20 Years of Castlefield
As part of our 20 year anniversary celebrations, Castlefield Co-owner Hugh Austin reached out to fellow co-owners to share their experiences of working at Castlefield.
We asked them to recall if there was anything in particular that stood out before joining which first attracted them and how their journey at Castlefield has evolved.
You'll also notice below that we've used a couple of photos from a recent event where all Co-owners were invited to get together and start the company's 20 year anniversary celebrations.
India Harkishin – 1 year at Castlefield
(From left to right, Olivia, India and Sakshi)
What first attracted you to want to work at Castlefield?
What attracted me to Castlefield was the company’s shared and strong commitment to ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance standards) within its principles of investing. My role before joining Castlefield was at a private equity firm in central London, where I had worked for almost three years. During my time there I felt that ESG investing was not that widely spoken about. Castlefield stood out to me for this reason, as having a strong sustainability mandate within investing was something I wanted to contribute towards in my career.
How would you describe your experience of working at Castlefield?
My journey at Castlefield has been a really positive experience. I joined Castlefield because I wanted to learn more about and become a part of sustainable investing. I have learned so much, and feel that my peers are committed to encouraging my growth. I am always encouraged to research and pursue projects that I feel passionate about. My role will be developing in the coming years as I will be able to interact with clients once I have the necessary qualifications. I’m looking forward to this aspect of my role developing as I love interacting with people and feel very passionate about what we do as a company so look forward to sharing this with our clients and prospective clients. I have recently started my studies for the Investment Management Certificate which Castlefield are funding which is the first step towards making this happen.
What stands out about Castlefield to you?
Since joining Castlefield I have been overwhelmed by the kindness and support of our co-owners. Working in an employee-owned working environment has been such a positive experience as you can tell that everyone feels like their views matter equally, and the success of the company feels more personal.
Pooja Shah – 5 years at Castlefield
(From left to right, Pooja pictured alongside Rioghna and Daniel L)
What first attracted you to want to work at Castlefield?
I worked with investment companies for almost 4 and half years before I joined Castlefield. I have always enjoyed the world of finance and investment markets. Where I worked prior to Castlefield, my role involved working with people who cared only about the hard numbers in the business case. But I learnt through my experience that investments are about far more than just the numbers – investors need to trust the people running the company and the strategy they have laid out, and they need to believe that others – consumers, regulators and investors – will trust that company too. The ability to trust is based upon reputation. So, I embarked on my search for a company which wanted to make a positive difference to the lives of their clients and the world in which we all live.
My fondest memory of Castlefield is the day of my interview. I walked into our Manchester office on a very rainy day in November 2016 for an interview at 12.15pm and before I started the interviewing process, I messaged my husband at 12.25pm saying ‘I have finally found my future employer, I am going to be here for a while!’.
How would you describe your experience of working at Castlefield?
My experience at Castlefield has been anything but ordinary. I started working here 5 years ago with loads of investment experience and a great qualification under my belt. However, it was the financial planning side of the business that drew my attention. This role offered me the opportunity to speak to clients every day, to learn about their needs and help them build a strong financial future. So I started working as an Executive and progressed quickly to become a Financial Adviser. During these 5 years, I also worked on a Corporate Finance project with the Managing Partner of the business. During this time I learnt a lot - the actions that managers take to increase the value of the firm to the shareholders, and the tools and analysis used to allocate financial resources.
What stands out about Castlefield to you?
Our culture at Castlefield has directly supported our success because we’ve embedded our values at the heart of everything we do. Without the people at Castlefield and its ethos of shared ownership, we wouldn’t have been as successful as we have been to date and without our Employee Ownership philosophy, we wouldn’t have had the people to make it possible!
I am grateful I decided to take that interview in 2016 and be a part of this company! I’m proud of how the company has developed and progressed, but still maintained its friendly “family” type feel – and I’m certainly l looking forward to the next 5 years.
David Elton – 10 years at Castlefield
What first attracted you to Castlefield?
The main thing that attracted me was the ethos and the clients Castlefield were working with and for. As part of my degree, I worked for a year at a hedge fund which was an excellent experience and confirmed my desire to work in the investment industry. However, I wanted to work for a company where I felt more aligned from a values perspective. In my post-graduation searching around for investment managers who might share my values, I stumbled upon Castlefield. I liked what I read about them in terms of their approach, the values they espoused, and the fact they were a growing investment business in Manchester, so I wrote a speculative letter explaining why I thought I might be a good fit.
How would you describe your experience of working at Castlefield?
It’s been both a challenging and rewarding one. As mentioned earlier, I had sent a speculative letter to Castlefield looking for a job in the investment team. This presented an opportunity to meet John Eckersley (Managing Partner and a founder of Castlefield) and, after a couple of meetings, I was offered a role in the Group. My initial role wasn’t quite the one on the investment team I had hoped for (simply due to there not being a role available at the time) but I knew I wanted to work for the company, so I accepted it. Then, six months later, the opportunity arose for a role on the investment desk which I jumped at. It was a smaller team back then than today, so my initial role was quite a broad one, with a bit of everything from portfolio management to helping with client presentations and working on the UK smaller company side of things. I gravitated towards the latter which I also believe dovetails well with our sustainability approach to investing.
