News

On 22 April, more than 100 OBA Network members gathered at Lloyd's in the City to hear a very interesting discussion on Emerging Markets and the question, "Where do we grow from here?" The crowd heard two distinguished guests, Paul Mountford, President of Cisco's Emerging Markets Group, and Sandra Robertson, CEO and CIO of the University of Oxford's Endowment Fund, present their views on the evolution of Emerging Markets and then answer questions.

A salesman's salesman, Paul was upbeat and optimistic on the future and conveyed his belief that the worst had passed and in fact the major emerging markets were witnessing accelerated growth. Sandra discussed the developing world's growing middle class, relatively young populations and entrepreneurial spirit. She also advised that it wouldn't be all smooth sailing as numerous issues remained including changing legal and political environments, corporate governance issues and the lack of specialist resources in many markets.

So the conclusion; massive growth expected but numerous up and downs along the way.