Gold Magazine June - July 2013, Issue 27 | Page 82

PROFILE

Recognised

on Merit
Limassol-based Meritkapital Ltd was recently
named Best Asset Manager in Cyprus for 2013 at a
ceremony in London. The company’s Executive Director,
Persella Ioannides, spoke to Gold about the award, the
firm’s recent expansion into to new sectors and how
she views the post-bailout situation in Cyprus.
By John Vickers, Photography by Jo Michaelides

Gold: Congratulations on your latest international award. What was it for?
Persella Ioannides: Meritkapital Ltd
received an award from World Finance as
Best Asset Manager in Cyprus for 2013.
The candidates for this award enter the
final round after they have been voted
by various bodies in our respective
industry which include Bloomberg,
Reuters and the like. Once the applicants reach the final round, each has
to complete a thorough application
pack depicting its investment procedure and respective historical returns,
risk management policies and relative risk
monitoring systems, reporting infrastructure to
clients, corporate governance etc.
Gold: How important are such awards to
you and the company?
P.I.: I have been involved in competitive
sports from a young age and I maintain a competitive attitude in the professional arena too,
as must probably do most of my colleagues
in the business world. Awards in business, as
in sport, represent recognition of accomplishment and thus provide a psychological boost

Once the
foundation is
there and it
is an efficient
model, it attracts
more beneficial
business
dynamics into the
equation
to maintain stamina for a continuing upward
momentum. Moreover, in the professional
arena, brand-building is essential, especially for
the small to medium sized companies, and a
comprehensive marketing strategy is required
to facilitate this. Awards definitely fall within
such a marketing context so we will continue
to pursue such nominations both for personal
aspirations and also in an effort towards enhancing our company’s image.