Skills

Investment professional

I have over twenty-five years of experience in asset management, primarily institutional, attaining the level of Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at Investment Solutions. Investment Solutions was, at the time, South Africa’s largest and leading multi-manager, and comfortably one of the top-ten largest asset managers in the country, with well over R300bn (c $25bn) in assets under management.

I am a CFA charter holder, and have presented at the 2013 CFA annual conference held in Singapore (‘Sustainability – An investment perspective’), had an article published in the 2013 CFA journal (‘It’s Time to Rethink Growth and the Implications for Sustainable Investing’) and am actively involved in the local South Africa chapter, in various ways.

My skills primarily revolve around equities, and asset allocation, but I have had exposure to most major local and global asset classes, including property and alternative investments, whilst running multi-asset class portfolios. I have managed institutional multi-asset class portfolios, a local equity mutual fund, and multiple other multi-manager portfolios.

I have run and lead teams of investment professionals up to some 30 strong.

Consultant

I have consulted to various organizations since leaving Investment Solutions. These included, a SA-based stockbroker and wealth manager, a Nigerian pension fund administrator (PFA), and a Mauritian investment management house.

My services covered, inter alia, the following:

Strategic review
SWOT analyses
Gap and risk analyses
Global and African growth strategy, including identifying targets for M&A
Recommending and implementing solutions
Interactions with multiple African stock exchanges, stock brokers and investment managers.

Multi-manager

I managed multi-manager and fund-of-funds’ portfolios for seventeen years. These portfolios spanned many of the key local and global asset classes, including multiple multi-asset class portfolios, risk-profiled ranges, LDI and other.

A key focus of my activities was on the global, non-SA component. As such, I met with many of the world’s leading asset managers, in multiple asset classes. The managers were primarily based in SA, the UK, Europe and the USA. Both long-only and hedge portfolios were managed.

My role and function included every aspect of multi-management, including, inter alia, the following:

Manager selection
Portfolio construction
Asset allocation, including chairing and running TAA portfolios
Portfolio analysis and overall risk control
Establishment of, and chairing, the key oversight and decision-making body, the Investment Committee
Managing investment teams based in both SA, and the UK
Ongoing presenting to clients, consultants, the board, and various media channels.

Author and Presenter

I co-authored a book in 2014 on the BRICS, entitled HalfWay There. The project entailed visiting and researching all five of the BRICS, interviewing management teams in a broad array of industries, along with sites of cultural and historical significance. My co-author and I then presented to wide audiences, country-wide, separately on each of the countries, and then on the final, overall conclusions and lessons learnt from the trips, as well as specific lessons for South Africa.

The book was launched in Johannesburg, Cape Town, New York and London, to acclaim.

Click here to view the book and related extracts

I have researched and presented on various topics that I felt passionate about, or that were of interest and importance, to our large client base. These were typically presented to large audiences, both within South Africa and overseas. These presentations included the following topics:

BRICS – as detailed in the book section
Megatrends – My crystal ball
Financial Repression – And what it means for you
Sustainability – An investment perspective

In addition, I presented regularly to the local press, over many years, and typically twice per annum, at regular client and consultant events, held county-wide throughout South Africa.

Click here to view extracts of media coverage

BRICS expert

The five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) comprise not only major and important countries in their own rights, but increasingly, a powerful and important bloc, within the globe. Few cover these countries, and the bloc, in great detail.

I have visited and researched each of the five BRICS countries, individually, from 2012 through to 2014. A key focus was on lessons for SA, Africa and emerging markets, in general. The research culminated in a book on the BRICS, entitled HalfWay There, which was launched in 2014 in Johannesburg, Cape Town, New York and London.

I continue to monitor and research the BRICS, and am expanding this coverage to cover the MINTs (Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey and Nigeria), along with various African countries. Both Nigeria and Mauritius have been visited, and I have written research articles on each.

Market commentator and media personality

I monitor capital markets and global events closely, and comment, typically on Twitter, on relevant or auspicious ones. At times, I will do a more detailed paper on such, and even, a more detailed presentation. I have featured regularly on TV and radio, including on the popular CNBC Africa show – ‘The bulls and the bears’.