance was easy.  Classes such as Capital Markets, Money and Banking, Financial Accounting, and International Economics seminar prepared me really well for the financial world.  The one class at a time system also trained me to quickly adapt to a new environment and produce instantaneous results when I was given a task."

Says Shmel'kin, "This internship made me realize how deeply integrated the world is.  One of my dreams has always been working in international business, and this internship greatly strengthened this desire.  I feel confident that I have the necessary knowledge and skills to succeed in a very competitive environment.  I feel that one of the biggest impacts of this internship was giving me the confidence to pursue higher levels of education.  I am very thankful for the opportunity provided by the Berry Center."