Nerina Visser, CFA: Elevating Investment Impact Across Africa and the Middle East

Summary

Enterprising Investor Podcast Summary
Episode: Narina Visser, CFA: Elevating Investment Impact Across Africa and the Middle East
Release Date: July 1, 2025

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Introduction

In the July 1, 2025 episode of Enterprising Investor, the CFA Institute’s flagship podcast, host Chris Wease engages in an insightful conversation with Narina Visser, CFA. Narina, a multifaceted professional based in South Africa, serves as an independent ETF strategist and advisor, hosts the ETF Investor Podcast, and represents the President’s Council for the Middle East and Africa for the CFA Institute. Their dialogue delves into critical topics such as the cost of obtaining the CFA charter in Africa, progress in gender diversity within investment management, nuances of ETF investing, and the burgeoning opportunities in African capital markets.

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1. Unique Challenges and Opportunities in the Middle East and Africa

Narina Visser begins by discussing the vast and diverse landscape of the Middle East and Africa, highlighting the affordability and currency volatility as primary challenges for investment professionals in these regions.

“Affordability remains a big challenge, but I think an opportunity for us is to start thinking in terms of the cost of what CFA Institute offers as a proportion of the salary of the average salary that someone can earn.”
— Narina Visser [01:20]

She emphasizes the importance of contextualizing program costs relative to local salaries rather than mere purchasing power parity, proposing a more equitable approach to accessibility.

Chris Wease underscores the CFA Institute’s efforts to mitigate these challenges through initiatives like scholarship programs, encouraging regional candidates to take advantage of available support.

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2. Scholarships and Affordability Initiatives

Narina acknowledges the popularity of the CFA Institute’s scholarship programs but points out that hidden costs—such as travel, visas, and conference attendance—often pose significant barriers.

“The much more significant part is the cost of the travel, the cost of the visas. Often, when you come from Middle Eastern Africa, visas is a major factor.”
— Narina Visser [04:01]

She advocates for a broader consideration of all associated costs to fully understand and address the financial hurdles faced by aspiring CFA candidates and members in these regions.

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3. Promoting Gender Diversity in Investment Management

As a co-founder of the Women in ETFs South Africa chapter, Narina passionately discusses the strides made and the work still needed to achieve gender diversity in the investment industry.

“South Africa is probably one of the most advanced countries in the world when it comes to gender diversity.”
— Narina Visser [05:03]

She highlights successful initiatives, such as all-female speaker lineups at conferences, and the broader impact of gender diversity on enhancing organizational performance and innovation.

“Gender diversity is one of just many aspects and very happy to be involved in promoting that gender diversity in our industry.”
— Narina Visser [07:21]

Despite progress, Narina notes that women often hit a glass ceiling, advancing to mid-level positions but facing barriers to higher leadership roles. She calls for continued efforts to support women’s career progression through targeted initiatives and mentorship.

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4. Educating Investors on ETFs and Addressing Misconceptions

Through her ETF Investor Podcast, Narina focuses on demystifying ETFs and combating the prevalent misconceptions surrounding them.

“There is no such thing as passive investment. All investments involve an active or several active decisions.”
— Narina Visser [08:35]

She critiques the term "passive investing," arguing that every investment decision involves active choices, whether in selecting the ETF or managing its portfolio. Narina emphasizes the importance of understanding the composition, rules, and underlying exposure of ETFs to make informed investment decisions.

“Transparency is one of the key benefits of ETFs.”
— Narina Visser [10:08]

By highlighting transparency, efficiency, and flexibility, she educates investors on how ETFs can be effectively integrated into diverse investment portfolios.

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5. Vision for the Growth and Integration of African Capital Markets

Reflecting on her leadership role in Africa, Narina shares her vision for the growth and integration of African capital markets within the global investment landscape.

“In young, developing, nascent markets, the ability to shape, to influence, to bring global best practice to these markets is significantly more so.”
— Narina Visser [11:26]

She outlines strategic partnerships with continental bodies like the African Stock Exchanges Association and the African Union, aiming to harmonize regulations, enhance payment systems, and facilitate capital flows within the continent. Narina underscores the importance of local currency transactions to reduce dependency on external currencies like the US Dollar, fostering greater financial autonomy and resilience.

“Our work is not done by any stretch of the imagination.”
— Narina Visser [13:08]

Her commitment highlights the ongoing efforts and the vast potential for capital market development in Africa, positioning the region as a critical player in the global investment arena.

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Conclusion

Chris Wease commends Narina Visser for her multifaceted contributions to the investment industry, acknowledging her dedication to fostering a more inclusive, educated, and integrated financial landscape across Africa and the Middle East.

“You are so engaged in so many different ways at making the investment industry around you a better place. And I have so much respect for that.”
— Chris Wease [13:08]

The episode concludes with gratitude from both hosts, leaving listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the pivotal work being undertaken to elevate investment impact in some of the world’s most dynamic regions.

