PE Hub Europe: Actis’ Neda Vakilian: Private markets have work to do on socioeconomic diversity

As part of PE Hub Europe’s feature series profiling leading women from the private markets industry, Nina Lindholm spoke with Neda Vakilian, Partner and Global Head of the Investor Solutions Group at Actis.

The profile piece covers an array of topics, including Neda’s career aspirations, what keeps her motivated, why it’s good to not always conform, and her thoughts on the state of diversity and inclusion in private markets. On this final point, Neda says there is still a lot to do on diversity from the socioeconomic standpoint as well as on the number of women in senior positions. Click here to read the full feature and read on below for a snippet from Neda’s comments.

Neda Vakilian, Partner, Global Head of Investor Solutions Group at Actis, said:

“Fundamentally, with the help of infra, people can better educate their children, open bank accounts and power their homes – these are basic human rights. You also make 20 percent-plus return on it, so you hope that the person whose money we’re using can see a lot of value in that too.

“Lots of opportunities have been opened for me. On reflection, as someone in their 40s, I consider myself lucky because it can be harder because of your socioeconomic background, your natural starting point, to find those openings.

“We have to make the entry into the industry less hard and access talent from places that aren’t natural filters.”