Women’s Day 2024: Ennette Fernandes — from research analyst to fund manager

Women’s Day: Ennette Fernandes, Fund Manager – Equities, Canara Robeco Mutual Fund

On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2024, Moneycontrol Personal Finance showcases five women fund managers, who have broken barriers in the Rs 50 trillion, male-dominated Indian Mutual Fund industry.

It didn’t bother Ennette Fernandes that most of her male batchmates in management school didn't include her when they discussed the stock markets.  “Not enough women think of finance and stock markets as their first career choice,” she says, explaining why you see mostly men talking markets.

But her knack for finance and determination stood her in good stead when she faced campus placement interviews, where she landed her first job at Phillip Capital as an equity research analyst. Today, Fernandes is an equity fund manager at Canara Robeco Asset Management Company (AMC), India’s 16th largest fund house with assets under management (AUM) of Rs 85,724.48 crore. Fernandes’ campus job placement was especially hard, given that she graduated in April 2009, just when the world and India were struggling to recover from the 2008 global financial crisis. Fifteen years later, Fernandes has grown into her role and now manages assets worth Rs 8,700 crore as a fund manager.

Also read: Meet Anju Chhajer, who manages Rs 83,000 crore assets at Nippon India MF

On the road with a fund manager

At Canara Robeco, Fernandes manages two schemes — Canara Robeco Equity Hybrid Fund (an aggressive hybrid fund) and Canara Robeco Consumer Trends Fund (CRCTF). The former is a diversified fund, while the latter is a thematic equity fund that focuses on a single theme. Fernandes says that she likes managing both types of schemes — diversified and sector-based — though she feels drawn to the latter. Fernandes’ exposure to the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and consumption sector started off in her research analyst days at Phillip Capital, and then at Tata Mutual Fund, where too she worked as an analyst, tracking the consumption sector.

Also read: How a simple newspaper reading habit led Shibani Kurian down the fund management path

How was the journey from being an analyst to a fund manager? “A fund manager is a jack-of-all-trades, whereas an analyst is a master-of-one (sector),” she says. An analyst at a fund house would track just one to three sectors at a time. “But a fund manager’s role is far more critical as she is directly handling other people’s money. The job pressure is also higher,” adds Fernandes.

Also read: A college contest won this fund manager Rs 1 lakh cash prize and a career in mutual funds

Equality more a reality now 
Although the number of women fund managers are still miniscule in the Rs 50 trillion Indian mutual funds industry, Fernandes says that she has never faced discrimination at work. Even at the start of her career, she says her seniors encouraged her to hone her writing skills (essential for writing research reports), and not just limit herself to crunching numbers.

Women’s Day: Ennette Fernandes, Fund Manager – Equities, Canara Robeco Mutual Fund

“The places I have worked at have been gender-agnostic, and recognised talent and hard work,” she asserts. She says that Canara Robeco MF has two women analysts on the equity research desk, besides herself — the sole woman fund manager. The fixed income management team has one lady fund manager and three women analysts. ``In general, the number of women in banking, finance, and fund management have increased,” she says.

Also read: How Rajasa of Franklin Templeton juggles between baby and balance sheets

What about company visits and boardroom meetings with promoters when she goes on the field to research the companies she tracks — as a woman, is she treated differently? “It has changed for the better in the last 10 years,’’ she says, and attributes the change to regulations mandating that company boards must include lady independent directors. “I have seen the senior management (of companies) engage professionally with women fund managers,” she explains.

Where to invest in 2024?
Fernandes is bullish on the manufacturing and consumption themes. “I expect these to offer structural and consistently high growth opportunities for the long term,” she says. However, Fernandes is mindful of the uncertainty on the global macros front, and volatility due to high interest rates. “Our focus is on companies with resilient and strong earnings visibility, backed by strong management,” she adds. Fernandes explains that her schemes are underweight on small and midcap stocks at this point in time considering “rich valuations.”

But despite equity markets hovering around their all-time highs, there are enough opportunities, she says. “Although the near-to-medium term could be challenging on returns, investing should always be for the long term. India is in a sweet spot by way of structurally high growth, along with strong flows on account of increasing allocation towards mutual funds, which should ensure healthy market returns,” she explained.