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This episode of Enterprising Investor offers a deep dive into the intersection of education, diversity, and market development, providing valuable insights for investment professionals aiming to navigate and influence the evolving landscapes of Africa and the Middle East.

Transcript

[Narina Visser]

Foreign.

[Mike Wahlberg]

Hello and welcome to the Enterprising Investor, the flagship investment podcast for CFA Institute. I'm Mike Wahlberg and this week's episode is another of the guest hosted ones shot at the CFA Institute Conference in Chicago back in May. CFA's managing director for Education Chris Wease was good enough to step step in and take over for the hosting duties for this conversation with Narina Visser, a South Africa based charter holder who wears many hats including being an independent ETF strategist and advisor, the host of the ETF Investor Podcast, and the President's Council Representative for the Middle east and Africa for the CFA Institute. Narina and Chris cover lots of ground in their conversation, including touching on the cost of obtaining the charter for African candidates, progress on gender equality within investment management, important aspects to understand when investing in the ETFs, and finally, opportunities for investment in African markets. I should say for these conference interviews there's an opportunity to see them in video format, which is pretty cool. Mitch, Michael and the others did a great job capturing the interviews in the hub of the conference. You'll be happy to hear though that my face for radio will, alas, remain hidden behind my microphone, at least for now. Here's Chris and Narita serving as the.

[Chris Wease]

President's Counsel Representative for the Middle east and Africa. I wanted to ask you what insights you've gained on the unique challenges and opportunities that are facing investment professionals in these regions.

[Narina Visser]

Yeah, Chris, thank you very much. It is a huge honor to serve as the PCR for what is geographically the largest region of CFA Institute covers 14 different societies, seven of which are in the Middle east, five in Africa, but several of those in Africa are actually multi country societies. So like East Africa, for example, represents Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, and similarly for South Africa as well. So clearly the challenges are, I think, the diversity of the region, but at the same time that also presents incredible opportunities for the region when you look at the nature of the underlying markets in the region. I think probably the key challenge that comes up from most of these societies is affordability and it is not just about the level of the currency weakness in many of these countries, but also the volatility of the currency. And I think that's probably one of the biggest challenges both for the societies in terms of how to use the operational funding that they get from the institute or how to actually deploy those, but for members, even more so. You know, whether it is, whether it's candidates, whether it's existing members paying membership fees, whether it's enrolling for new certificates or programs or so on. Affordability remains a big challenge, but I think an opportunity for us in terms of that is to start thinking in terms of the cost of what CFA Institute offers as a proportion of the salary of the average salary that someone can earn. And I don't think that's ever been done before, really. We tend to look at this and try and convert it into sort of purchase power parity of some sort. But I think if we can start linking the cost of the program, the cost of membership and so on, to what proportion does this represent of a particular individual's typical salary? I think maybe, and also applying that across the globe, I think maybe we can get to a much more equitable opportunity, sort of really globally, to emphasize this global footprint of the institute.

[Chris Wease]

Wonderful. Thank you. I'd be remiss if I didn't add to this One part of the discussion is CFA Institute launched a robust scholarship program for people who want to get into the program. And so I hope throughout that region that candidates are aware of that and availing themselves of it.

[Narina Visser]

Oh, absolutely. And it's certainly something that I think is very popular and is certainly being used a lot. I think the challenge here, again, is that that focus is mostly on, let's say, the program fees. But of course, we know that there are a lot more associated with the cost of actually doing the CFA program or even the certificates, the membership, all of these. Similarly, when we look at traveling to conferences such as CFA Institute Live, you know, the conference ticket is but one portion of the expense for the member. The much more significant part is the cost of the travel, the cost of the visas. Often, you know, when you come from Middle Eastern Africa, visas is a major factor, not just the cost of it, but even getting a visa to travel to these so challenges us a plenty, but I think incredible opportunities also for us. So.

[Chris Wease]

Absolutely. Thank you. You're also a co founder of Women and ATF's in South Africa chapter. What progress have you observed in promoting gender diversify or diversity in the investment industry? And what initiatives do you believe are still needed?

[Narina Visser]

