Episode 03: James Munce - CEO Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners
I have known James through my husband for 10 years. I have been aware of his ‘finance’ career but was never fully sure of what James did day to day. As I have mentioned in my social posts about the episode, I know quite a few people that work in the finance industry and it really couldn’t be more different from my world of events and advertising in terms of culture and numbers.
James moved to Abu Dhabi in 2019 with his family to go and be the COO at Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners and since then I have been really interested in some of the businesses and partners he is working with. Simply put, James and his team are tasked with investing in partners that will achieve financial returns for the Abu Dhabi Global Market and also that will bring sustainability away from current hydrocarbon business dependency.
Back to the beginning of his journey, James talks about there being a lack of career advice or guidance at school (there seems to be a theme?!) and that by discussing with family friends and contacts he decided to train as a chartered accountant at PwC in Jersey. James did say he wasn’t really academic but did go onto university to do economics because he enjoyed it?! Again, couldn’t be more different to me!
Throughout James’s journey, his job and work life came back to 3 simple things:
1. To work hard
2. Be nice to people
3. The next career move might not be just for money
James went to work in London after Jersey, made a move he thought he would enjoy and then took a sideways step and a pay cut to get back to what he actually enjoyed doing. I was fascinated to hear his account of working for JP Morgan during the financial crisis in 2008. From this crisis, we then spoke about Covid and whether it had been a catalyst or a challenge and like most people, he agreed it was both!
I hope you enjoy the episode as much as I enjoyed learning about James’s journey on the Career Couch.
If you are interested in training to be a chartered accountant, here is some information on qualifications needed and apprenticeship schemes available: