Hi all, Thought i'd share my story, now that i have got the certified user star:
My background
Quite simply, I was born in east africa - and my family came to the UK when I was quite young to give a better life to me and my younger siblings. long-story short, I went through the public education system in the UK - and did pretty well for myself considering we were in a relatively working class neigbourhood/area where only a fraction of the population went to university.
Decided on a career in finance
At 16/17, I made the decision to focus on what I wanted to do with my future, and applied to many of the insight day programmes that banks/law firms/accountancy firms etc.. received the offer, and decided on a career in finance after speaking to a number of people in the industry and also on asking questions on forums like this.
How I landed FT role
After my a-level exams (17/18) - I spent a summer at a 3rd tier IB in back-office - which i was able to leverage to land 3 spring week internships at my first year in university (considered a semi-target in the UK). was able to do a markets gig over the summer at a BB, and an M&A gig in my penultimate year at that same BB which landed me the FT role.
Burned out from IB
Fast forward a year and a half, I decided IBD was not conducive to the lifestyle i want to live (I think burnout is a pretty common theme amongst analysts, and I've always just stuck to the thinking that life is too short to be doing something i don't want to do). I talked to my analyst class about careers outside of IB (initially though about the PE path, but a lot of the deals i had were with sponsors, and the associates seemed to have a pretty similar lifestyle to me and so ruled it out quite quickly).
Corp Dev
I learned of the world of corp dev, and began my search - interviewing with companies of varying sizes - large corporate / startups / SMEs. had a long convo with the CFO of one startup which i thought were doing quite interesting things - and a few interviews later with the CEO/Founder etc.. I now work under the CFO spearheading interesting projects (only 2 years after i graduated from university):
- international expansion
- optimization
- m&a
- fundraising
I'm currently 23 and absolutely loving it - great work/life balance, a lot of responsibility, and working with very bright management team (pretty much all IBD/PE/Venture Cap).
Ask me anything
I invite all questions, and also keen to hear some future career advice from my fellow users
WSO Mentors
Do you want a 1 on 1 mentoring session with me? Here's my mentor profile - click here.
WSO Podcast: Member @anonymnous"
For the podcast, I talk about my journey from East Africa to a front office M&A bulge bracket investment banking position in London as well as why I moved over to corporate development for a tech startup. Hope you enjoy (listen below)!
going through interviews felt fairly normal, as i was well prepared - i don’t think being black hindered me in anyway, as i was as qualified as my peers.
admittedly, the cultural differences were challenging.. i felt out of place. the three black analysts/associates on the m&a floor left a few months after i joined FT, but it was more so the class difference that made me feel out of place. i had nothing in common with people at the bank - so couldn’t really relate to what most people were talking about.
moving forward i’m not too sure, i’m happy with my current position, perhaps head of corp dev here within a few years.. currently seeing where this opportunity takes me and how i can help build this company.