So I think there's a wonderful intersection between CFA Institute and the women in Investment Management and the gender diversity focus in CFA Institute with women in ETFs as well. So for me, that was a very natural combination of two of my two key areas of interest. The key line or the tagline for women in ETFs is connect, support, Inspire, and that's Connect, Support, Inspire. I mean, isn't that just beautiful? And that is exactly what we do It's a very vibrant chapter and it often extends beyond just the ETF industry itself. So it's certainly a supportive environment of supporting not just women. The fact that there's women in the name doesn't mean that men are not allowed to be part of it. We certainly have many male members of women in ETFs as well. But I think just generally in terms of gender diversity, South Africa is probably one of the most advanced countries in the world when it comes to gender diversity. When you look for example at our Parliament, more than 50% of our members of parliament are female. There are strong initiatives around things like women on boards, targets of 30% of women on boards, and the list of these sort of initiatives go on within the investment industry. We've seen some moving of the needle in this, but not nearly as quickly as I think we would like to see this now. I think in the investment industry in particular, the challenges that we often find is that women seem to progress quite easily to a certain level and then no further. And the debate is out, is it because women or the particular individual has got different priorities or don't necessarily want to continue, or is it because of con of hurdles within the career and so on. And as the CFA Society in South Africa, we have a lot of initiatives to also address some of these challenges that women experience. Personally, I'm very proud of the CFA Society South Africa. Not only is it an incredibly well diversified board, not just gender diversity across many other diversity spectrums as well, but several years ago already, the CFA Society South Africa Investment Conference, we put together a conference with an all female lineup of speakers. And yes, it was intentional. Yes, we did go out to identify specifically female speakers, but it was so easy to put it together and it really demonstrated the depth and the skill set of women in the investment industry. And I think my personal sort of enjoyment out of this that it was quite far into the day where some members in the audience started noticing and commenting on the fact, oh my goodness, another woman, a female speaker, a female lineup. And I think we managed to demonstrate very clearly that gender should not be a hurdle or a differentiating feature, that we've got incredibly strong and capable and competent women. And as we say in portfolio management, diversification certainly is that free lunch in town. And gender diversity is one of just many aspects and very happy to be involved in promoting that gender diversity in our industry.

[Chris Wease]

That is wonderful. I love it about the conference. Through your podcast, the ETF Investor, you've been instrumental in educating investors what common misperceptions do you encounter about ETFs and how do you address them to promote informed investors?

[Narina Visser]

Oh, Chris, love that question. So I'm a little bit allergic to the colloquial term term passive investing because I believe that there is no such thing as passive investment. All investments involve an active or several active decisions. But I guess it's a question of what do you decide actively and how do you implement what you chose and what you decided actively. So for me, so called passive investments or ETFs focus a lot more on the vehicle and the benefits that the vehicle, the exchange traded fund, bring to the equation, rather than just the index aspect of so called passively managed investments. So generally speaking in the investment industry, probably one of the biggest problems that I perceive, and this is not just with retail investors, this is often with professional investors as well, is an overconfidence in terms of looking at past performance. Despite all those disclaimers that we always will, it's the information that is probably most readily available. And so people rely way too much on past performance in their investment decisions. So in my engagement through the ETF Investor podcast, I focus a lot on helping people understand what is inside the etf, what are the rules around how the index is constructed, what is the underlying exposure that you get and to then try and find a link through to what will drive the performance of that particular group of assets in this vehicle, to try and find a link between the economy, the politics, the real world, and say when this happens in the economy, what happens to this particular group of assets that I have in my etf. So we do spend a lot of time focusing on what's inside the etf, what are the rules around how it's put together and really try and educate investors to their investment decision making process. To look at this from a different perspective in terms of it, I think the other thing that is really great about the ETF as an investment vehicle is that it gives people that. The T I often joke about is transparency. So I know ETF stands for exchange Traded Fund. I often say it is efficiency, transparency and flexibility. And we focus on those three aspects of ETFs to educate investors in terms of when and where and how are these particular investment instruments or investment vehicles most appropriate for their investment portfolios?

[Chris Wease]

That is wonderful. Well, if I may ask one last question. Reflecting on your Leadership in Africa outreach project and contributions to developing African capital markets, what is your vision for the growth and integration of these markets in the global investment landscape?

[Narina Visser]

You know Chris, I think this brings us Back maybe to that very first question. This is the opportunity that we experience in these particular markets. When you look at very well deep developed markets, the ability of the CFA Institute to shape the capital markets, to shape the investment industry tends to be a lot more limited. Where in young, developing, nascent markets, the ability to shape, to influence, to bring global best practice to these markets is significantly more so. So within the African continent, we partner quite often with some of the continental bodies, so such as sia, the African Stock Exchanges association, the au, the African Union, and more recently also the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which focuses a lot on removing some of the hurdles within the continent of trade is being addressed. We're looking to break down those same sort of hurdles and barriers for capital flow, capital development inside the continent as a major area of development opportunity. So we look at things like, for example, harmonization of regulations across different regions, assistance in terms of payment systems, where you are looking for opportunities where the currencies don't necessarily always have to transact via the US Dollar, but you can actually have more transactions being executed between local currencies and that only sort of the reserve or the excess needs to be transacted through the dollar or other external currency. So the opportunities are aplenty. Our work is not done by any stretch of the imagination.

[Chris Wease]

Well, let me just conclude by saying it strikes me that you are so engaged in so many different ways at making the investment industry around you a better place. And I have so much respect for that.

[Narina Visser]

So.

[Chris Wease]

And thank you for spending a few minutes with us today.

[Narina Visser]

Thank you, Chris. I do appreciate the opportunity.

[Mike Wahlberg]

I'm Mike Wahlberg and this has been the enterprising invest.

[Narina Visser]

Sam.