We have the pleasure of interviewing Teresa Lu, as part of our series of profiling professionals of Chinese/Taiwanese descent in the financial services sector in South Africa. What is your name? Age? Hui-Ching Lu, also known as Teresa Lu. Age 42. What has been your experience? I am a founding member and a portfolio manager at Ngwedi Investment Managers. Prior to joining Ngwedi, I was employed at Investec Asset Management and Prescient Investment Management. What do you do? I am a portfolio manager managing client portfolios that are entrusted with our company. Your area of expertise? I have extensive experience in managing a wide variety of fixed income portfolios and derivatives. Your place of birth? I was born in Taiwan while my family originated from Shandong, China. When did you immigrate to South Africa? What brought you here? My mother was an accountant at one of the Taiwanese companies that came to establish operations in South African in the early 90s. Where did you study, and your qualifications? I hold a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Cape Town. Why did you choose your line of studies? Applied Mathematics covers a wide variety of topics and I studied Cosmology through Applied Mathematics route. Cosmology is a fascinating topic for research purpose. How did you get into the financial services sector? While I was completing my PhD, I started thinking about what I wanted to do for my career. Although I enjoyed what I studied very much, however I could not imagine myself working as a researcher at the university. I came across a book called “My Life as a Quant” by Emanuel Derman where he shared his exciting journey of migration from being a physicist to becoming a Wall Street member. I then decided to explore the sector further which then led to my decision in a career path. What are your hobbies and interests in your spare time? I enjoy reading fantasy books in my spare time. I also enjoy exploring different culture and cuisine while travelling. How do you see the future of South Africa? There are a lot of challenges ahead for South Africa. High unemployment and low growth rates are the two greatest challenges for its current leadership. President Cyril Ramaphosa will also need to demonstrate his determination and ability in tackling corruption that has long plagued the country. With the country’s debt-to-GDP level expected to exceed 100% in 2024-25, it is crucial for South Africa to be able to stabilise its fiscus spending and reduce wastage in the near future. If the country is able to take all the necessitate steps and bear with the short term pain, I believe South Africa can come out much stronger as this is a country that has great potential in the long run. What advice or encouragement do you have for university students who want to enter the financial services sector? There are different areas of disciplines within the finance sector. Knowing which area fascinate you will be crucial to how successful you become as there will be a natural bias toward how much effort you are willing to put into your work.
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