The world has changed drastically after the pandemic and there are no industries that have been left unaffected.
But what state did the investment markets end up in? Marina Groenberg – the Founding Partner and CEO of the HEMMA GROUP have answered the most popular questions connected with investing after the pandemic.
Marina has more than 20 years of experience in the financial and investment industry, she has worked with major investment banks and has held various management positions in financial as well as industrial private equity firms. She holds several seats in management as well as supervisory boards.
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Traits and qualities of a true investor
Certain qualities are a necessity in order to become a successful investor. One might think that those qualities are similar to those of an entrepreneur. Marina Groenberg shares her thoughts on the subject.
According to her, the difference between an entrepreneur and an investor is that an entrepreneur normally builds his own business and runs it himself.
An investor, on the other hand, is a much broader concept and can mean hundreds of different things – from passive investments in the stock or bond or crypto market to seeding technological start-ups in various fields and countries, all of which can be combined in one investor’s portfolio and transform depending on market conditions and the chosen strategy, as well as current personal preferences and objectives. Entrepreneurs and investors – while similar, are usually different personalities, although there are some traits and skills that can be found in both of them alike.
“The ability not only to generate a business idea but to shape it into a workable concept. To set ambitious goals and achieve them systematically, to take decisions and be responsible for them, to defend your position, to see both the big picture and the details, to absorb and filter information and learn from mistakes, to concentrate on the important, humbleness combined with courage, to see the real, unbiased picture, to check intuition with calculation and external sources,” comments Marina Groenberg.
How did COVID-19 change the investment market?
Marina Groenberg agrees that the pandemic has changed the whole world. But in her opinion, the investment market hasn’t changed that much.
“The most and the least favorite sectors and business models have changed, interest rates have changed, so did the amount of money in the system and risk appetite, investment bankers’ work and general working structure and habits have changed dramatically, volatility has increased, but the correlation between different asset classes has increased as well.”
The most promising industries are…
Today the tendency has changed toward products and services that are aimed at satisfying the needs of people working from home: food deliveries, messengers, courier services, etc. Could that be it?
“In my opinion, there are no promising and unpromising industries as such – every industry has the right to exist, but there are outdated companies in each one, and there are also industry leaders who are capable of adapting or creating new business models which reflect the current state of events. And it is an art and skill to identify and invest in such leaders and to look for yet unrecognised ones.”
That means even in the most traditional sectors, such as construction or trade, there are many interesting technologies and innovations and plenty of great companies.
According to Marina Groenberg, life-changing technology sounds too dramatic. I do not want to change my life! However, there are many technologies around that can fundamentally transform and improve the quality of certain aspects of our lives.
“The transformative ‘green’ energy technologies are definitely on my list. There are all kinds of promising and exciting medical projects. Of course, there are a lot of interesting developments going on in the IT sector as well: I mean fintech projects, cloud services, blockchain, cybersecurity, etc.”
