We understand that scaling a business towards rapid, sustainable and profitable growth is hard and takes time. We help our portfolio companies by providing long-term capital and support, and I am focused on enabling and facilitating this support.
Integrity and adversity
Working as a student volunteer in East Africa’s jails gave me a deep appreciation for the importance of justice and integrity. I spent several months interviewing prisoners in Uganda and Kenya, helping lawyers prepare pro-bono defence cases for prisoners being held on remand. Living conditions were horrendous: there was massive overcrowding, disease was rife, and I met few over-50s as inmates rarely survived to that age. The countries’ justice systems were slow and chaotic, the convictions often questionable, and I witnessed corruption first-hand. The experience left me with a burning sense of injustice and underscored the critical roles of strong governance, proper decision-making and transparency in society.
Integrity is one of Baillie Gifford’s core values and involves always putting our clients first. I previously practised as a corporate lawyer for more than 15 years before taking on my current role and recognise the importance of this approach. I now strive to bring this mindset to helping our portfolio companies, mindful that our reputation for being a long-term supportive shareholder was hard-earned.
Investing in relationships
We help our portfolio companies scale their business towards rapid, sustainable and profitable growth. We achieve this by providing long-term capital and long-term support.
We invest capital for the long term through the highs and lows of a company’s scaling journey. I am involved in structuring these capital financings, regardless of whether they are private or public.
We partner with our companies for the long term by actively supporting them to scale their culture and operations. We achieve this through our information advantage. I assist by making connections and enabling information sharing between our companies and Baillie Gifford’s team of more than 350 investment professionals. This knowledge can act as a radar to our companies, helping them understand potential developments in the wider industry and events in the global economy.
We enjoy long-term relationships with the boards and management teams of many companies and other organisations engaged in academia and literature. I can connect our companies to this valuable network. This can be beneficial when they seek introductions to potential board members, customers or people who have faced and overcome similar challenges.
We also support our companies in scaling their operations with long-term strategic opportunities, considering environmental, social and governance matters, and transitioning to the public markets.
Location
Edinburgh, Scotland
Favourite book
Tim Marshall: Prisoners of Geography
Important information
Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited provides investment management and advisory services to non-UK clients and is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority. Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited is not licensed under the Regulation of Investment Advising, Investment Marketing and Portfolio Management Law, 5755-1995 (the “Advice Law”) and does not carry insurance pursuant to the Advice Law.
Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited markets and distributes Baillie Gifford’s range of collective investment schemes to Qualified Clients and Qualified Investors in Israel, as listed in the First Addendum to the Regulation of Investment Advising, Investment Marketing and Portfolio Management Law, 5755-1995 (the “Advice Law”) and in the First Addendum to the Israel Securities Law, 5728-1968 (the “Securities Law”). Detailed disclosure of the collective investment schemes can be found within this website and in the relevant scheme prospectus.
Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited does not provide investment advice. If you are in any doubt about whether an investment is suitable, you should seek independent advice.
No action has been or will be taken in Israel that would permit a public offering or distribution of the Funds mentioned in this website to the public in Israel. This website and the Funds mentioned herein have not been approved by the Israeli Securities Authority (the “ISA”). In addition, the Funds mentioned in this website are not regulated under the provisions of Israel’s Joint Investment Trusts law, 5754-1994 (the “Joint Investment Trusts Law”). This website and the Funds mentioned herein will only be distributed to Israeli residents in reliance on an exemption from any advice or marketing restrictions [in a manner that will not constitute “an offer to the public” under sections 15 and 15a of]/[in reliance on an exemption from the prospectus requirements under] the Israel Securities Law, 5728-1968 (the “Securities Law”) or the Joint Investment Trusts Law, and any guidelines, pronouncements or rulings issued from time to time by the ISA as applicable.