You’ve got to love taking risks

FILE | NATION The Revenue Benefits Authority chief executive, Mr Edward Odundo, explains to a prospective pension scheme member aspects of Mbao Pension Plan during its launch on June 28, 2011. 

In Summary

• It was then a small company.  She would handle many duties, including marketing and sales and research, before she was promoted to assistant finance manager in 2004. She worked as the finance manager for Kenya and Uganda until 2009, when she was promoted to her current position.

Sometimes people have extra money that they do not know what to do with. These people may require the assistance of an investment adviser to help them invest the money and grow it.

That is just what Anne Muya, the head of business development and retail at Stanlib, does.

Stanlib is an asset and wealth management company based in South Africa but with a regional office in Nairobi.

Ms Muya’s job concerns helping clients to make investment decisions. She manages both personal investments and corporate accounts, such as pension funds.

People like her are the opposite of investment bankers, whose job is to create bonds and stocks for the public to buy. Many of the buyers of these products are investment managers who do so on behalf of their clients.

Ms Muya is in charge of Stanlib’s business development and client relationships in East Africa. She is involved in the invention of new products, their distribution, as well as strategy development and retention of clients.

She has to consider the degree of diversification that makes sense for the different categories of clients, given their risk preferences, and construct lists of holdings suitable for them.

Her typical day involves meetings, both in-house and with clients. She has to juggle several tasks as the day progresses, including compliance issues. This makes the job unpredictable, but that is what makes it interesting for her.

Ms Muya joined the organisation in the operations and finance department in 2000.

It was then a small company.  She would handle many duties, including marketing and sales and research, before she was promoted to assistant finance manager in 2004. She worked as the finance manager for Kenya and Uganda until 2009, when she was promoted to her current position.

It is such diverse exposure that she considers responsible for propelling her to the position of investment manager.

Even though the firm has seen general growth in portfolios and client numbers, the expansion of the company has not been without challenges.

The industry is dictated by external factors, which sometimes confine fund performances to below-average levels. That means facing unhappy and sometimes inpatient clients.

For instance, says Ms Muya, most fund managers made losses in 2011 and 2012. One, therefore, needs to be focused and resilient.

As an investment adviser or manager, you have to keep at it even when you are not motivated. “You have to be a very positive person in bad and good times because sales are the bloodline of the company,” she says.

Foresight is important for the job, which also requires high energy because every so often, you will be required to swim against the tide.

This means that one has to be aggressive while at the same time taking care not to hurt established relationships.

Risk-taking, is the name of the game. Ms Muya says busin