James Fletcher is the founder of Ethos Investment Management, based in Salt Lake City. He has over 19 years of investing in Emerging Market and was previously Director and Senior Portfolio Manager of the $1billion EM Small and Mid-cap fund at APG Asset Management.

Our conversation starts with the seeds that started James’s passion for Emerging Markets – an extended stay in Brazil, where he learned to speak Portuguese and was entirely immersed in the brands and consumer culture of the dynamic country. This led to a hunger to uncover what is less well known about regions under the Emerging Markets umbrella, and we dive in to this – including the unique, research driven, approach that the team takes at Ethos.

We also refer to the origins of the name – it defines both their approach to investment management and portfolio construction as well as the ethos of the companies they invest in – companies committed to their mission, with honesty and integrity.

We move then another passion – James is also the founder of Young Investors Society (www.yis.org). Young Investors Society has become a leading global Financial Literacy organization teaching financial literacy and long-term investment skills to high-school students in over 1,000 high-schools across the world. We hear about lives changed and the impact felt by giving an opportunity to thousands of young people and about the power of lighting the spark for investing.

With thanks to Baillie Gifford for sponsoring Series 4 of 2025. Baillie Gifford is a long-term investment manager, dedicated to discovering the innovations and changemakers that deliver exceptional growth opportunities for its clients.