Next Gen Take Over

Nine personalities. Eight very personal columns. These future leaders write about the issues closest to their hearts.

ANNA VANESSA HAOTANTO

COO & PARTNER OF ABZD CAPITAL

THINKING LONG TERM AND INVESTING IN THE UNINVESTABLE

Recently, as I approach my mid-30s, I’ve encountered many friends who are afflicted with illnesses or life-threatening situations. This made me question my own mortality and purpose in life: “ What am I doing this for? What impact am I leaving? Is the world a better place because of me?”

Finance and investments have always been my passions. Having grown up in a difficult financial situation, I’m a firm believer in education and how it empowers people. With proper financial access and education, any individual holds the power to create opportunities for themselves. This will have a positive net effect on the communities around them. A Unesco report estimated that if every student in low-income countries had basic reading skills when they left school, more than 170 million people would rise out of poverty.

I started my career in banking but quickly realised that I wasn’t making the impact I desired. The basic tenets of finance are to create profits and maximise value. But I personally believe that it’s not enough to make money. It is also our duty to help those who can’t help themselves, and to better society. We have to invest responsibly and focus on investing in the uninvestable.

What is “uninvestable”? We have to venture beyond the usual model and asset classes – public markets, real estate, hedge funds, commodities and venture capital – and look at the things professionals traditionally term as “unprofitable”. The world is changing rapidly and I fear that in our comfort zones, we are not progressing as quickly. Hence, we cannot afford to do things the way they have been done for the past decade.