Talking about diversity and inclusion and seeing no action is tiring, the leader of Alvarez & Marsal’s UK Wealth Management practice has said.
Nneka Orji who is leading the consultancy firm’s wealth management service offering told FTAdviser that although continuously speaking up about diversity within financial services can take a personal toll, she chooses to do so out of a sense of responsibility.
“When it comes to socio-economic diversity, there’s a lot more progress than in other industries and part of it I think is the emphasis in some wealth management firms on being an entrepreneur and having that entrepreneurial mindset,” Orji said.
But in terms of gender and ethnic diversity in wealth management she believes there is still a lot more work to be done.
“I remember some of the conversations I was having in 2012 and 2013 when I was very involved in our multicultural network and I was writing pieces for women’s business magazines internally within the firm, there was a lot less comfort and openness about those discussions.
"There was a lot more push-back. It’s more common now to have those conversations and dialogue,” Orji told FTAdviser.
“Since the murder of George Floyd, there is more openness around race and ethnicity but there’s still a long way to go. It can be really tiring having the same conversations, not because people aren’t listening but because often the action doesn’t follow.
“Every leader has lots of priorities to work on. I’m not sitting here saying people are twiddling their thumbs, but if we want to see the potential from a social standpoint and we want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the economy and create the lives they want to live, there is so much more action we need to take.”
Route into wealth management
Orji took a circuitous route into financial services, first studying engineering in Oxford before pivoting and building a successful career in management consulting.
She spent over a decade in the management consultancy field and worked her way up to chief of staff to the UK chair in Deloitte before deciding to make the move into wealth management.
Before taking up her current role with Alvarez & Marsal, Orji spent three years as chief operating officer at Morrinson Wealth Management, a partner practice of St James’s Place.
The decision to make the move to Morrinson Wealth Management and pivot what was already a successful career was not an easy one, but one that Orji knew made sense for her.
“I sometimes step back and think why can’t I take the easier path,” she said.
“Consulting was hard and I felt like I was living out of a suitcase for a long time but it was the easy option to stay there. I was coming up to almost 10 years in the industry and I don’t think I had really challenged myself in terms of working in a different sector.
