Varun Laijawalla is a Portfolio Manager at Ninety One, where he manages long only EM and EM ex-China portfolios.  He started his career as a consultant and moved into stockpicking via Asia focused sales.

Uwe Schillhorn is Program Director at Emerging Markets Investors Alliance.  He previously was CIO at Principal International Americas, where he managed the investment teams and developed the business in Latin America.  Prior to that he was previously a global bond portfolio manager at UBS, and his most recent role was as CIO of a Chicago based public fund. 

Nazmeera Moola is Chief Sustainability Officer of Ninety One, based in Capetown, where she previously headed up South African investing.  Our podcasts starts with a discussion of her farming background as a child and the lessons that that taught her in terms of planning, market volatility, the importance of diversification and risk management.  It was an interesting preparation for a career in investing, and we talk through the challenges and opportunities of emerging market investing, particularly in Africa.

Diana Kiluta Amoa, is Chief Investment Officer of Kirkoswald, a US based hedge fund, and she formerly spent over a decade in financial services in a range of roles including fixed income and rates trading, with a focus on Emerging Markets. She is a Board Member of the Global Nomads Group among other roles.  

Our conversation starts with her upbringing in Kenya

Jan Nicholson is President of two private family foundations, The Nicholson Foundation in NJ and The Grable Foundation in Pittsburgh PA. She recently retired from a Board Role at MDRC, a non-partisan research organization based in NYC, and has held Board Positions at Rubbermaid, Ball Corporation, and Radian Group, Inc. from 1990 to 2015.

Jan Nicholson has been both a banker and an investor and we learn how she shifted her mindset between the two. Her decades of experience have seen many cycles in markets and in the business and it was a privilege to hear her insights.

Randy Cohen, is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business school.  His main research focus is the interface between the actions of institutional investors and price levels in the stock market and has helped to start and grow a number of investment management firms.  He is a partner at Exsight Capital, a venture capital firm specializing in early-stage impact investments in innovative ophthalmic diagnostic and treatment solutions. This has particular resonance for Randy, who is blind from retinitis pigmentosa.

Christine Reed is an analyst on the Fixed Income team at Ninety One covering Latin American sovereign and currency markets. Based in New York, Christine is responsible for all Latin America coverage and supports the alpha decision-making process across investment capabilities. She previously worked at Goldman Sachs Asset and Citigroup.

Faisal Rafi is head of research at Riscura, based in London – Riscura is a South Africa-based financial services firm that focuses on providing purpose driven investment solutions for investors as well as investment managers. He previously worked as an investment manager at a UK corporate hedge fund, and prior to that in various asset management and consulting roles. He trained as an actuary.

A personal lookback to a career in investment consulting, the drivers of Emerging Markets, and how a personal health setback led to a reset and lessons learned.