The extraordinary story of the only B Corp in Afghanistan
“People don’t buy what you do, they buy WHY you do it” says Simon Sinek in his hugely popular TedTalk – “Start with Why?” Companies across the world are increasingly attaching a purpose to their business. Indeed, there is an official certification for companies that go beyond profit motive – B Corp is a private certification issued by B […]
How the Loss of the Landline Is Changing Family Life
The mobile phone will likely go down in history as the technology which had the biggest impact on people’s lives and progressively so. Whilst its ability to connect people far away is often seen as the gamechanger for human civilisation, this article highlights one aspect where the smartphone has actually disconnected people. The piece in […]
The gospel of wealth according to Marc Benioff
In the run upto the next US presidential elections, it is inevitable that the topic of taxing the rich will be front and centre of the debate with candidates such as Elizabeth Warren actually putting out a clear plan – The Ultra-millionnaire tax. The topic touches upon the role of the wealthy and big corporates in […]
Celebrating Marcellus with Two Creative Giants
As we complete a year of managing money in India, we celebrate two towering legends of the Indian music industry. Not only did RD Burman and AR Rahman change the way movie music is made in India, there are striking parallels in their careers. Both men were professional musicians by their mid-teens. Both turned away […]
When is corruption good for growth?
Corruption is often attributed as one of the key impediments to development and growth. However, Shrabani Saha and Kunal Sen of the United Nations University in a working paper (see here) show that there is indeed a positive correlation between corruption and growth drawing from the experiences of East Asian economies who demonstrated long periods of […]
All-Time Highs Are Both Scary & Normal
A common question from clients these days is “How comfortable are you investing now given the markets (and your portfolio stocks) are at all-time highs?”. Our simple answer is that our portfolio earnings are also at all-time highs. Indeed, for the fiscal year to date, our portfolio is up a little over 20% whilst its weighted […]
Doctors are turning to YouTube to learn how to do surgical procedures, but there’s no quality control
Social media and the rise of user-generated content has certainly bridged a lot of information gaps but also raised questions around authenticity leading to issues highlighted elsewhere in this piece, especially around fake news driven political propaganda. The issues become somewhat more serious if it were to be in the field of health and medicine. […]
Hippie Inc: how the counterculture went corporate
We will shift focus from Silicon Valley’s darker side to its mellower side. The Hippie counterculture from the 1960s now finds itself at the heart of capitalism. How did that happen? Well, as with most things these days, Silicon Valley played a big role: “Google, Apple, Facebook, Nike, Procter & Gamble and General Motors all offer […]
ADL International Leadership Award Presented to Sacha Baron Cohen at Never Is Now 2019
For the first time we are kicking-off of ‘Three Longs & Three Shorts’ with a video because for the first time we have found a video which is worth more than a week of newspaper reading. Those of us who have watched Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedy over the past 25 years had no idea that […]
Are consistent compounders too big to grow?
Marcellus’ Consistent Compounders Portfolio consists of companies which have already delivered consistently healthy growth in their fundamentals over the past decade or longer, and where we expect the firms to deliver consistent compounding over the next decade as well. However, given the long and consistent historical track record of these companies, some investors are concerned […]
We demand an absurd level of certainty from our politicians – and this makes them stupid
It is said that intelligence is not static. Whilst we all are born with a certain IQ, it is possible that with curiosity to learn by reading, listenening and reflecting, one can improve her intelligence or indeed the lack there of could drive one the other way round. Whilst this is applicable to professionals in […]
The Joy of Finding Out
Equity analysts are not exactly rocket scientists but most analysts would agree equity research is quite a fulfilling profession. It is a job where you learn something new every single day. But even the gruelling aspect of endless readings and numerous interviews with people knowledgeable about a company or an industry just to find an […]
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