Morning Coffee: Heartwarming tale of the 25-year-old who wanted to work in private equity. The actual most fearsome woman in finance

It's not often that we suggest financial services is an accessible industry, open to all, if only you listen to enough podcasts and read books about personal finance. But today we do.

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The Wall Street Journal has unearthed Bakari Akil, who grew up in the Queensbridge Projects a public housing development in New York. As a young man, he "didn't know anyone with more than $5,000 to their name." 

Akil didn't graduate from university. He didn't do a Harvard MBA. Nor did he work as an analyst in a bank. Aged 25, Akil was homeless, sleeping in subways and airport waiting areas and hanging around in WeWorks.

He was also listening to podcasts, reading personal finance books, browsing Harvard Business School case studies and sneaking into classes at Columbia Business School. One Harvard case study taught Akil about search funds, which raise money from investors to buy specific businesses. A Columbia Business school class, run by Timothy Bovard, founder of investment firm 'Search Fund Accelerator,' taught him more. Now Akil, aged 37, runs his own search funds and is worth seven figures. The WSJ notes that he has also "spent each month of the past three years living in a different country," which sounds exhausting.

Akil's story is a warming one, but his path has not been easy. Showering in an airport is not for everyone. He slept in meeting rooms ahead of investor meetings. People wouldn't back him without any qualifications. When investors did give him money, two of his deals fell apart. When he sneaked into the Columbia course, he was thrown out - but Bovard let him record it instead.

Then Akil got a break. He bought a firm that retrained people and sold it before COVID, earning a six figure fee. He reinvested this in a new search fund and bought a company banks with the help of a Chicago private equity fund. Now he's rich and he's touring the world and meeting celebrities near the pyramids in Egypt. He's also busy teaching other people that they can do the same thing, although the WSJ doesn't mention this element of the story. 

Separately, the most fearsome woman in finance might appear to be Jane Fraser, Trump whisperer and CEO at Citi, but it's actually Fahmi Quadir, who lives in London.

The Wall Street Journal has a profile of Quadir which outlines her fearsome credentials. Aged 35, she's been running a short selling fund, Safkhet Capital, which helped bring down Wirecard. She possesses "forensic analysis skills." She was once punched in the head by a frightening 'masked assailant with brass knuckles' while walking her standard poodle in Manhattan. She is known as the "assassin" and she is the subject of two Netflix documentaries. 

This sounds hard. Quadir, who says she doesn't want to be "just be known as the girl who brings down Valeant or Wirecard," doesn't seem to have become wealthy enough to travel the world and to meet celebrities too. She spent the past few years in a "hole" as markets kept rising. Being fearsome is not easy.

Quadir now wants to bet on rising companies instead of failing ones. She's moving to South Korea, where the stocks are hot. For the moment, though, she's still in London and getting up at 2am, sifting through Korean companies 'ripe for a shakeup.' It sounds exhausting and we wish her well.

Meanwhile....

Macquarie investment banking staff have been complaining that some senior managers have behaved unacceptably, that they've been manipulating information, budgets and internal asset valuations and that internal channels for reporting bad behaviour are ineffective. Macquarie said "the material allegations were not substantiated." (Bloomberg) 

Asia could this year overtake Europe in terms of revenues for banks including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley. Banks have been redirecting capital to Asia as a result. (Financial Times) 

First-year total compensation at top-tier electronic trading firms and large prop shops runs from roughly $350,000 to over $1,000,000. In the second year, compensation falls as sign-on bonuses roll off and people leave. This is a mistake if your actual bonus is rising. (Youngandcalculated)

Deloitte used to give its consultants a healthy expense account. That was cut by 50%. Consultants didn't like that. “What was left was people working really f***ing hard to get paid less than people they’re working alongside in other organisations.” (The Times)

Mischon DeReya wanted to introduce a scheme whereby a partner would have been unable to hand in their notice if more than about 20 per cent of partners in their practice area had left recently. Partners objected to this. (Financial Times) 

Jefferies' New York office was evacuated after a fire in a restaurant. No one was hurt. (Bloomberg)

SpaceX’s shares slipped below their initial listing price of $135 for the first time, and are down 40 per cent from an intraday high of $225 in mid-June. (Financial Times)

Deutsche Bank hailed SpaceX as “the apex of civilizational ambition, oftentimes expressed in steel and fire, bending the arc of history.” Analysts aren't made to write this stuff, but somehow they do. (FT)

Georges Elhedery at HSBC is saying: “Sometimes you think that if you take action, you may break something. But if you first design that action very thoughtfully, you have the best teams to help execute it, and you allow your people agency in the process, you can realise the benefits and avoid distractions.” (Euromoney) 

UBS invented a product whereby a bundle of stakes in private credit funds are repackaged into a bond underwritten by by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., a US firm best known to buyers of cars and houses. The bond is rated A2 by Moody's. It sounds really great. (Bloomberg) 

Many gifted individuals appear to flourish later in life. Long-term studies suggest they are more likely than average to achieve professional success and, contrary to popular stereotypes, often enjoy better mental health. (New Scientist) 

The new life of Bob Pisani, investment consultant at CNBC: "I worked 60 hour weeks for 35 years, including most Sundays. I’m still working, but I don’t get up at 5:15 a.m. like I used to, I get up at 8 a.m. and make tea for my wife." (Appetito Magazine) 

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