Investment Community #7

Khaya Gobodo, MD of Old Mutual Investments, was my special guest on the Investment Community podcast. 

The recording-quality of the more important end of the conversation is unfortunately quite poor. I hope you’ll find that the exceptional quality of Khaya’s engagement more than compensates for my technical deficiencies.

In this episode Khaya tells:

* How it feels to get a call at 11pm from a government minister when your organisation pulls a credit line to a state-owned enterprise.

* How easily conflicts of interest are resolved if you always act in the best interests of your clients.

* How he sees his role at Old Mutual as the curator of an investment ecosystem that comprises five independent units, each with its own unique culture.

We also discussed:

* The challenges of addressing, in an equitable way, the ever-pressing problems of racism, sexism and ageism.

* The problems that arise when skilled investment professionals are promoted into leadership positions without having developed the necessary soft skills.

* The probability that more than half of SA’s investment firms will not survive.

Khaya Gobodo is MD of Old Mutual Investments, where he oversees both the listed and unlisted asset management businesses of Old Mutual. He began his investment career in 1999 at Investec Asset Management (now renamed Ninety-One), before leaving to co-found Afena Capital in 2005, where he acted as CIO. Khaya returned to Investec for a 3-year stint as director and strategy leader, before taking up his current position at Old Mutual.

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