Creating opportunities in which new investment talent can grow is crucial for the future of the South African economy Mail & Guardian Reporter Attracting new black talent into the investment and asset management field is crucial to transform it from Oa closed shop, a white boysO clubO, says Raymond Ndlovu, investment and assets manager of the Cape Town-based firm, Prodigy. To help develop such talent the company identifies youngsters interested in investment-related fields and helps them finance their tertiary education. For every R500-million worth of new assets, one youngster receives a university bursary. At present there are three on the programme: two at the University of the Witwatersrand and one at the University of Cape Town. Creating opportunities in which new investment talent, predominately black, can grow is crucial, says Ndlovu. But this cannot be done without giving young black talent access to white experience. OIt is a synergy. We all will be judged on one criterion: performance.O The Zimbabwean-educated Ndlovu (34) is one of a small, but slowly increasing number of black professionals in this field. He turned his back on merchant banking when he returned to South Africa in 1995 and now advises individual and corporate clients, who turn to Prodigy for guidance on how to reinvest savings to increase their capital. OYou are right at the epicentre of commerce and industry,O he says. But being black in an area traditionally represented by white males holds additional challenges.
OUntil you open your mouth you can see people are edgy,O Ndlovu says. OI think I just buckle down. IOm confident in who I am. I know what IOm doing.O Black professionals must deal with the fact that there are not many role models, and the extra pressure of being among the few. OSuccess in what you do carries the responsibility of knowing you are a role model,O says Ndlovu. OItOs important not to allow a gulf to develop between you and the people who want to be like you. The responsibility you have is to raise people behind you, to give people the confidence to believe in themselves.O That is what investment banking is about. Ndlovu says people must be recognised for their worth and ability to contribute. If they represent different cultures, then that becomes an additional value, not something to be discouraged. ODiversity is not a threat. ItOs an addition rather than a detraction.O Prodigy represents an enabling, dynamic environment. A third of the company is staff owned. Fifty-eight percent is controlled by Union Alliance Financial Services, representing about 2,3-million workers though their various participating unions.
The company also runs a 10-week free course to educate trustees on their roles and duties following legislative changes in the mid-Nineties to allow for anyone to be nominated and elected to the board of, for example, retirement or pension funds. Ndlovu is confident of Africa and South AfricaOs potential. His merchant banking experience in Zimbabwe has taught him potential investors are largely enthusiastic and often more so than Africans themselves. OAfricans are sometimes their worst enemies because of suspicion of foreign capital.O Ndlovu admits he was hired when he confessed to prospective employers that he knew the theory of merchant banking, but little else. In the end he facilitated, among other things, the establishment of a brewery the whole plant was imported from Germany and a shoe factory.
South Africa has a small, competitive market in which about 100 registered firms of which Prodigy with its estimated assets of R2-billion is one compete for a relatively small pool of clients. Savings are not highly regarded because of South AfricaOs consumer-oriented culture. Although South Africa has the talent, skills and potential there are no special rules for the country, warns Ndlovu. OThe challenge is: think global, play global.O He says attitudes must change. OPeople need to get out of this attitude of OI am owed a livingO; but rather ask, OWhat can I do for myself? What can I do for my country?OO