Kisa Mwakasala, Vice President, Regional Sales Director for UK & Ireland talks about creativity, flexibility and diversity.
Can you please tell me what is your day-to-day role at FactSet?
My role is sales director for the UK and Ireland, my primary responsibility includes coaching, empowering, and supporting a team of 30 sales professionals who support the client engagement and relationship management of over 700 existing and prospective clients.
I also hold additional voluntary roles as Co-Chair of our EMEA Multicultural Business Resource Group and I am a big advocate of corporate social responsibility (CSR). I engage in various CSR activities and have a passion for supporting young people from underprivileged backgrounds, by giving them an opportunity to give them the best chance through programmes involving mentoring, coaching, tutoring, networking.
Market conditions have been volatile but what have you found to be the most challenging?
The main challenge I have found in 2022 has been how to fully optimise hybrid working.
Hybrid working has many benefits, but in some ways, it can be challenging. We have learned to adapt our approach to building relationships with new clients and on-boarding new team members to collaborate and build connectivity with our culture and values. We have also taken active steps to proactively encourage colleagues to prioritise their self-care and wellbeing in a more virtual environment where people were finding it difficult to switch off.
What skillsets are required for today and have they changed over the past couple of years?
At FactSet, we pride ourselves on providing the most innovative technology and flexible solutions to deliver increasingly differentiated data and analytics supporting investment professionals. There has been a shift in need for our new hires to quickly get to grips with the ever evolving best-in-class technologies to provide best-in-class services to our clients.
Although technologies are ever-changing, fundamentally we value our talented staff who go above and beyond to work collaboratively to provide exceptional client service.
Reflecting on our new hybrid ways of working, there has been a need to evolve how we work, for example we no longer have the travel time between in-person meetings to get exercise and reflect, we now need to be intentional to build in time for regular breaks and wellbeing.
How did you get started in financial services and is this the career you envisioned? If not, what had been the plan?
I studied BSc Investment and Financial Management at Cass Business School, with the intention of working in finance, and undertook an industrial placement at Lloyds TSB.
When I graduated, the market conditions were challenging, so I extended my search scope and found FactSet and have not looked back since!
I am naturally very curious and thrive in a fast-paced working environment, where I get to build relationships with and find innovative solutions for a diverse array of clients and colleagues from distinct cultures and backgrounds.
What progress do you think women have made in financial services? How have things changed since you started?
There is still a long way to go until we achieve gender representation in financial services, and further to go if you factor in intersectionality. However, since I started in the industry there have been significant improvements in the representation of women and gender non-conforming individuals in finance, and an improvement in the array of female role models in leadership roles and crucially, a significant increase in allyship, investment and coaching to female and gender non-conforming talent in the industry.
What needs to be done to move the needle further?
We need actions, not words. It is the duty of role models of all genders to demystify our industry and to support, encourage, and give back to the next generation. It is incumbent on companies to increase transparency by sharing their workforce demographics, setting goals and reporting on their progress.
How does your firm support women and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in general?
We are committed to ensuring measurable change and an increase in representation of women and gender non-conforming employees at FactSet as we continue to build an inclusive culture where all talent can thrive.
Our global DE&I (Diversity Equity & Inclusion) team, led by our Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, has developed and implemented a robust DE&I strategy that helps support women and gender non-conforming employees by expanding and deepening FactSet’s DE&I journey through a variety of programmes, resources, and employee networks such as our global Women’s Business Resource Groups.
We have also established a global DE&I Council, chaired by our CEO, and comprised of FactSet senior leaders who represent all areas of the business. Additionally, we have embedded DE&I into all talent reviews and promotions processes so that we consistently track growth while identifying areas of improvement.
We also engage and develop employees with an array of educational programmes on topics such as racial justice, unconscious bias, understanding multiculturalism, supporting gender non-conforming colleagues, intersectionality, interfaith, and more.
Our employee-led global Business Resource Groups help spread cultural awareness and support various dimensions of diversity including gender, race & ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, families, and veteran identity.
With such progress made in the past year, we are proud of what we have accomplished, but we know that we have more to do.
How are you involved?
I try to be a conscious role model by creating an inclusive culture, sponsoring colleagues, ensuring everyone has a voice at the table and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion at FactSet. I serve as a co-chair of our EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) Multicultural Business Resource Group (BRG) that seeks to unify a collective and global mindset with a goal to inspire curiosity, build trust, and allow each and every person to be truly authentic at work.
Collectively, we aim to accelerate innovation by fully capturing the talent of a diverse team, allowing collaboration to thrive so we can better serve our colleagues, our clients, and our communities. I am also a big advocate for inspiring the next generation through tutoring and empowering young people from less advantaged backgrounds to pursue a career in finance and technology.
There is a plethora of awards for women in the financial sector. How long do you think it will be before we won’t need a special category?
It is my hope that in the not-too-distant future, these awards are inclusive of all genders and specifically gender non-conforming individuals. Until we have better representation in our industry of all genders at all levels of leadership, I feel, we will require gender specific awards to acknowledge the imbalance of opportunity that currently exists. These awards present a fantastic opportunity to highlight inspirational role models to help inspire a future generation of leaders.
