I started my career at Merrill Lynch (now BofA) in London, within the Healthcare investment banking team delivering IPOs, equity sell-downs, bonds as well as M&A. I moved to Dubai over a decade ago and lead our coverage of some of our key Sovereign Wealth Fund, Government Related Entity and large corporate clients. My role is incredibly varied advising boards and executive management teams on some of their most important and strategic decisions.
Advising on landmark corporate actions such as IPOs, M&A and bonds as well as more critical systemic actions such as financing working capital and optimising cash management means each project is unique. Some secular trends such as the increasing focus on ESG and technology reach across sectors, corporates and geographies and are important to be fully engaged with and are fascinating topics to debate in themselves.
I think the knowledge hub is fantastic with a wealth of insight across both technical and strategic topics.
Optimistic, tenacious, empathetic
The world is becoming increasingly volatile and we're seeing trends accelerate - energy transition and technology are cases in point. The momentum, investment and adoption of hydrogen, fuel cells, AI, cloud computing, FinTech and the internet of things is phenomenal. As a result, Treasurers need to be nimble and think through the systems, processes and demands of the future all with the backdrop of a pandemic, inflation and moves towards localisation.
2021 saw an incredible amount of capital being deployed into the debt capital markets and subsequently the public and private equity markets. This created an unprecedented environment to enable M&A and IPOs. As we enter 2022, we are facing more hawkish central banks and equity markets are near to historic highs, which with continued supply chain constraints and geopolitics lead to the potential for greater volatility. Treasurers will need to carefully focus on both fundamental and markets signals as they consider their investment decisions and optimising funding.
There are two pieces of advice I try to remember everyday. Firstly, ask the question and make the plan! If something is unclear, there's a high chance that others in the room feel the same and it's surprising how many discussions end without a clear action plan, summarise the call and make a proposal. It's also a great way to build a presence. The second is, that we make the choice everyday how we treat people; give joy and receive joy back - create the culture!
Treasury is of fundamental importance to companies; it reflects the lifeblood of the organisation and offers significant opportunities to be both technical and strategic and to grapple with some of the key challenges facing the corporate world today. Within Treasury and finance more broadly, you can really develop your career to suit your strengths and interests.
It’s two-fold, which are to some extent interlinked. While the finance industry recruits broadly across subjects, there remains a tendency for technical subjects to be more dominated by boys. The funnel starts there. We need to engage and appeal to kids before the age of 14, which I think is beginning to happen. Secondly, Finance is much more strategic than it can sound! A great deal of creativity and strategic thinking is required and the ability to communicate is important.
Cars, dinosaurs, Frozen, horses...I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old so my interests are their interests! I have started to try and exercise but that's a recent initiative.