I’m interested in understanding how private company leaders make their business decisions and am open to being pleasantly surprised by them being not quite what I expect.
Educational ingenuity
How would you go about teaching if you didn’t have a centuries-old education system? That’s the question that brought me into Baillie Gifford’s orbit. In 2019, the firm funded me to research edtech efforts in sub-Saharan Africa. Children there sometimes live far from the nearest school and lack a computer or stable internet. I spoke to dozens of startup founders and other project managers, including a Tanzanian entrepreneur working on a scheme to let students ask questions about their syllabus via text message and get AI-picked answers back.
Seeing the range of functional products that different founders had created was amazing. But it was also clear there are many practical steps between having a great idea and running a great business. I gained a greater appreciation of investors’ role in society, allocating capital efficiently to businesses solving genuine problems. I decided that investing would be an exciting career, so I accepted a job at Baillie Gifford.
Beyond the obvious
Part of what attracted me to the Private Companies Team was the depth of relationship we can have with the companies we back. I believe it’s important leaders are grounded in a coherent business philosophy. However, I recognise that different businesses demand different traits, and I’m as interested in a firm that stands out for its resilience and discipline as one that’s excitingly opportunistic.
What matters most is a strong sense of long-termism – a willingness to make difficult, nonobvious decisions that could take years to pay off, and an ability to handle the uncertainties of the future.
Location
Edinburgh, Scotland
Favourite books
Walter Isaacson: Leonardo Da Vinci
Aeham Ahmad: The Pianist of Yarmouk
Important information
Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited (ARBN 118 567 178) is registered as a foreign company under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and holds Foreign Australian Financial Services Licence No 528911. The information in this area is provided to you on the basis that you are a “wholesale client” within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (“Corporations Act”). Please advise Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited immediately if you are not a wholesale client. In no circumstances should the information in this area be made available to “retail clients” as defined by the Corporations Act.
The information in this area contains general information only. It does not take into account any person’s objectives, financial situation or needs.