"It's the sense of a mission to help asset owners grow their wealth along with the golden times for asset management that drove me to co-found this company with my partner," recalls Vanessa Xu, co-founder and chief executive officer of FountainCap Research & Investment.

Xu and Frank Ding, both ex-Capital Group investment professionals, founded the company in 2004. "Our team has combined investment experiences through six global market cycles over the past 25 years," says Xu.

Xu has more than 16 years' experience in the global capital market. Prior to founding FountainCap, she was with Capital International under Capital Group responsible for direct investments in Asia with an emphasis on China and primarily focusing on the internet, consumer, retail and healthcare sectors. Before joining Capital Group, she was an investment banker at JP Morgan Securities, Credit Suisse and Citigroup. She had also worked as a management consultant with Monitor Group's Beijing office before taking up investment banking.

Talking about giving up being an investment banking professional to running an enterprise herself, Xu says: "We feel like it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and if we don't seize it, we would regret facing the historical tide."

But starting an enterprise is totally different from working in a large company. "You need to strike a balance fast or slow, as when you do research and investment which is a slow variable. We aim to be the fund manager who faces cycles but, in terms of pitching clients and finding assets, it's about being fast."

"Investment is a tough job which needs independent thinking, discipline and patience," she says.

"We prefer intellectual honesty and equality in our operation so we encourage our colleagues to be more open, raise their views and share their insights."

Xu's advice to youths is that in developing their careers, they should be independent thinkers with faith and passion in what they do and stick to it. They should ignore external interference, such as how much money they could earn in the short term, but pay attention to five to 10 years' training of professional skills.

tingduan@chinadailyhk.com