This South African investor started one of S.A’s first women-run money managers.
Meet, Fatima Vawda
The Godmother of S.A’s Money Managers.
Fatima has championed black-owned and women-run fund managers.
Spotting and investing in them before it was cool to do so.
Born in South Africa.
She grew up in Lenasia.
A little township south of Soweto.
Raised by a single mum.
Selling samosas to get by.
They lived in a matchbox house.
Fatima went to public schools.
Through primary and high school.
Only leaving home to study at University of the Witwatersrand.
After she got a bursary to study a BSc in Applied Mathematics.
Upon graduation.
She went back to Wits University.
And did a Masters in Computational and Applied Math.
She started her career as a lecturer.
Teaching Applied Math at her alma mater.
As the only woman in the Math department.
She left academia 2 years later.
Dropping out of a PhD.
In her quest to get practical skills.
She joined Standard Bank Group’s treasury department.
At a time when Wall Street and financial markets.
Were employing people with analytical skills.
Because of the growth of the derivative markets.
Fatima soon began trading derivatives.
And pricing portfolios.
She left Standard Bank Group to join Mercury (later sold to Peregrine Holdings Limited).
A stockbroking and advisory firm.
Where she worked as a quantitative analyst.
Developing investment ideas and pitching them to fund managers.
In 2002, she left Peregrine to join WIPHOLD.
A black women-owned investment company.
Where she led a fund of funds.
Investing in black-owned and women-led fund managers.
In 2007, when WIPHOLD decided to become a passive investor.
And pulled out of operating companies.
Fatima decided to go out on her own.
Starting 27four Investment Managers.
After seeing a gap in the market.
For black asset management incubators.
With about $1,080 in savings.
She got a deal on office space in the basement of a hotel.
And the rest is history.
And today, 27 four is one of S.A.’s biggest women-owned multi-managers. It
📈 Manages over $6+ billion in African and global public and private funds.
👑 Invested in 60+ black and women-owned asset managers managing $55+ billion
🏆First in S.A. to start a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Asset Manager Program in 2007.
27 four was the 1st investor in leading investment firms like MAZI ASSET MANAGEMENT, Aeon Investment Management (Pty) Ltd., Sentio Capital Management.
Fatima sits on the board of Association for Savings & Investment South Africa (ASISA) and Financial Sector Transformation Council.
What are your thoughts on Fatima’s story?
Let me know in the comments. 👇
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The value of emotion in E-Commerce
True Digital
We have all seen the effect of ‘best practice‘ on digital design, particularly when it comes to ecommerce. Is there more to consider when designing for ecom? And are we missing an opportunity by driving more and more towards ‘a singularity‘? Brands spend a huge amount of time and money on standing out and creating an emotional response, only to forego this when it comes to their online stores. We set out to understand why…
This whitepaper focuses on the results of primary research which utilises AI to measure the emotional response of users to ecommerce platforms. Exploring the idea that current ecommerce best-practice is missing out on the potential value emotional design techniques can add to sales journeys and users’ likelihood to buy.
- Ecommerce sites are becoming homogenised in a way that offers little brand differentiation or emotional pull to the product.
- Evidence shows increased engagement when using animations, micro-interactions, hover-states, content-design etc.
- With changes in approach to technical architecture, adding richer experiences to a website no longer needs to impact performance.
- Discover how to best implement these findings on your platform.
Scenes from Letshego Ghana Savings and Loans' GHC 500m bond listing ceremony at Ghana Stock Exchange(Cedi house) earlier today. As joint arrangers, we're proud to be part of this success story.
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At Stanbic Bank, we're committed to supporting businesses in scaling and accessing development funding.
How e-commerce has impacted Africa and how digital marketing plays a crucial role in its growth:
- Market Access and Convenience: E-commerce has provided African consumers with unprecedented access to a wide range of products and services, irrespective of their location. Digital marketplaces and online stores allow consumers to shop conveniently from their homes or mobile devices, overcoming geographical barriers and improving access to goods that may not be available locally.
- Digital Payment Solutions: E-commerce growth in Africa has been facilitated by the rise of digital payment solutions. Mobile money platforms, such as M-Pesa in Kenya and MTN Mobile Money in several countries, have made it easier for consumers to make secure online payments, thus driving e-commerce transactions and reducing reliance on cash payments.
- Market Expansion for Businesses: E-commerce has enabled African businesses, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to expand their reach beyond local markets and access a broader customer base. Digital marketing plays a crucial role in helping these businesses promote their products and services to both local and international customers through channels such as social media advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), and email marketing.
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- Customer Engagement and Loyalty: Digital marketing enables e-commerce businesses to engage with customers effectively through various channels such as social media, email marketing, and personalized messaging. By providing valuable content, offers, and customer support, businesses can build strong relationships with customers, enhance brand loyalty, and encourage repeat purchases.
- Data-driven Marketing Strategies: E-commerce businesses in Africa leverage data analytics and insights to develop targeted marketing strategies and optimize their online sales funnels. By analyzing customer behavior, preferences, and purchase patterns, businesses can tailor their marketing messages and promotions to maximize conversion rates and ROI.
- Logistics and Fulfillment Optimization: Digital marketing plays a role not only in driving sales but also in optimizing logistics and fulfillment processes. E-commerce businesses utilize digital marketing channels to communicate shipping information, delivery updates, and customer support, ensuring a seamless shopping experience for customers and building trust in the brand.
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This picture shows exactly how our monetary system works.
In 1929, the average US house price was around $6k.
10 kg of Gold was worth $7k - hence it was enough to buy you the average house in the US.
In 2024, the average US house price is around $500k.
10kg of Gold are worth more than $700k - still more than enough to buy you the average US house.
So, while house prices measured in USD exploded over the last decades it's safe to say they ended up unchanged when measured in Gold.
Or, in other words: Gold did a good job in preserving your inflation-adjusted purchasing power.
But why?
Because our monetary system allows us to freely print new fiat money through the process of credit creation.
And the housing market relies on one of the biggest credit creation machines in the world: mortgages.
You see, especially over the last 50 years most developed economies have applied the same model: lower and lower (real) interest rates, more and more leverage - either through government or private sector debt.
This has allowed the economy and asset markets to keep flourishing despite ageing demographics and declining productivity.
Being able to take out a mortgage at lower and lower interest rates encourages the process of credit creation: the same amount of salary ''allows'' you to take on a bigger mortgage, and so you can bid house prices higher and higher.
Simply speaking: more credit at lower rates pushes house prices (in USD terms) higher over time.
But as new credit generates new fiat currency, this also means the amount of fiat money in the system explodes higher.
And that's it.
That's why when you measure house prices against a competing form of money (gold) whose supply can't be expanded you get a flatline.
A fully elastic fiat system is great - if used properly, it allows policymakers to support economies during downturns through the process of money creation.
But if handled improperly, it can also lead to explosive moves in asset prices and/or to inflationary pressures!
P.S. I am launching my Macro Fund!
We’ve been analysing trends in Agtech across Africa through our intelligence platform AgBase backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. AgBase aims to improve the quality and relevance of data and intelligence to stakeholders in the sectors looking to boost funding and support agtech and foodtech startups in underserved markets.
Check out 5 emerging insights that we’ve gathered from the first quarter of 2024 in this infographic. You can also subscribe to our AgBase newsletter for the latest funding data and insights into the active innovators and funders within Africa’s agtech ecosystem
