A woman’s view on the world of investments – Bonolo Zwane

Women don’t believe in themselves as an investment

Hedge funds: are they still misunderstood?

Generally speaking, yes. Unfortunately sometimes for good reason but mostly due to misconceptions.

Also, there’s a large emotional attachment to investing in hedge funds. Even the most knowledgeable investors still worry about potential reputational risks in case they bet on the wrong horse. The entire re-construction of Blue Ink as a business, as well as how our brand is perceived, was done keeping the emotional aspect in mind. So we’ve had to be more artistic than scientific in our thinking. Personally I always try to remember that in my old life, even as an investment analyst on the traditional investment side, I had misconceptions about hedgies myself.

Bonolo Zwane
CEO of Blue Ink Investments

In your opinion, what is the greatest investment mistake that women make?

Not having conviction in themselves as an investment. Predictable response, but it still holds true. Other than that, forget Naspers, women are some of the best money managers! They tend to grow whatever they have – money into more, children into better, and men into greater! Diversification and growth in one.

What can the industry do to make investing more accessible to first-time investors?

Most of us in the industry come across first-time investors all the time, through our families or friends or even through work. But we don’t see this as an opportunity to take people across to the other side. Whatever we say or don’t say either creates a barrier or an access point.

If we don’t know these people first hand, how do we more smartly mine useful information that the industry has collected over time to tell us who the first-time investors could be, where these people are, and how to reach them while they’re doing what they always do? Trust aside, the convenience factor in itself is a trigger for investing – or not.

Finally, I think the answer lies outside of the mainstay of the industry. It may be a disruptor to the traditional industry as we’ve come to know it. So it’s a tricky balance to keep our eye on what’s worked in the past and to step outside of ourselves to make sure we’re still relevant tomorrow.

Many people are thinking hard about this already but wherever the answer lies, the regulator will be an important partner in execution, given that the heart of what they do is to ensure safe waters for first-time and long-time investors.