The world of financial services is agile and competent, especially asset management. Leaders must understand their client’s investment objectives and risk requirements to deliver cutting-edge investment strategies to attain desired results. Serving such an aggressive industry with ever-evolving new technologies, global market conditions and regulations, and managing assets requires first-class skills and an undying passion. It is not every day that the world sees leaders like Naleni Govender, who has positioned herself as a thought leader in the asset management industry in South Africa.
Currently, Naleni spearheads as the Managing Director at Enko Capital Investments in South Africa. Her journey traces its roots back to her bittersweet beginnings in a small town in South Africa, where she had access to limited resources, but she made the most out of it. Naleni has achieved many milestones in her career, but her ultimate vision is to deliver investment excellence in the asset management industry and empower the young talent in the industry within the South African market.
From Aspiration to Reality
From a young age, Naleni took an avid interest in the financial service industry. Her exposure to global markets came through watching leading TV channels like CNN International and reading various newspapers like Business Day to understand financial markets and the global flow of money between various investment instruments from stocks to bonds and unlisted assets. Adding wings to her passion, she continued discovering more about finance through high school, pursuing an undergraduate degree in Finance & Economics from the University of Natal in South Africa. And this became the starting point of her journey in the financial services industry.
Creating a Greater Social Impact and Growth
Naleni feels personally connected to social impact, every day when she walks into the office at Enko Capital South Africa. She works for an organization founded by Africans and at its core is a business earning its income from working for the continent. The organization is also a proud ambassador for the African continent and is focussed on attracting global capital into African markets across Private and Public Debt and Private Equity. The team lives and breathes Impact every day, and she feels honoured to work in an organization where every individual focuses on developing Africa through the roles they fulfil.
Recognizing Work Beyond Just a Role or Job – Finding Purpose
In her career of two successful decades in asset management, Naleni has been intentional in ensuring that her role does not create an imbalance between personal and professional life because there is constant alignment to purpose, passion, and perseverance. Serving such an effective industry from a private markets perspective allows Naleni to fulfil a purpose that cannot be classified as professional work vs personal life but is an extension of who she is and how she expresses herself in life.
A Warrior Mindset to Overcome Challenges and Achieve Victory
Every successful leader understands the importance of core competencies, qualities, and values. And, Naleni too, is a firm believer in the same. The most important thing is her commitment to ongoing personal development. It is necessary to accept, whether in personal or professional life, that there will always be challenges and deviations on the path to success and achievement. She has always faced challenges head-on and stayed true to herself. She understands that challenges help one to grow and advance as an individual and within the workplace. So yes, DO LEARN from failure and setbacks. This is what builds character and facilitates personal growth.
Moreover, hard work and perseverance are core to Naleni’s values and have allowed her to achieve the success that she has today in her area of expertise. These align 100% with her upbringing within a working-class family where there was constant focus and perseverance to achieve financial freedom. She adds, “Coming to my family life, I have two children aged 12 and 8 who are from a generation focused on instant gratification due to their exposure to technology and social media. I ensure that they understand the value of hard work and effort, that it is OK to fail, and that failure is a gift for personal growth. You cannot answer the world’s problems through ChatGPT and other AI apps. Life is not that simple!”
Naleni gives full credit to her parents for being a constant source of inspiration and motivation to achieve success in all aspects of her life. They sacrificed their goals to ensure she had everything she needed to succeed in her life and career. They believed in education and its value in uplifting individuals, families, and communities.
Leading a Transformation
Naleni has a transformational leadership style where she believes in inspiring and motivating teams towards innovation, growth, and positive culture. All this stems from lessons she has learnt from inspirational leaders and businesses in the asset management industry who have guided her and contributed significantly to her growth and development.
An example would be working at RisCura with CEO Jarred Glansbeek, who cultivated a culture of accountability and hard work for success. His business is now a leading asset consulting house globally with proudly South African roots.
Empowering and Establishing Aspiring Talent
Naleni has noted that being a minority in the financial services industry has been challenging to navigate. She is a minority by demographic and gender, and her journey was filled with peaks and troughs, every single experience leaving her better off. She is deeply grateful for the lessons learnt and the exceptionally talented men and women in the industry who have supported and enabled her growth and development.
After spending over 20 years in the industry, Naleni recognizes the urgency of guiding those who aspire towards a successful career in asset management. She knows that the young minds of today will become powerful leaders of tomorrow, seeing education and training playing a key role in their overall upliftment. Hence, she has started a mentorship program in her capacity that allows her to give back to the business development profession, enabling talent development- an effective tool to empower budding professionals and a positive impact on the industry in South Africa.
Personal Well-Being is a Prime Priority
Working in the finance industry requires skill and deep understanding of markets in the regions of focus in a highly competitive environment. In Naleni’s career, she has experienced burnout as she did not know when to STOP. She asserts, “The constant need to prove yourself because you are not part of the established networks is difficult to overcome as it does set you back from establishing yourself in the profession. In Hindsight, if I could do it again, I would have relied more heavily on my mentors in the industry and asked for support.” Having mentorship from those who have walked the road before you is so critically important as practical knowledge and key insights cannot be taught at university or a lecture on finance.
With that said, it is also important to prioritize mental, physical, emotional and spiritual well-being to ensure a balanced life. The COVID-19 pandemic was a life-changing event in everyone’s lives. During the lockdown period, Naleni found comfort in alternative healing to deal with the challenges. She went back to her eastern roots through meditation and chakra balancing which taught her patience and that one should always stay aligned with the flow of life across all aspects. The moment one decides to swim against the current is when one feels challenged and faces difficulty. Personal grounding techniques have proven useful in dealing with challenges in the work environment.
Naleni’s aspirations are focused on her family. However, she also has goals that she would like to achieve for herself including the mentorship initiative all of which are impact-focused. She and her spouse are building a legacy for their children and grandchildren to take forward and continue to grow – a positive generational impact on the world.
The IKIGAI Way of Life
Success is not an overnight phenomenon- it is a far-fetched journey that one achieves with much anticipation and hard work. Naleni, a dynamic personality, has learned that any goal she sets out to achieve in life requires hard work and effort to see results. And the result requires meaning to feel fulfilled and gives a sense of achievement.
Naleni has applied the Japanese concept of IKIGAI as the core of how she lives her life. IKIGAI promotes a balance between finding meaning and achieving success in her career through service to humanity by promoting investment into real assets within the African continent. She proudly states, “I am a citizen of the African continent, 3rd generation to be exact and I feel a sense of urgency to bring change and uplift the continent to its full potential through my role in asset management.”
Sailing on the Voyage of Success
Naleni defines success as her ability to develop and implement growth strategies for asset management businesses. This includes driving growth in assets under management across existing products and the development of new products that meet the target market needs across listed and unlisted solutions. She is also passionate and driven about people and developing talent in her area of expertise to create an ongoing succession of skills and knowledge within the asset management industry in South Africa.
Naleni’s perspective has changed as her purpose is no longer just focused on achieving the numbers but on achieving growth through alignment with purpose and a positive impact on society. She is still achieving success in growing businesses but in an area of asset management with the most impact, Private markets in Africa.
