Sean Park

Success in life as in business is all about people. Associating with great people doesn’t guarantee good outcomes but creates the conditions that allow good outcomes and makes great outcomes possible. And although identifying great people is very subjective I’ve learned that focusing on character, passion and open-mindedness, and running from hubris is a useful heuristic.

Besides the obvious – our continued survival and happiness depends on creating conditions that allow all of humanity to live in dignity – focusing on positive social impact leads to investing in and building more resilient companies and higher long term value creation. Businesses that create positive social impact are “anti-fragile” and tend to attract great talent and to build sustainable competitive positions.

Finance is the nervous system of our economies and societies, as such if such systems are under developed, broken or simply non-existent, it is impossible to create or maintain a healthy society. The technological revolution we have experienced in the last few decades has created a unique opportunity in Growth Markets to leapfrog traditional (Western) financial systems and infrastructure and provide excellent, modern financial products and services to consumers and businesses in these markets, irrespective of their current wealth. This will create a virtuous circle of healthier and successful economies, which will in turn drive better and more successful Financial Services companies, and so on.