Connexions: Small society, mighty impact

Speaking to Miia Hukari, CFA, President, CFA Society Finland, it is clear that size does not matter to this Society. With less than 150 members, the Society punches above its weight in terms of organising events, increasing member value, delivering a comprehensive approach to stakeholder outreach, building brand, and governance.

Increasing member value through relevant events

CFA Society Finland hosts around 20 events each year, which help to raise the profile of the Society locally.  

“We have had an active board for several years that has strived to increase member value and organise educational events that attract a wider audience. It is a lot of work and very time consuming but we have seen our member base grow and local stakeholders have a greater knowledge of the Society,” explained Miia.

By partnering with other organisations, CFA Society Finland has increased attendance at its events. Miia explained: “We used to have around 30-40 attendees at our educational events, and in the recent Sustainability Seminar we had a hundred. Partnerships have given us better visibility locally and broadened our guest base. Our aim is to seek more partnerships in the future.”

The Sustainability Seminar in June 2019 was hosted in partnership with the Finland Sustainable Investment Forum (a Finnish organisation that promotes sustainable investing) and Demos Helsinki (an independent think tank). The event discussed how EU sustainable finance regulation can make a difference and featured experts representing stakeholders from the private and public sectors. In September 2018, the Society organised a panel discussion in partnership with Aalto University on “The Future of Capital Markets in the European Union”. The event featured high profile speakers, including the Governor of the Bank of Finland and a Member of the European Parliament.

Strengthening stakeholder outreach

CFA Society Finland delivers a comprehensive approach to stakeholder outreach. In particular, the Society wants to strengthen its relationships with universities and asset management companies.

Building brand 

The EMEA Society Leadership Conference took place in Helsinki in October 2018. CFA Society Finland used this opportunity to build brand locally and in conjunction with the conference, launched a “Let’s Measure Up” (or “On aika ryhdistäytyä” in Finnish) social media campaign. The campaign was supported by Society Brand Activation funding and garnered a lot of interest, with over 12,000 views of the LinkedIn advertisement and over 160,000 impressions on Twitter (the number of times a tweet appears in a Twitter user’s timeline).

Succession planning

CFA Society Finland puts a lot of focus on succession planning. With a growing membership base (its members grow around 10% annually), good corporate governance is essential to ensure the Society can continue to provide excellent member value.

Miia concluded by emphasising the importance of joining forces with the other Nordic CFA Societies: CFA Society Denmark, CFA Society Norway and CFA Society Sweden. Indeed, the Societies will be launching the Nordic Investment Conference on 19 September in Denmark. By working together they can further strengthen their impact in the region, and with the ambition shown by CFA Society Finland in its local events, we anticipate this regional event will go from strength-to-strength!

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