Continuing with our Amplify series, we had a fascinating conversation with Ash Nandi, one of our investment companies associates, to find out how, in addition to her full-time role supporting our institutional clients, she volunteers on her own time to help improve wider access to the arts.
Can you tell us about your role at Deutsche Numis, and how it helps our clients?
I’m a Research Analyst in the Investment Companies team, working closely with the other generalists, Ewan Lovett-Turner (Head of Investment Companies Research) and Gavin Trodd, as well as our specialist Analysts, Colette Ord (infrastructure) and Andrew Rees (property)
One of the nice things about working in the Investment Companies sector is the sheer breadth of the space, as although all of our funds are listed in the UK, the underlying assets could be held anywhere in the world and include a wide range of asset classes.
How did you end up choosing to work in this area, and at Deutsche Numis in particular?
I read natural sciences at Cambridge before completing a masters in musculoskeletal science at UCL. Initially, I intended to go into academia as a research scientist, but after a couple of lab-based internships, I realised that a love of learning science didn’t necessarily translate into enjoying life in the lab.
I then looked for a graduate scheme that would be both good work experience and give me a useful qualification, which I found with EY, where I qualified as a chartered accountant whilst working in their Banking and Capital Markets division.
Once qualified, I came across the role at Numis, which was a great fit for me, combining my skills in research with the financial knowledge and skills I had developed at EY. I joined Numis in June 2023 and, just over a year on, find that I am really enjoying the role as there is a plethora of things to learn every day!
How does your team collaborate with other teams across the company to ensure client success?
Our institutional investors who have portfolios with allocations to investment companies, as well as direct holdings in UK stocks, will often be in conversation with our equity sales team as well as our wider Investment Companies team. A key part of the role is therefore maintaining an integrated dialogue to ensure we provide a smooth and efficient service for our clients.
Do you have any specific ambitions career-wise?
Starting out as a generalist within Investment Companies opens the door to a broad range of opportunities through which to develop a niche expertise in a particular sector or asset class. This is something I am interested in considering as my career progresses.
What are your interests outside of work?
One of the things that I spend a lot of time on outside of work is my interest in the arts. In my free time I run an arts blog on Instagram, @thechiaroscurator. The name is a portmanteau of the artform of chiaroscuro – an Italian term that literally means ‘light-dark’ and refers to clear tonal contrasts in paintings – and curator.
I began my blog during covid towards the end of 2021 as a way of improving access to the arts. I realised that, while my circle of friends could visit an amazing array of galleries and museums in London, many others living more rurally don’t enjoy such access. Additionally, I saw that many simply feel overwhelmed at the thought of visiting an exhibition and think they need specialist or expert knowledge to attend. Therefore, I was keen to open up this world that can sometimes feel inaccessible or elitist to a wider and more diverse audience.
I started by creating snapshots of educational posts of different periods in art, such as impressionism or renaissance art, but now that things have opened up again post-pandemic, I am able to post reviews and recommendations of exhibitions and events.
My blog gives me some wonderful opportunities. This year, I was invited to the Venice Biennale by a regional UK gallery. I went in May and have a lot of content as a result that I will be posting to my blog in the coming months. I have also been invited to press previews of exhibitions, including the Frieze Art Fair (it was great to discover that Deutsche Bank has been the Global Lead Partner of Frieze art fairs for 20 years).
How has your work with the arts evolved?
This year, my blog caught the attention of a charity matching organisation, who contacted me regarding taking on a trustee role. One of their aims is to expand the age diversity of charity boards, so they were contacting younger people with an interest in the arts and a professional background to see if they could match them to a suitable board.
I was matched with an inclusive dance company, hiring largely disabled dancers and with a big focus on access to the productions themselves, with wheelchair access, subtitling, and so on. Following an interview process, I was appointed in June as Treasurer & Trustee. I was keen to join the board, as I thought it would be interesting to learn about fundraising and it would also be fulfilling to have an influence on the charity’s strategic direction.
I am so pleased that, now we are part of Deutsche Bank, all Deutsche Numis colleagues have access to the bank’s amazing arts opportunities, which you can get a flavour of here: https://art.db.com.
