news

Graduand Spotlight; Isaac Kamau – YouTube Propelled my Investment Analysis Career

By June 29, 2017 No Comments

A YouTube video on the subject of finance proved to be a career changer for one Isaac Kamau, a fourth year Bachelor of Business Science in Financial Economics (BBS FE) student, who since childhood aspired to become an engineer. Isaac waits with bated breath to be awarded with a 1st class honours in the upcoming 2017 graduation ceremony.

Isaac’s decision to change the face of his career path has with no doubt worked in his favour. The reading enthusiast rose to become a permanent employed investment analyst at Centum Investment, a job that causes a stir in him every single day he goes to work.

Being a successful student is not a new experience to Isaac, the Strathmore Primary and High School alumnus has always been a top student. Planning – has always been Isaac’s approach to everything that he commits himself to, “coming up with a strategy on how to go about my reading has always been beneficial. Adequate planning has always worked for me, thus attaining good grades,” he said. Isaac was hell-bent to continue succeeding in every step.

Joining Strathmore University was inevitable for Isaac, being an alumnus of the University’s sister school. Even so, Isaac’s entry was premised on his perception of the institution’s culture of delivering excellence.

The first year was a confusing year for Isaac, “a lot of information was being given to us and I did not know how to apply whatever I was being taught, but in due time I started to make progress,” Isaac comments. “The perplexity of the course started to fade away, the units started to get more interesting and with time I started to enjoy reading as I was not forcing myself to study,” Isaac added. And progress it was, Isaac was on the ball and that marked the genesis of his success journey.

The Consistency of Credit Risk Pricing in Emerging Market Sovereign Debt: The Relationship between Bond Prices and Credit Default Swap Spreads was Isaac’s fourth year research topic. Isaac examined the relationship between bond prices and credit default swap prices taking a case study of the Brazilian debt. His study examined whether the relationship is evident in emerging market sovereign debt. Dr. John Olukuru, BBS FE lecturer was his research supervisor. Isaac is very much grateful for the support his supervisor accorded him during the entire research process.

Isaac’s four year period at the University was fruitful, according to his assessment. He enjoyed attending the career seminars which were held in school by the Career Development Services office – and through one such seminar, he secured an internship with Centum Investments, that later offered his current permanent job.

During his third and fourth year, Isaac was also actively engaged in the Strathmore Research Centre where he tackled value investments through writing reports with a team of other students, on the general state of economy among other topics. “I remember there is this one time where I presented one of my research report during the 2015 Strathmore Mathematical Conference that was held at here at the University; my experience was really good, “Isaac said.

As Isaac completes his undergraduate academic journey, he advises his colleagues who are ongoing with the course to be patient, committed, and hard-working as the course tends to be difficult during the first trimester.

Isaac aims to grow career wise through his current job position, as he looks forward to enrolling for a professional course.

Congratulations to Isaac Kamau for his great achievement.