Women in Business: Shireen Muhiudeen

Datuk Shireen Ann Zaharah binti Muhiudeen

As a well-known woman in Malalysian business, Shireen Muhiudeen is an example to young women. Datuk Shireen Ann Zaharah binti Muhiudeen is the founder of Corston-Smith Asset Management. She set up Corston-Smith after 12 years with the global insurance company, AIG. In all, she has more than 29 years of focused fund management expertise. In recognition of her work in the industry, she was named one of the 25 most influential women in the Asia-Pacific region for asset management by Asian Investor, a regional publication. In recognition of her work in the industry, she was named one of the 25 most influential women in the Asia-Pacific region for asset management by Asian Investor, and was also  honoured by Forbes Asia as one of the 50 Asia’s Power Businesswomen of 2014. 

Datuk Shireen studied  at the University of Southern California, USA - Bachelor of Science (Business Administration) and also Loyola Marymount University, California, USA earning a Master of Business Administration. She was a member of IFC's working group for the establishment of the Philippine Stock Exchange's Maharlika Board, a distinct trading board for companies with world-class corporate governance practices. She is currently a member of the International Advisory Panel for Labuan International Business and Financial Centre. She was an Independent Director and chaired the Governance Committee of a public listed company from 2011 to 2015. She was a director of a foreign bank from December 2013 to February 2016. She was recently interviewed by Women's Forum for Economy and Society.

In this interview, Shireen was asked:

As a woman working in the finance industry - a sector reputed to be very male dominated - have you faced any gender-related challenges in your career?

She commented in response:

''I have more than 30 years working experience in the Finance sector, so the answer is a firm yes. I have faced many gender-related challenges in my career, which I know only happened because I am not ‘one of the boys’. I am quite sure I am not alone in this. There are many of us women who have been penalised just because we are firm in our views and we want more discussion - which generally is tied to being a woman.

However, I do emphasise the word generally, because I have also met and worked alongside many outstanding men colleagues.''

Shireen Muhiudeen was asked: How did you overcome these challenges in your profession?

She Answered:

''As a woman who has moved into various leadership roles, I learned how to keep focused on the issues at hand. My approach has been to take the personality out of the equation and look only at what is being discussed at the table. I find this helps to ensure there is 100 percent focus on what needs to be done. This leads me to the next aspect which is being flexible and adaptive in your decision making. At times, you do need to be flexible enough to tweak your decisions and do as best as you can to adjust these quickly.

Finally, I recommend having a few key individuals with the required expertise that you can depend on. Having accountants, and legal counsel is always a must. You can expand your circle to include other specialists depending on what specific industry you are in.

One of the areas that I have spent more than two decades looking at is how certain companies are run better than others, not only more profitably but as better corporate citizens. My interest has been focused on Environmental, Social and

Governance (ESG) investing since the late 90’s, during the 1997-98 Asian Financial Crisis. I could see why certain companies survived and why certain companies and sectors did not. This taught me a huge number of lessons on corporate survival, which helped me steer through the subsequent crises that world markets have had to face over the decades.''

For more information about her recent work, including her upcoming range of money management videos aimed at young people, search for her online. You can visit the Shireen Muhiudeen YouTube channel to watch the first of the new videos or learn about governance in this Shireen Muhiudeen Slideshare presentation.