Investit, the specialist business consultancy to the investment management industry, has opened its first office in the MENA region. Investit, which already has offices in London and Sydney, has been advising investment management firms and their supporting custodians, administrators and service providers since 1998. Investit staff typically have over ten years experience in investment management and have detailed knowledge in their specialist areas.
“We have been working for well established investment management organisations in the GCC since 2003,” says Catherine Doherty, regional CEO. “We are impressed by the ambition in the region to build profitable businesses founded on sound products and operational practices. We feel our experience of working for over 140 different global and local management firms will be applicable here.”
The firm is demonstrating its commitment to the region by making three senior appointments to the MENA office. Catherine Doherty, one of the founders of Investit Ltd, is moving out to head the office. Richard Phillipson, who has been with Investit since 2001, moves from the London office to take the role of Director of Institutional Consulting. Ehab El Sawy, who has been working in the region since 2004, has joined the firm as Regional Director.
“We work on projects as broad as company strategy and as detailed as writing operational procedures. The team we can call on locally and bring in from London and Sydney means we can cover every aspect of our clients’ business; we work from product design through to pricing a fund,” says Phillipson. “CEOs are looking at how they can quickly bring their businesses to maturity with a platform that will deliver economies of scale and growing profitability. We are unique in being able to join up the business, operational and IT requirements. A great proportion of our business comes from repeat business, so clearly our clients believe it works for them.”
El Sawy has joined Investit with eleven years of experience of banking and investment management, of which the past five were spent in the region.
“My own experience in the region with local and international firms tells me there will be increasing competition,” says Sawy. “The local specialist investment managers, the banks and financial conglomerates all want to provide institutions, family offices and retail clients with a good service and to do it efficiently and profitably. As investors and distributors become more careful about what they buy, investment managers are going to have to demonstrate to clients and regulators their solid product and operational foundations. We are looking forward to offering Investit’s global experience to help regional firms to flourish both in the local and international markets.”
D.C.