Alexandra McGuigan, CEO & Founder, Inclusive Asset Management, 'Success is more about consistency than being smart', Episode 63

Investing Matters

To quote Melinda Gates, “When we invest in women, we invest in a powerful source of global development”. With that in mind, welcome to this insightful global women’s, diversity and inclusivity champion Alexandra McGuigan, the CEO and Founder, of Inclusive Asset Management.

Inclusive AM is a consulting firm focused on changing the face of the asset management industry. They do so by giving visibility to diverse investment talent and helping them to access wider networks to improve their chances at success.

‍The Asset Management industry favours larger fund managers as they are deemed less risky. The problem is, as assets under management grow, returns tend to decrease incrementally. This means that new innovative fund managers never make it to scale, and investment returns are stifled by size.

Inclusive AM’s goal is to change that and therefore change where capital flows go, to ensure the growth potential of innovative fund managers. Although women and minorities are overrepresented in top quartile investment performance, they end up managing one cent in the dollar. This presents an exceptional opportunity for allocators to have greater diversity in their portfolios. Inclusive AM works with diverse managers to change the demographics of the investment industry.

Prior to founding Inclusive AM, Alexandra was the Global Development Director for 100 Women in Finance and was responsible for all business development and corporate engagement.

A sales and marketing strategist with a specialisation in alternative investments, Alexandra has successfully helped international fund managers navigate and develop a presence in the APAC region, raising over $2.5 billion AUM from institutional investors.

Based in Singapore, Alexandra has also held senior roles at Tribeca Investment Partners, SHED Enterprises, and Investec, where she was responsible for developing and implementing sales and marketing strategy for products and new business opportunities.

Alexandra has worked with international fund managers, across asset classes including GAM, Adveq, Och Ziff, Diamond Asset Advisors and Qblue Balanced.

She started her career in Asset Management at BNY Mellon Asset Management.

Alexandra is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst and a CAIA Singapore Chapter Executive. She holds an MBA majoring in International Business from UTS and has a BA Media Communications, Sydney University. She has studied in Australia, France and the USA.

Although fewer females are in the stockmarket or are in leading positions as CEOs, CFOs, Founders, Fund Managers, Asset Managers or Wealth Managers, numerous studies have found that women investors over the long-term outperform their male peers. In this fascinatingly insightful Investing Matters interview Alexandra McGuigan will share with you the inspiring career path and investment journey that has taken her around the world, enabled her to speak various languages and light the entrepreneurial leadership spark in many men and countless women around the world in her quest to make the Asset Management industry far more inclusive.

Topics and discussions also include:

-Career starting in the Wine Industry

-Passion for education and continual learning

-Roles, experiences & lessons working in the Asset Management industry

-Personal investing strategy

-Role as CEO & overview of Inclusive AM

-Benefits of diversity & inclusivity for Corporations

-Gender pay gap

-Imposter Syndrome & Confidence

-Importance of good leaders & mentors

-Private Equity, supply chains

-Financial discipline / Superannuation / Compounding

-Good investment opportunity

-Succeeding against the odds

- 100 Women in Finance / Gender Equality / Diversity / Inclusion

- CAIA Association

-Association of Investment Companies research

-The importance of backing yourself & self-development

-Raising your first billion dollars

-Unconscious bias

-Inspiring & investing in others

-Plans to launch a Woman’s Fund

- and much more