CFA Society Serbia, as part of the global CFA community, recognizes the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in all areas. We especially acknowledge and highly value all the benefits of higher inclusion of women in the finance and investment industry. We are proud of all dedicated and successful women who are part of the CFA world, and who continuously contribute to the prosperity of our professional community by acting, promoting and adhering to the highest professional and ethical standards. We are glad to have them with us!
Having that in mind, CFA Society Serbia has decided to conduct and publish interviews with some of these exceptional women who for sure represent powerful building blocks of the CFA community and beyond.
The first lady with whom we will open this chapter is an esteemed member of our local CFA Society – Danijela Mirkov-Arkula, CFA.
Ms Danijela Mirkov-Arkula has been a CFA charterholder since 2014, and member of our local CFA Society since its foundation in 2019. She is one of the founders of CFA Society Serbia and was serving as a member of its Board of Directors in two terms (from 2019 to 2023). We can proudly say that she is a very valuable member of our local CFA community who is actively involved in various iniciatives including (but not limited to) CFA Research Challenge, fostering in that way high level of education and profficiency in investment management field among local young people.
Ms Danijela Mirkov-Arkula is Portfolio Manager in Terra Partners Asset Management Limited Company, with many years of experience in asset management in frontier and emerging markets.
In this interview, she shared with us her insights about the role of women in investment industry.
What brought you into investment industry?
A coincidence. I was hired by a portfolio company from an unrelated industry and then rose through the ranks to become a member of the investment team in acquiring firm.
The investment industry is traditionally considered male field. What is your opinion regarding this matter? Do you think that this field still primarily belongs to men?
I recently came across interesting research by Goldman Sachs. It establishes that the burden of unpaid work, which falls predominantly on women, is a major barrier to women’s workforce participation and upward mobility to management levels. Put it differently, unpaid work, which takes up a larger share of a woman’s day in every country, is the main impediment to women’s ability to reach the top echelons in firms, academia or politics.
I agree that the investment industry is still seen as the realm of men. The above explanation of Goldman Sachs is even more applicable to the investment industry, which often requires (international) travel to pursue investment ideas and to visit and evaluate potential targets. This can be quite challenging for women who have small children. Also, travelling alone to various countries is certainly seen as less safe for women.
On the other hand, however, not all positions in the investment industry entail international travel and there is, nonetheless, less travelling in the era of video meetings. Finally, women tend to be more analytical, more observant, meticulous, and highly diligent, which are all preferred attributes for the investment industry. Therefore, I expect increased participation of women in future.
According to your expirience, as a successful woman who has been for a long time in investment world, what are the main challenges facing women in the asset management industry? Is current world more or less challenging than it used to be?
I don’t think I’ve been facing any gender-related challenges. On the contrary, I have often enjoyed the support and attention of my male coworkers. What was challenging though, was to be heard in group discussions – men have louder voices, particularly when they get excited (which is often in our industry) and it can be hard to outvoice them to pitch your own ideas or points of view. Therefore, in such situations, I resort to other means, such as 1-to-1 and written communication, or persistent ‘loud’ silence, until my male coworkers notice it.
Regarding the current investment world, I don’t see it as more challenging than it used to be. It has always been in a state of flux - volatility is its innate characteristic. Markets do not go up in a straight line: a glitch in the economy, changes in monetary policy, geopolitical tensions, or a simple realisation that investors ‘got high on their own fumes’ put pressure on various asset classes. It is simply our world both now and 10 or 20 or more years ago. And both for men and women.
According to some researches, women are less active as individual investors than men, creating gender investing gap. What do you think about women as investors, and how can their participation be further encouraged and supported?
If we are talking about investors who are not professionals but invest their own money, I believe that behavioural finance can explain the mentioned gender investing gap. Namely, women are typically risk-averse, while individual investors are risk-seeking, thus there are not that many women who are individual investors. Though nobody should invest against his/her risk tolerance, I believe that improvement of financial literacy can be very helpful in this respect. Once women (and not only women) can better understand involved risks, their risk profile will alter accordingly.
What are the benefits of being part of CFA community for you personally and for your career?
Back in 1973, Mark Granovetter and Harrison White, renowned sociologists, illustrated that everyone has strong ties: family, friends, coworkers, etc. but only those with strong ties and a large network of weak ties can navigate through various types of organisations with ease. They demonstrated that the number of weak ties represents a defining distinction between the actual CEO and other “C-suite” executives, not competence or other traits.
CFA community not only offers access to an unrivalled global network of ties described by Granovetter and White but also offers access to novel information and opportunities, which is equally important.