Michael joined Ninety One as a strategist in December 2002. His current responsibilities include understanding how the shift in the centre of economic gravity from West to East is impacting on the world of investment and in particular how it is opening up new investment opportunities for Ninety One's global client base. He began his career working in the Middle East department of Chase Manhattan Bank before joining Anglo American's corporate finance department in South Africa. Michael then worked in the London corporate finance department of NM Rothschild & Sons where his work had a strong natural resource emphasis. Having completed a 4x4 overland safari through Africa, Michael then worked for HSBC-Equator Bank in Kenya for four years. He returned to the UK to work at Baring Asset Management as a director in their emerging markets department, where he was head of Africa and the Middle East as well as heading the natural resources sector, and was also portfolio manager for the Pan African Simba Fund. ​

Michael graduated from the University of Cape Town with a Phd in Economics. He also holds an MA in International Business and Law from the Fletcher School at Tufts and a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford.