Aikya IM co-founder Swarup: Why quality of people is as important as quality of business

Investing in good people

Co-founder of Aikya Investment Management Ashish Swarup speaks to Mike Sheen about a career built in crises, launching a firm in the middle of a pandemic and what success means for the fledgling boutique.

  After more than a decade managing money at Fidelity and Stewart Investors, in March last year Ashish Swarup joined forces with former colleagues and fellow emerging markets equities veterans to launch Aikya Investment Management. Having resigned from Stewart Investors in late 2019, and after a period of garden leave, he co-founded the business in the middle of a crisis, as the UK faced its first lockdown of the coronavirus pandemic. However, while the circumstances may have been unprecedented, Swarup is no stranger to crises. After achieving an engineering degree in India, Swaru...