Today, I’m proud to be lead manager on our CFP Castlefield Sustainable UK Smaller Companies Fund. But, to get here, I’ve been heavily invested in along the way. Whether this be the support when working through my CFA exams to being fortunate enough to be able to shadow Alistair, a former colleague and experienced fund manager, for several years, drawing on his experience in all things UK smaller companies. Reflecting 10-and-a-half years later on my time here, it has been a privilege to be part of something unique, and exciting to see the business grow with the potential for much more.
What stands out about Castlefield for you?
It’s the people and culture. Cliché, but our employee ownership approach cements a genuine sharing and togetherness ethos. Over the course of my time at Castlefield I’ve seen people come and go, but its testament to the strong culture that fresh faces join and quickly buy into what is being built here. It’s not only just about owning a slice of the business but owning your own role and taking control, and so it is also rewarding to see so many co-owners develop and grow in their own careers.
Such a culture is hard to replicate and, I believe that this, along with our ownership structure, is the right environment for future growth both of business but also those in the business.
Deborah Warrender – 15 years at Castlefield
(From left to right, Alison and Deborah)
What first attracted you to Castlefield?
A former colleague told me about the vacancy, to be honest I didn’t like the thought of working in Manchester but at my interview I knew it was the right place and opportunity for me.
My previous experiences included store supervisor, then I decided on career change, so I worked as a receptionist for a pigment manufacturer, this is where I moved to accounts and started my AAT training. I had no experience in the financial sector before starting at Castlefield, at the time I applied I was working in accounts for a housing association.
How would you describe your experience of working at Castlefield?
I’ve learned such a lot since joining Castlefield, it has given me confidence in myself that I didn’t know I had and I’m still learning new skills after all this time.
One of the things I have enjoyed most is seeing Castlefield grow from one company (CIP) to where we are now. At the beginning, I was producing my first set of management accounts, then as my role developed, the other ad-hoc duties from things like purchasing new office blinds, moving furniture to the new office, to fire marshal etc. It was pretty much roll up your sleeves and get stuck in, never a dull moment. The best part of my job is training/supporting people where I can and seeing them develop on their own journey.
My role has changed a lot, when I started at Castlefield, it was only me in accounts and I wasn’t very busy, I always remember saying to John a month into my employment that I didn’t think I was going to be busy enough, how wrong can one person be! Now I manage a small team, we now have 5, soon to be 6 people in accounts and it’s always busy.
What stands out about Castlefield to you?
In my opinion, the people are the ones who stand out, they make up the foundations of Castlefield and its values. As an employee-owned company we’re working for our clients and each other which makes it a very supportive environment.
Summayya Mosam – 20 years at Castlefield
(From left to right, Summayya pictured alongside Simon and John E)
What attracted you to Castlefield?
I would love to say that it was Castlefield’s values that attracted me the most and that I was looking for a company that matched my own values. However, the truth is – I needed a job at the time and my only requirement was that I didn’t want to work for a large corporate. I wanted to work for a smaller firm where there is a more personal feel and one that I can truly contribute to. I answered to a small add in the newspaper not knowing what the job was or anything about the company – we didn’t have a website at that point. However, I knew as soon as I joined Castlefield…I had found my second home. Having previously worked in some big corporates I struggled with the red tape and being a small cog on a big wheel. Not really being able to see the difference I made or the value I added.
How would you describe your experience of working at Castlefield?
I think my self-discovery at Castlefield has been unbelievable. I have been pushed out of my comfort zone constantly and learnt that given the right environment and some encouragement I can achieve grand things.
I joined as ‘Investment Assistant’, and moved through a number of roles including Compliance Officer, Head of Service Delivery, Head of Information Systems and Risk, Money Laundering Reporting Officer, Data Protection Officer, Head of Client Services and IT. Some of my busiest periods included at one point (around 2015/2016) I held nine FCA control functions; in 2018 I managed to reduce these to five control functions whilst having 27 co-owners under my umbrella (in one way or another) and doing my Masters in Financial Services Management all at the same time.
I think the beauty about Castlefield is that there are always options for development and you never know where you might end up – but what you do know is that you will have all the right ingredients to be the best version of yourself that you can be.
What stands out about Castlefield to you?
I know diversity and inclusion is very much in the limelight at the moment, but at Castlefield I have always felt included. Having joined with just three men and me in a tiny little office, moving on to being the youngest, only female and only BAIM Partner of the LLP for a while to managing co-owners with far more life experience than me….it has been a tremendous journey.
Having come from a family of small business owners – I always put my heart and soul into anywhere I work as if it were my own business. So the fact that Castlefield is EO – to me it’s just an official term to describe how I already felt about Castlefield. However, around me I can see that it does matter to other people – it matters that we have a right to speak up; it matters that we have a right to be informed and it matters that we can directly enjoy the outcomes from our hard work.