Full Name: Gaurav Nair
Position: Executive director of JSS Empowerment Mining Fund
Main Activity of the Company: Investing equity in junior opencast mining companies in South Africa
Date and Place of Birth: April 23, 1987, Bombay, India
Education: BSc (Hons) (actuarial science), fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa
First Job: Actuarial analyst: pricing, Hannover Life Reassurance Africa
Value of Assets under Your Control: The fund, launched on February 2, 2017, is targeting a raise of R1-billion
Number of People under Your Leadership: Four employees
Management Style: I do not believe in micromanagement, but I believe it is important that leaders take responsibility for everything that a company does. This informs my management style of ensuring that everyone shares the same vision, delegating work and responsibility but maintaining a stringent level of quality control
Personal Best Achievement: Together with my business partner, we raised money for, and closed, the biggest private deal in the history of Swaziland, despite the insistence by many people that the deal was not possible
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of Antifragile. The book taught me how to make decisions in a world where the events that have the biggest impacts on our lives and careers are increasingly unforeseen
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: My father, who supported my entrepreneurial aspirations and allowed me to stay at home rent-free while I started my first few companies, and my wife, who encouraged me to leave comfortable corporate employment and start my own business
Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: George Soros – he has shown a deep resilience to confirmation bias and displayed the ability to abandon his views (and reverse course) with such ease, based on new information. Secondly, he is deeply introspective on how he makes his decisions, continually analysing them for errors or oversight
Philosophy of Life: Never underestimate the role of luck and randomness in life. Ensure your downside is low and your upside is high, regardless of how safe a bet appears
Biggest Ever Opportunity: JSS Empowerment Mining Fund – it presents an opportunity like never befor
Biggest Ever Disappointment: I have experienced many disappointments in the form of ventures that I started and that failed
Hope For the Future: I hope to see a society that is less unequal in the future, where the very poor and jobless can see real prospects of lifting themselves out of poverty. I also hope to see JSS Empowerment Mining Fund achieve success for investors, while playing its part in investing capital into this part of the economy
Favourite Reading: Philosophy (epistemology), particularly Taleb
Favourite Food/Drink: A wagyu or Kobe beef steak