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Concordia
Merchant Taylors’ School
Tariq
Attia
Tariq Attia
(2003-2008) is Head of
Private Clients at private equity firm,
IWCapital. He spent time at National
Australia Bank, before joining IW
Capital and becoming the youngest
ever equity partner at the firm. He now
advises high net worth clients on their
tax efficient investments
recently returned to MTS for the
first time since I left in 2008 to speak
at the Fifth Form Careers Convention;
it was a surreal experience. Driving up
Sandy Lodge Lane, I felt a strong sense
of nostalgia and was excited to see the
school again after so many years away.
There were many changes, most notably
to the newly renovated Great Hall (in
which golfer Ian Poulter would speak
that evening), and the new, ultra-modern
Design Centre. I was looking forward to
sharing my school and career experience
with the current crop of MTS students; it
was only eight years ago that I had sat in
the same seats as the Fifth Form, listening
to former students who had gone on
to great universities and fulfilling
careers. I must confess that at the time,
all I really cared about was getting the
best GCSE grades possible and what I
would do during the summer holidays.
I had absolutely no idea what I wanted
to do career-wise but what helped was
the support from teachers, ex-students
and my parents. They all had the same
message, clichéd though it may sound:
“Do what you love”, and this is what I
tried to communicate to the Fifth Form.
When I came to choose my A-Level
subjects, I chose what I genuinely
enjoyed rather than what I thought
universities would want to see me
study. It is simple logic – if you do
what you enjoy, you will feel less like
you are working and the likelihood is
you will be successful. Mr Ellams, my
Economics teacher and form teacher
during the Upper Sixth, stressed this
point in his classes. Economics was
always something I was fascinated by,
and I ended up studying it at university.
Throughout my time there I still didn’t
know quite what I wanted to do, but I
knew it would be most likely something
in the financial world.
I decided to secure a couple of
internships in order to find out a bit
more about the industry, and so I
worked for a month in Clydesdale
Bank’s Private Client office and for a
couple of months on National Australia
Bank’s trading floor shadowing the
commodity traders. I enjoyed both and
learnt a lot, but also realised that I’d
rather work with private clients and
in a smaller company, than in a large
firm on a trading floor. In my final
year, the job applications started and I
applied for graduate schemes with a few
smaller banks and boutique investment
management firms. I then had a chance
introduction to the CEO of IW Capital,
Luke Davis, and IW’s Chairman and
“city Superwoman” (a title which
she hates), Nicola Horlick. They told
me about IW Capital, and explained
their vision for the future, which was
something I wanted to be involved in,
and so I accepted their invitation to join.
… a single
mistake could
prove costly,
and cost clients
huge sums of
money; precision
and detail is
of paramount
importance.
I