“It felt like I’d won the lottery ticket. But I deserved to be there” – young, black and in investment management
In the past few months we’ve seen the lived experience of black people around the world come to the forefront. The Black Lives Matter movement has pushed for real action on racial injustices and highlighted the challenges black people are facing in our communities, but also in the workplace.
In the UK the figures are stark. Across leadership positions, black people make up just 1.5% of the 3.7m roles across the UK in 2019, according to Business in the Community. In investment management specifically, the 2019 report Black Voices published by the Investment Association (IA) and industry group #TalkAboutBlack, found just under 1% of all fund manager roles were held by black people.
Redressing this will require far-reaching change throughout society, but we can play our part by ensuring our own house is in order. One way to address this absence of black leaders is to look at who is coming into our industry. Are enough black people entering investment management? And when they get here, is our industry a place where they can grow, develop and lead?
Investment20/20, the talent solution for the investment management industry, is specifically focused on this first point by bringing school leavers and graduates from diverse backgrounds into investment management.
We spoke to two young, black people who have both been helped by Investment20/20 in their journey into the industry on their experiences entering investment management and their thoughts on the place of black people within the industry.
First impressions
“I had little to no knowledge of the investment management sector”, said Taofikat Agboola, a young black school leaver from south London, who has just secured a role as an apprentice at Schroders.
Taofikat originally focused on a career in banking, but was introduced to investment management through Investment20/20’s Think Investments programme.
Think Investments is a six-week programme launched by Investment20/20 in 2018 designed to give school leavers and graduates from diverse backgrounds the knowledge, confidence and industry networks they need to become applicant ready for entry-level roles in investment management.
Adeyemi Thomas, working in UK wholesale distribution at GAM, had a similar experience. From east London before studying law at the University of Leicester, Adeyemi’s route into the industry wasn’t obvious.
Adeyemi Thomas, UK Wholesale Distribution at GAM
“I discovered the City quite late. Initially, my preconceptions [were that investment management] was something that was meant for STEM background students.”
After previous experiences in a law firm, Adeyemi felt a lack of diversity. He was introduced to Investment20/20 through word of mouth from his friends before then deciding to pursue a one-year Investment20/20 trainee programme, partnering him up with an investment manager and providing him with skills and development opportunities throughout the year.
Investment20/20 helped change both Taofikat and Adeyemi’s perceptions of investment management and actively encouraged them to consider their possibilities within the industry.
Taofikat stressed the importance of Investment20/20’s support for young people with no knowledge of the sector through mentoring, networking with professionals within the industry, and providing learning opportunities focused on practical skills.
“Job interviews were a challenge […] I didn’t really have the outside, extra-curricular experiences – all these things put together are the things that I’ve been able to work on while on the [Think Investments] programme.”
Inside Investment
“When I started, it seemed like such an impossible accomplishment. There was only one other black person on my floor.”
Adeyemi was initially hesitant about a career in investment management. The knowledge that there were few people like him, including at senior levels, loomed large over his initial impression. However once inside the industry, his perceptions began to change in part through positive mentoring.
“When I joined GAM I had a fantastic manager – her mentoring went outside of just my day-to-day work. Little things like how I used to try and articulate myself – she helped me with. The Global Head of Sales took me out for lunch […] and it felt like I’d won the lottery ticket. But as time went on and with the mentoring I had, [I learnt] I deserved to be there – at the time I was the best candidate for the role.”
Adeyemi’s colleagues encouraged him to believe in his professional worth. The IA’s Black Voices report outlines the pivotal role encouragement and support from senior colleagues can play in developing black talent within the industry.
Taofikat Agboola, Apprentice at Schroders
For Taofikat, a work experience day at her prospective employer, Schroders, helped her feel comfortable. It helped allow her to picture herself working at the firm, and gave her a taste for the culture of the firm first-hand. This had a direct influence on her decision to apply. During the interview for her apprenticeship at Schroders she felt excited and nervous. Having met the recruitment manager before helped put her at ease and familiarise her with the process, which enabled her to perform her best in the interview.
“Before I was actually a bit hesitant on applying. It was that element of feeling comfortable and really getting a taste of the culture first-hand that encouraged me to actually go for it and apply there.”
Breaking Barriers
Once they made it into the industry, Adeyemi and Taofikat considered the barriers they have overcome on the way.
Discriminating against someone on the grounds of race is explicitly illegal in the UK, but more insidious cultural barriers can be just as restrictive. Adeyemi believed they weren’t all related to the colour of his skin.
“It’s a race issue but it’s not only that. It’s the inequalities that are attached with being black. This might be a classism issue [too]. It’s difficult to resonate with people when you don’t have shared experiences with them. This is why it’s very important to talk about representation.”
This is borne out in recent research from the Social Mobility Commission which found only 34% of those from working class backgrounds got professional jobs, compared to 60% of those from professional backgrounds.
This class dimension intersects with race to keep professional services beyond the reach of some communities.
Taofikat also highlighted the importance of tackling stigma and negative stereotypes if the industry is to become more embracing of a black workforce. She also outlined how these stereotypes, especially those associated with black males, have a compounding effect by undermining black males’ efforts and the support they are actually given.
These unspoken barriers to black people’s progression into the industry is harder to address than a simple policy change, and requires an active culture shift that meets black people halfway on their journey into the industry, just as they are meeting the industry as they enter by gaining the skills to apply.
Adeyemi believes the number of black people in GAM has increased, but stressed the importance of visible, senior black role models. The industry group #TalkAboutBlack is one such network of senior black industry leaders, which has worked closely with Investment20/20 to provide valuable senior contacts for young black professionals.
But an absence of representation is only part of the problem, as Taofikat discusses in her advice to young black school leavers considering a career in the industry. In the face of barriers in her way, self-confidence and resilience are central.
“There needs to be more black people, particularly women, in the financial industry. That can continue with you. That cycle [of change] can continue with you as long as you persevere and keep going.”
Facing Forward
As custodians of £7.7tn invested by millions of people from the UK and beyond, and with three-quarters of UK households using the services of an investment manager, investment management need to look more like the people whose money we manage.
As the IA called for in 2019, if investment management is to become an industry that doesn’t just accept black people, but actively embraces and celebrates them, it falls upon everyone in the industry to act.
And firms across the industry are taking positive steps in the right direction. Schroders for example is focused on initiatives related to social mobility, and is working to increase its proportion of black and minority ethnic employees. It aims to do this through company research on social mobility, and by creating work experience and internship opportunities as well as specific mentoring initiatives for ethnic minority industry starters.
To achieve this goal, we can learn a lot from the experiences and first impressions of young black people joining and considering our industry as a place to build their career.
Alongside improved representation of black people in senior roles, Adeyemi believes the industry needs to go out to schools and university and speak directly to young people and students so that they are aware of the potential roles within investment management, which Investment20/20’s Investment Ambassadors programme seeks to do.
Involving industry volunteers, Investment Ambassadors go directly into schools and colleges to share their own career journey and careers information with young people who may have never considered a career in investment management. For Black History Month last year, Investment20/20 also put particular emphasis on sending black ambassadors out into schools with a high percentage of black students.
This is just a starting point however. The work of industry initiatives such as Investment20/20 and #TalkAboutBlack must continue to not just support black people into industry, but as Taofikat suggests, they must empower them to lead.
“Investment20/20 has helped me to reach my goal - I haven’t [even] reached my goal – but I’m definitely along the right path.”
