In this exclusive interview, Ian Deacon, Client Director, speaks with Duane Cable, our South African CIO, about his passion for investments, curiosity about markets and the importance of investing in people. He reflects on two pivotal moments in his career and the key attributes he looks for when recruiting people.
It was a chance conversation with a friend that led a young Duane Cable to pivot from New York, the epicentre of global finance, and a budding career in mergers & acquisitions to the world of investments back home in Cape Town. That was almost two decades ago, and what began as a keen interest during his time as an articled clerk has since evolved into a deep and enduring passion for investing.
Duane’s desire to continually develop and grow as an investor led him to a second pivotal career moment: making the decision to join Ninety One to pursue the opportunity of managing global investment portfolios. That was just five short years ago, but it feels as if he has been part of the Ninety One family for far longer!
Just 100 days ago, Duane was appointed CIO of Ninety One South Africa. He is responsible for driving investment excellence, talent development, and recruitment within the business. In addition to these responsibilities, he continues to serve as Portfolio Manager, alongside Sumesh Chetty, on the Cautious Managed strategy and manages several bespoke medical scheme portfolios. For Duane, moving into management was never going to mean stepping away from managing client investments.
Rather than reinventing the wheel in his new role, Duane brings his own passion and perspective to the table. He is particularly obsessed with investment excellence and is committed to helping an already talented team reach new heights to deliver even better outcomes for clients. One way he plans to achieve this, he says, is by breaking down silos—an all-too-common issue in the investment world—and ensuring that best-in-class centres of excellence are shared across the broader investment platform.
An example of this approach in action is seen in the team’s work ahead of South Africa’s general election, which resulted in a Government of National Unity. The team utilised the exceptional political insights of Nkhumeleni Thavhiwa, Managing Director within the Emerging Market Fixed Income team. His detailed observations on the ground benefitted not only his own team, but enhanced the broader investment platform, including Quality, 4Factor, and Value. Taking this a step further, the team also engaged their London colleagues, who manage some EM mandates, in these discussions.
Investing is fundamentally a people business, and recruiting and developing young talent is also close to Duane’s heart. Again, he brings his own unique insights to the talent selection process. While there are the usual non-negotiables that he looks for – mental sharpness, problem-solving ability, independent thinking - he also looks for two standout traits that he believes make an investor exceptional. First is a genuine passion for investing because without a deep love for the field, one is unlikely to succeed or avoid burnout. The market is inherently challenging and humbling; and so, enjoyment in the work is crucial for long-term success.
The second trait, humility and resilience, follows from this. For Duane the ability to handle failure is important - even top investment professionals make mistakes. Thus, he assesses candidates' ability to deal with setbacks and avoid overconfidence, which can undermine client value.
This focus, he says, stems from his own lessons and learnings during his career. He describes the opportunity to talk to legendary investor Bill Miller, as a revelation. Bill was famous for outperforming the S&P 500 for 15 straight years, and infamous for blowing up in the Global Financial Crisis, and again with financials, and again in 2011, eventually getting fired by Legg Mason in 2016, after which he started his own fund.
Bill shared two crucial lessons that have shaped Duane’s approach. First, he admitted he never considered the consequences of being wrong, which led to poor risk management and eventually his downfall. This taught Duane the importance of always asking tough questions about potential outcomes and risks, and of maintaining a sense of humility.
Second, Bill talked about how success made him lose sight of the details within his portfolio. This reinforced for Duane the value of staying deeply engaged with every aspect of his investments and never becoming complacent, no matter how expanded his responsibilities become.
These insights not only influence Duane’s professional approach have also helped him remain grounded in his personal life. Despite working a 14-hour day and constantly thinking about clients, their portfolios, the markets, and industry changes, he ensures he is home for dinner at 7.30pm every night. His family, he says, have been his rock throughout his career, enabling him to grow and develop as an investor.
While his demanding schedule leaves little time for other pursuits, he does find joy in riding his bicycle. This, he says, gives him time to get into the fresh air, to think and reflect, and to maintain his health. The latter is important because burnout in this industry is real, and he intends to be around for a very long time.