Could you please introduce yourself?
My name is Otua Sobukwe. I'm a senior double majoring in Economics and Political Science and I'm originally from Cape Town, South Africa.
How was your experience this past summer at Wellington Management as an Investment Research analyst?
It was honestly a truly fantastic experience. This was my first time doing an internship on the buy-side and I felt that Wellington was very intellectual and collaborative, very flatly structured and the people I was working with were really genuine. I think that prior to this internship I sort of had this perception that the world of finance was somewhat sharp-elbowed, cold, and competitive and while I was told by older peers that there was a culture shift on the buy side, I didn’t expect such a friendly and supportive environment at Wellington. This was such an added bonus, especially during this time of COVID. Naturally, my internship was virtual, but I left having felt truly integrated into the Wellington ecosystem. The program was extremely well organized and structured, deliverables were clear and HR would check in on us daily to see how we were managing. Our cohort would also meet daily and we would candidly share progress on our individual research projects. Our program managers also ensured that we were able to connect with other investors in the firm and expand our network, despite a virtual environment. They did this by helping schedule coffee chats and encouraging us to attend social events hosted by affinity groups or guest speakers. Overall, I felt incredibly fortunate for the experience to learn and grow as much as I did.
What does an Investment Research Analyst do and what did you get to work on?
I was interning as part of a program called Early Career Investors which is essentially five-year investment research focused rotational program. If hired for full time, you come back as a Research Associate and rotate between different asset classes and teams. Some RAs end up loving their first rotation and will end up staying on one team, others follow the more traditional rotation - it truly depends on the individual. Work can include fundamental research, modeling, industry research, etc. Typically, RAs tend to move up as analysts and then Portfolio Managers, but there are various other great roles within the firm - it’s all about finding that symbiotic fit. ECI interns were placed on different teams across asset classes and each given an individual project. I was placed on the ESG team (yay!) and was asked to do ESG research on the Interactive Media & Services sector. ESG is essentially an emerging investment strategy that looks at a company's performance beyond just its fundamentals. It's kind of saying, you don't need to sacrifice profits by putting people first and that research has in fact proven a higher return when you consider environmental, social, and governance factors in your investment decision. ESG questions could include things like, “What is the voting structure of the board?” or “How does management handle scandals?”, or “How are they addressing algorithmic bias?” I was given four Big Tech stocks and was asked to create a framework to assess and compare the highest ESG risks present, demonstrate the materiality of these risks, while also providing a framework for further engagement. It was the coolest project ever. Extremely challenging, thought-provoking and so relevant in our current political climate. Because ESG is still ‘new territory’, there is very little consensus on how to approach certain issues - let alone assess or demonstrate materiality. I definitely felt that my project required some creativity (and slight existentialism) to crack some of those puzzles. I hope to continue within the realm of ESG during my career. As an ECI intern, you were also placed in a group data science project. Using Python, my partner and I were given consumer spending data before and during COVID and we were asked to assess and estimate future sector performance.ECI interns also began with a week of intensive training the first week which covered accounting, modeling, and Python. Altogether this was a lot to balance, but the collaborative nature of the firm and the genuine support provided by our program managers made all the difference.
You’ve been involved at BLK Capital Management for quite a while now. Can you tell us more about it and what you have gained from this experience?
BLK is awesome. I heard about it through a senior in my freshman year who had joined.
I'm not sure how much you know about the story but essentially Angel Onuoha, a Harvard undergrad, created a black-focused finance club at Harvard following an internship he had on Wall Street where he noticed diversity was lacking. Angel attributes some of this to increased barriers of entry for minority students who don’t come into college with financial knowledge/jargon as compared to their white peers. This is prevalent at Wellesley too and the disparity is even more pronounced for low-income students.
So BLK essentially aims to redress that gap through an educational program and active money management.
The way BLK works is you submit a formal application and go through their interviewing process, which usually involves a stock pitch or counter pitch. The program has been growing more and more selective from what I have heard, however, there is an effort to have a diverse class of students (in terms of geographical spread, college type, majors, gender, etc).
As a BLK analyst, you’ll be given several readings and assignments and be invited to participate in a stock competition, typically attended by various recruiters.
As a liberal arts student, it is a fantastic opportunity to gain technical acumen, network with link-minded peers, and learn more about the world of finance in general. As a POC, being surrounded by so many other passionate black students that are also going into the same industry was very encouraging. It restores hope and confidence to see black brilliance shine in such a competitive, mostly cis-white men field.
I would encourage Wellesley students to apply to programs like BLK. Career guidance is unfortunately limited at Wellesley (especially for finance) so programs like MLT or SEO are so instrumental.
What advice would you give to students who might not have a background in finance? Advice on how to reach out to mentors or networking, just to get their foot in the door?
It’s so hard. I think the most important thing about finance is really showing a passion for it. Recruiters are very good at spotting the fakes and people that don't know what the industry is about or just going in for very narrow intentions. I think that if you can develop an interest in one industry and track its movements by reading the news every day, that's probably the best way to begin familiarizing yourself with the language and market mechanisms. Maybe choose two or three stocks that you're passionate about. They can be beauty stocks or retail, just learn their history, learn their company performance. See how they performed over the past two or three years. Start qualitatively - why is their product successful? What have been their major scandals? Who are their biggest competitors? do they want to expand, just trying to become very macro at the beginning, and then narrowing down to more granular details helps spike that initial interest. Apart from that, technical interviewing skills are definitely super important and even though we do come from a liberal arts college and we are given more leniency in the interview process, there’s still a certain level of expectation. So similarly, learn the basics of accounting and begin applying it to the stocks you’re following - how leveraged is this company? Where does this company expect to see growth and why? Is the market accurately pricing in future headwinds/tailwinds?
I would recommend starting with the Wall Street Oasis Technical Interview Guide. It's about 70 pages, it's all abbreviated, mostly definitions. A lot of it is parrot-fashion definition learning, and there are some basic formulas. That's a good starting point. I know there's a number of other ones but that was what I leaned on the most. Then just watching documentaries, watching/reading as many classics on the industry as possible however unrealistic they are.
From a networking perspective, LinkedIn is great. It's even better if you can actually meet that person physically for an actual coffee chat. Obviously COVID is difficult, but this can still be done on Zoom. Try to have a coffee chat and try to ask very targeted questions with whoever you're speaking to. Learn about their industry. I think that people are a lot more welcoming if you show that you're really trying to learn and not just gain by the relationship if that makes sense. Give them a reason to invest in you.
When and how did you know you wanted to pursue something within finance?
When I came into my freshman year, I knew nothing about finance. I don't come from a finance family; my parents are not in the industry at all. I come from a low-income background and single-family home. I'm also from South Africa, so the whole understanding/image of Wall Street is a lot more distanced when you're that far away (at least that was my personal perception).
I initially came in as a political science major, and I thought I wanted to do international law. Then, I realized that didn't actually exist. I took Economics on sort of a whim because it was so popular on campus and because I just thought it'd be great to complement something quantitative with Political Science. I realized that there were so many gaps in my political science understanding that were somehow being answered in Econ and vice versa. I knew that whatever profession I got into, it had to have that intersection. So naturally, I decided to gravitate towards finance because the markets capture so much of what's happening in the world. So many country relations and trade disputes and historical patterns are reflected in the economy, and I think that the buy-side specifically has a very attractive macro way of thinking. The buy-side is not impulsive. Instead, and especially at Wellington, it’s a very long-term investment strategy with a long-term perspective, which inherently forces you to think more globally as opposed to short term and locally. I really, really like that. It is so aligned with my personality and way of thinking.
I think I started initially recruiting to the sell-side because that was all I knew. I think most students on campus are sort of pushed towards the sell side because of the hype of investment banking and the big names like Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan. There's so much prestige attributed to them, which is warranted, but I think that buy-side gets a lot less recognition on campus. Once I discovered that it existed, I was like, “Oh my god, why did no one tell me about this?” It was really interesting and pushed me even more after I started learning about ESG and just how this was such a fundamental change in investment strategies has emerged. I also feel a somewhat so personal connection to ESG because I'm from South Africa and some of the first waves of divestment began during apartheid, so it's almost full circle for me. I also think that I started to become really passionate about investing specifically in Emerging Markets because I'm from an emerging country. One of my long-term goals is to participate in the capital allocation to the African continent and thus the growth of African economies. This, combined with ESG, is how I reconcile leaving home (another added statistic to brain drain) and interacting in the private sector.
You have a number of internships. What advice do you have for students starting to look into internships and how did one internship lead to another? Was there a path or focus or did you want to try out various interests of yours?
