Invest Africa 2008-2015

I was fortunate to find a wonderful article concerning Merrill Lynch’s (recently bought out by Bank of America for $50 Billion) outlook on Investment Opportunities in Africa. It was very enlightening to see such a traditional private capital firm speak so highly of the Motherland. Especially considering their lack of growth in the area of diversity and inclusion in their national workforce (see below). Anywho, the article is definitely worth reading…one for the archives.

Invest Africa | merrillynchonafrica

Fewer than 300 (about 2 percent) of the firm’s 14,700 U.S. retail producers are African-American, 3.5 percent are Hispanic and 3 percent are Asian/Pacific Islanders. The numbers are contained in a Merrill report called “Diversity at Work: A U.S. Progress Report” (available at Merrill’s Web site www.ml.com). See chart for data on all employees.

Release of the data is part of a new openness in the securities industry, which had not historically addressed employment issues in public. A Securities Industry Association study released in March showed that 3.7 percent of all registered reps at responding firms are minorities and 12.2 percent are women (see August 1999 RR, Page 46).

Merrill did not offer any data on the number of women brokers at the firm.

Merrill’s diversity report adds that that career development symposiums are offered to give these employees guidance on “how to deal with the unique issues facing women and African-Americans in financial services.”