FinArchives

1. In plain English, please describe your current role and function.

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I am a Managing Director at a company called BGO Strategic Capital Partners, and I am responsible for the company's business in the Asia Pacific region.  My role can generally be categorized into the following responsibilities: (1) deals - finding, diligencing, underwriting and closing opportunities, (2) portfolio & asset management - monitoring our investments and making sure the partners we are working with on these projects are performing in-line with our expectations, (3) research - gathering, reading, learning and speaking to market experts in Asia (i.e. Japan, Australia, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc.), (4) fundraising & client relations - ensure we report to our existing investors how our existing investments are doing and also having meetings with new investors to introduce them to the company, what we do and why they should invest with us. 

 

2. On average, how is your time divided across quantitative work (e.g., financial analysis), qualitative work (research and writing), presentations (to investors, management, etc), and other tasks? Please describe what falls into ‘other.’

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When I first started my career, 90% of my job was quantitative and qualitative work.  I wrote all of the investment committee memos and created the financial models in excel.  As I have progressed in my career, I do more qualitative work (research which new markets and new sectors we should invest into, which companies to invest with), presentations (i.e. while I no longer do much modelling, I need to present the numbers to investors, the investment committee, senior management, etc.) and relationship building (meeting and speaking to existing and new investors).  "Other" responsibilities I have include overseeing valuations globally, implementing certain operational best practices for the company and creating processes in place so everything that is done is done uniformally (i.e. everyone is creating financial models and calculating certain metrics the same way, everyone follows the same investment committee protocols the same way, etc.)

 

3. Where did you attend college and what was your major/minor? Did you participate in any clubs in school or internships that you believe helped you decide what you wanted to pursue as your career? 

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I completed my undergraduate degree at The London School of Economics and I dual majored in Government and Economics. While at university, I was the Treasurer of the Women in Business Club, I was the capital of the Women's Volleyball team, and I interned at Salomon Smith Barney / Citigroup during the summers.

 

4. Do you have a graduate degree, and if so, what type?

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I completed my graduate studies at USC with a Masters in Real Estate Development.  In my industry, most people do have either an advanced degree or hold a CFA charter.

 

5. What about certifications like as a chartered financial analyst, certified public accountant, or other similar certifications? 

 

 It depends on what role the person is in but generally speaking, investment professionals have an advanced degree or a CFA while CPAs are typically for those who work in finance & accounting roles. For those people who work in business development or investor relations, there are a few relevant certifications such as FINRA Series 65 and IRC. 

 

6. What did you wish you had known in college that would have made your transition into the working world smoother? 

 

This is a hard question, but I would say that I wish I had been less focused on finding a specific role and had been more focused on the company.  It worked out for me luckily, but it is important to know your strengths and weaknesses when job searching and find an environment where you think you can best achieve your goals (i.e. if you want to be in a role that utilizes your strengths or you want to be somewhere to better overcome your weaknesses for example).

 

7. How will the rising prominence of artificial intelligence (“AI”) impact your job and entry level jobs in your industry?

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 I have already been using AI to help with more time consuming tasks like research and legal documentation, and my company has a research team that is focused entirely on using AI to help us make more informed investment decisions like which markets and sectors have healthy fundamentals (such a low levels of supply but high levels of demand).  I think using AI is inevitable but certain responsibilities like presenting to our investment committee and investors will not easily be replaced (if at all) by AI.  Entry level jobs in my industry tend to focus on financial analysis and investment/qualitative memo writing.  AI is playing a bigger role in the memo writing aspects, but AI is still not a good substitute for a human analyst when it comes to excel and the financial analysis that needs to be done so I expect this to continue for some time.

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8. What skills or qualities do you look for when hiring for an entry job level candidate?

 

 I interview candidates/students for our internship program every 3-6 months, and I have found that hard skills like financial analysis and memo writing can be taught and are skills which can be acquired, but I think a person's attitude is innate. Therefore, I like to hire those who are naturally inquisitive, doesn't just acquire knowledge but learns how to apply knowledge, can exhibit critical thinking skills and has a can do attitude as I believe these are all good indicators of their success on the job.

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9. Is there any other information you would like to share that hasn’t been shared through the questions above?

 

 There are many different "finance" jobs (much like "social sciences" is an umbrella term for psychology, sociology, economics, anthropology, etc.) so the more research you do, the more informed you will be.