I didn't really have a path. As I said, freshman year I didn't know that I wanted to go into finance. I will say that my internship experience has been a lot of luck and a lot of perseverance. There is definitely a structure that goes with it, but I would say that, for me, the biggest thing is to just apply. It doesn't cost you anything to apply to as many internships as you can, especially in your earlier years. Don't be afraid of applying for things you aren't qualified for. Don’t compare your credentials to others. Don’t spend toxic time on LinkedIn. Don’t feel limited by your major. Don’t feel limited by your accent. Learn about what excites you - what genuinely keeps you up at night and find linkage to an industry. You don’t have to have all the answers now, but the more you apply and expand your horizon, the more you will come across opportunities you didn’t even know existed. From South Africa to Wellesley, to Wellesley to Wellington - my life trajectory makes no sense to me. I still can’t quite fully comprehend how blessed I have been, but I know for a fact that I would not be here if I didn’t dream big.
Finance specifically is really about showing that drive and that hunger. It’s okay if your Freshman internship isn’t related to the industry. I’m actually thankful mine wasn’t. I was a
I was a Residential Advisor for a nonprofit overnight program at Amherst College and no regrets - the best way I could have spent that summer. I mentored students just like me, POCs from low-income backgrounds, and I felt so recharged. Looking back, I don’t think Freshman-me would have been ready for corporate America.
However, by sophomore year I started recruiting but got on the bandwagon pretty late. But I applied and got into several exploratory programs - I encourage sophomores to do this too. Especially if you're a minority and you've never had any exposure to the field, these programs are good ways to kind of get a flavor for what you're getting yourself into. They're usually three days, they pay for all of your expenses, and most of the time you’ll get actual first-year analysts or second-year associates or bankers talking to you to talk to you and tell you about their day to day. One of the main benefits of attending these programs is to build that network and open yourself up to accelerated interview processes when you apply for junior year. I did a lot of that sophomore year.
Sophomore summer, I did a corporate governance internship in South Africa that was with the UN and that's when I learned about ESG and then I did a big four internship in accounting. I also think that the big four don't get a lot of representation from Wellesley, and maybe it's because we don't have accounting majors, but you don't have to have an accounting major to work in a big four which I think is a huge misconception. Once you do get into it, accounting is the language of finance and so it was really a great experience to do that.
I think recruiting for junior internships was probably the most difficult and time-consuming phase of recruiting during my college career. I think I applied to about 70 or 80 internships in total which was extremely hard to balance with midterms and finals when you're flying across the country and having eight hour-long interviews, but it does make you stronger and it does actually inform you a lot about the industry because even if you do get offers and you don’t return to those companies, you now know a lot more about them and you still have a connection with those places. So yeah, to summarize I would say that students need to really apply to as many opportunities as they can (even those you think you’re unqualified for) and be as strategic as possible with networking and attend exploratory programs. Prepare for both behavioral and technical interviews as much as you can in a company-targeted way.
During the recruiting period, it’s common to receive many rejection emails. How do you deal with repeated rejections and stay motivated in recruiting?
It’s so hard. I was really lucky I had about three or four friends at Wellesley that was also doing recruiting, so we were going through the trenches together. There were multiple times when I got rejected and just called someone and started crying. You need that because no one really understands the pain except the people that actually go through it. As much as your other friends and family can understand, it's really important, if you can, to have that support group. I spent a lot of time, maybe not the healthiest decision, but I spent a lot of time on Wall Street Oasis. It's a good place to come and commiserate. I think that obviously can be toxic because there's a lot of overperformance and overachievers on it (and, mostly, cis-white men) but to me, it was reassuring to know that I wasn’t the only one struggling. Finance is extremely competitive and there is a lot of pressure that comes with interviewing. I’ve had one or two stress tests and I still think I have PTSD from it (jk). But the more you interview, the more you vent, the more normalized the experience will feel. But certainly, find your people! But also, be patient with yourself and accept rejection like a mature adult. Cry, vent then move on. I would make it to several superdays and get so emotionally attached to an opportunity but eventually, I learned to see them as gifts and think “okay, it's just not meant to be”. It clearly means that I wasn't meant to begin my career in this place and that there's something else around waiting for me. Rejection is no reflection of your ability. If a company just simply doesn't have pace, they just don't have the space, you didn't make it, and it's not a reflection on you.
To conclude: How have you been spending your time during quarantine?
I'm currently living with other Wellesley seniors! We rented out a place on the beach (more cost-effective than campus housing) so we've just been beaching. It's been great. Don't feel sorry for me! I'm going to just try to read as much fun material as I can. I've realized that I didn’t read a lot of fiction in my last two years at Wellesley. It was all academic reading, so now I'm trying to go back to just some good old fiction.
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