When it comes to the investment and asset management industry, women are in need of representation. “Out of the $100 trillion dollars in global assets managed professionally, women manage less than 5 percent,” says Seema Hingorani, founder and chair of Girls Who Invest and a senior advisor at Crestview Partners. “That is just terrible. It’s not good for anybody; it’s not good for investors.”
The first guest on our new Women & Worth podcast, Hingorani recognized a lack of diversity in her industry and sought to change that by implementing a college summer program that teaches young women about having a career in investing.
“A lot of young women don’t even know about this industry,” Hingorani tells Worth CEO and Women & Worth host Juliet Scott-Croxford. “They don’t know it’s available to them, accessible to them. They especially don’t know that it’s interesting, stimulating, rewarding and impactful.”
Hingorani was surprised to find women weren’t even applying for jobs in the investment industry, and she had to dig deeper to find that many even know what types of jobs existed. And in part thanks to shows like Billions and movies like Wolf of Wall Street, those who did had negative impressions of the industry. However, when Hingorani started her four-week summer college program in 2016 to show women the reality of the job, she saw an influx of interest.
Hingorani’s ultimate goal with this program is what she calls her “30 by 30 vision,” which would see 30 percent of global investable capital managed by women by 2030.
There are still barriers that keep women from entering the industry, but even knowing that, Hingorani is optimistic about the industry becoming more diverse. “Directionally, I think we’re moving where we want to go,” she says. “But it’s a long process, and I think everybody realizes that.”
On the Women & Worth podcast, sponsored by Charles Schwab, influential women engage in meaningful conversations about financial planning, investment strategies, career development, opportunities to invest in women and more with Worth’s CEO Juliet Scott-Croxford. Together, they discuss significant challenges women face in the workplace and society at large, in the hopes that doing so may chart a path forward to accelerate progress.
