Private companies

Tara Sophia Sallis

Investment manager

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Sophia Sallis Tara standing while clutching a notepad.
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

Get in touch

Send a message to Tara, or email the Private Companies Team directly.

Important information

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Baillie Gifford Investment Management (Europe) Limited is authorised and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland (Reference number C182354) as an Alternative Investment Fund Manager and UCITS Manager to Baillie Gifford Worldwide Funds plc. Its registered office is 4/5 School House Lane East, Dublin 2, D02 N279, Ireland.
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