Home
Continuing with our Amplify series, we had a fascinating conversation with Ash Nandi, one of our investment companies associates, to find out how, in addition to her full-time role supporting our institutional clients, she volunteers on her own time to help improve wider access to the arts.
Can you tell us about your role at Deutsche Numis, and how it helps our clients?
I’m a Research Analyst in the Investment Companies team, working closely with the other generalists, Ewan Lovett-Turner (Head of Investment Companies Research) and Gavin Trodd, as well as our specialist Analysts, Colette Ord (infrastructure) and Andrew Rees (property)
One of the nice things about working in the Investment Companies sector is the sheer breadth of the space, as although all of our funds are listed in the UK, the underlying assets could be held anywhere in the world and include a wide range of asset classes.
How did you end up choosing to work in this area, and at Deutsche Numis in particular?
I read natural sciences at Cambridge before completing a masters in musculoskeletal science at UCL. Initially, I intended to go into academia as a research scientist, but after a couple of lab-based internships, I realised that a love of learning science didn’t necessarily translate into enjoying life in the lab.
I then looked for a graduate scheme that would be both good work experience and give me a useful qualification, which I found with EY, where I qualified as a chartered accountant whilst working in their Banking and Capital Markets division.
Once qualified, I came across the role at Numis, which was a great fit for me, combining my skills in research with the financial knowledge and skills I had developed at EY. I joined Numis in June 2023 and, just over a year on, find that I am really enjoying the role as there is a plethora of things to learn every day!
How does your team collaborate with other teams across the company to ensure client success?
Our institutional investors who have portfolios with allocations to investment companies, as well as direct holdings in UK stocks, will often be in conversation with our equity sales team as well as our wider Investment Companies team. A key part of the role is therefore maintaining an integrated dialogue to ensure we provide a smooth and efficient service for our clients.
Do you have any specific ambitions career-wise?
Starting out as a generalist within Investment Companies opens the door to a broad range of opportunities through which to develop a niche expertise in a particular sector or asset class. This is something I am interested in considering as my career progresses.
What are your interests outside of work?
One of the things that I spend a lot of time on outside of work is my interest in the arts. In my free time I run an arts blog on Instagram, @thechiaroscurator. The name is a portmanteau of the artform of chiaroscuro – an Italian term that literally means ‘light-dark’ and refers to clear tonal contrasts in paintings – and curator.
I began my blog during covid towards the end of 2021 as a way of improving access to the arts. I realised that, while my circle of friends could visit an amazing array of galleries and museums in London, many others living more rurally don’t enjoy such access. Additionally, I saw that many simply feel overwhelmed at the thought of visiting an exhibition and think they need specialist or expert knowledge to attend. Therefore, I was keen to open up this world that can sometimes feel inaccessible or elitist to a wider and more diverse audience.
I started by creating snapshots of educational posts of different periods in art, such as impressionism or renaissance art, but now that things have opened up again post-pandemic, I am able to post reviews and recommendations of exhibitions and events.
My blog gives me some wonderful opportunities. This year, I was invited to the Venice Biennale by a regional UK gallery. I went in May and have a lot of content as a result that I will be posting to my blog in the coming months. I have also been invited to press previews of exhibitions, including the Frieze Art Fair (it was great to discover that Deutsche Bank has been the Global Lead Partner of Frieze art fairs for 20 years).
How has your work with the arts evolved?
This year, my blog caught the attention of a charity matching organisation, who contacted me regarding taking on a trustee role. One of their aims is to expand the age diversity of charity boards, so they were contacting younger people with an interest in the arts and a professional background to see if they could match them to a suitable board.
I was matched with an inclusive dance company, hiring largely disabled dancers and with a big focus on access to the productions themselves, with wheelchair access, subtitling, and so on. Following an interview process, I was appointed in June as Treasurer & Trustee. I was keen to join the board, as I thought it would be interesting to learn about fundraising and it would also be fulfilling to have an influence on the charity’s strategic direction.
I am so pleased that, now we are part of Deutsche Bank, all Deutsche Numis colleagues have access to the bank’s amazing arts opportunities, which you can get a flavour of here: https://art.db.com.