On Tuesday (26.1.2021) our 6th Fondsfrauen Summit took place, and it was our 1st fully digital Fondsfrauen Summit – produced in a film studio in Hanau. We have to say: it was fun, and we had more participants than usual at our summit, and from more countries than usual, because that is possible in the digital format. Who knows, perhaps our summit will take place in a hybrid form in 2022? After all, you grow with such things!
Network grows in the Corona year 2020
Fondsfrau Anne Connelly welcomed the participants and revealed that not only did Fondsfrauen movement not suffer any losses from Corona, but could even grow further in the Corona year 2020: 2,000 LinkedIn followers, over 2,500 registered women (and men), 40 companies supporting the network... the network is growing and thriving! In 2020, we were even able to attract new sponsors like ING, UBS and BNY - and the advisory board was extended with new member Ilse Munnikhof and at the same time rejuvenated.
Women in leadership positions - learn from the Swedes!
The two keynote speakers, who were broadcast live to the conference, underlined with their contributions how different, and at the same time great, women can act in our industry:
Dr. Wiebke Ankersen, Managing Director of the non-profit AllBright Foundation in Berlin, reported on study results that show that Germany ranks far behind in women's leadership positions across Europe. She provided insights from Sweden on how diversity has been successfully driven forward there, and how this has improved the working and living conditions in the Scandinavian country. Initially, many housewives in Sweden opposed to the fact that they should be available to the labour market in the future, but the diversity strategy in the country is now met with broad support.
Personal Branding with LinkedIn
LinkedIn influencer Céline Flores Willers talked about personal branding, and how best to build and maintain a personal brand in our industry, and what benefits it brings. In the financial sector, she considers the LinkedIn platform to be the most suitable, because the proportion of well-educated and financially well-off people is very high there. She vividly explained how this works and what to look out for.
Céline's amazing talk apparently motivated quite a few viewers to network via LinkedIn, as seen from the comments in the chat history.
Corona as a catapult into the digital age
A firework of expert experiences from our Fondsfrauen community rounded off the picture. Unanimously, each individual explained that after a brief corona shock, they had set up quite well in her respective home office environment. Overall, the Corona year 2020 was successful for the fund and financial sector. So it worked: investors invest, fund managers manage millions from their home office, the stock exchanges are rising, zoom calls are the new sales tool, careers continue.
The experts reported on their everyday life, what they miss, what is going well, and what insights and practices they will take to the post-Corona era in their daily work.
The following Fondsfrauen have spoken about their experiences:
- Jennifer Brockerhoff, ECOanlageberaterin, Inhaberin Brockerhoff Finanzberatung
- Annika Peters, CFP, Geschäftsführerin, FrauenFinanzBeratung Barbara Rojahn & Kolleginnen AG & Co. KG
- Christiane Flehberger, CPM, CEFA, Head of Institutional Business, Raiffeisen Capital Management
- Rula Ipsaryaris, Head Client Solutions Switzerland & Liechtenstein, Aviva Investors Schweiz
- Annette Matzke, Head of Corporate Communications Germany, Fidelity Investments
- Nora Kretzschmar, Marketing Executive und Hannah Pollach, Sales Executive bei Columbia Threadneedle Investments
- Daniela Küspert, Sr. Communications Manager, Retail Marketing, Amundi Deutschland
- Charlotte Bänninger, CEFA, Global Head Fixed Income, President of UBS Asset Management Switzerland AG
- Annette Bierweiler, Portfolio Managerin für Union Investment Institutional
- Isabella Seidl, Global Consultant Relations, BlackRock Investment Switzerland
It is great how diverse the positive, but sometimes challenging experiences with the home office situation were, and what insights and experiences we were all able to take from it!
A big thank you to all participants of the event, all sponsors and supporters, our media partner and of course also all participants who listened and used the chat tool to contribute!
Use the travel costs you saved this year due to the digital form of the summit for something beautiful! And let us hope for a healthy reunion face to face next year!
Anke Dembowski is a financial journalist and author of various investment fund-related and other financial books. She is also a co-founder of the "Fondsfrauen" network.