Apricot Wilson, deputy CEO of Investing for Development, reflects on the art of saying no gracefully. Picture: Investing for Development; Illustration: Maison Moderne

Apricot Wilson, deputy CEO of Investing for Development, reflects on the art of saying no gracefully. Picture: Investing for Development; Illustration: Maison Moderne

It’s never easy to say no, particularly when you’re the smallest investor in the room. However Apricot Wilson, deputy CEO of Luxembourg-based microfinance and impact vehicle Investing for Development, found that sometimes the smaller you are, the bigger impact you can have. She speaks to Delano about gracefully switching gears from a yes person into (occasionally) practicing the art of no.

As a microfinance investor it’s not difficult to appreciate the value of small. Luxembourg-based Sicav, Investing for Development, typically invests an average of €600,000 in microcredit institutions, lending sums as small as €1,000 to small-scale borrowers--a rural farmer located in Guatemala would be one recipient of a microloan. The growth of the microfinance sector, however, has been huge. According to the , the total estimated market size of the global microfinance sector is $17.3 billion, a seven-fold increase from the sector’s beginnings in 2006. In terms of impact, microfinance also packs a punch, representing 58% of the impact portfolio of private asset investment funds surveyed as of the end of 2019.

Size, however can sometimes mean you are overlooked.

“I’ve been in situations where we’ve been the smallest investor in the room. That’s intimidating,” said Wilson.

It’s even more intimidating when you are the sole investor to say no to an investment proposition. Wilson, who is responsible for risk and compliance at Investing for Development, described an occasion where she found herself alone in doubting an investment proposition of which a group of much larger investors were supportive.

“I remember we went around the table, taking answers from the largest to the smallest. Everyone said yes. I was last and I needed to say no,” Wilson recalled.

“I learned on that occasion that if you are to veto something, you need to be clear about why, and what your proposal is instead. But it feels very lonely.”

Wilson, however, was not alone. In speaking out against an investment, she was speaking up in the interests of her shareholders and on behalf of the ultimate underlying borrowers they support.

“We may be small but we have a responsibility,” she told Delano. “We are aware that giving small amounts of money makes a huge difference. It helps give me the courage of my convictions when I know that every individual borrower matters.”

Investing for Development is a Luxembourg-based Sicav with two underlying subsidiary funds: the Luxembourg Microfinance and Development Fund, and in sustainable forestry, the Forestry and Climate Change Fund. The LMDF operates a blended finance model, mobilising both public capital from the Luxembourg state with private investment.

As deputy CEO, Wilson very quickly took on responsibility not just for the day-to-day running of Investing for Development, but also of impact management, risk and compliance. It is this switching of gears from graduate traineeship, which she undertook at British fund manager Aberdeen Asset Management, to leadership, that can be so difficult for anyone in their career to navigate.

“As a graduate trainee you are taught, explicitly or implicitly, to say yes to everything. Every new experience, every opportunity to stay late,” said Wilson.

This yes mentality was somewhat replicated in the MBA Wilson undertook at the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai.

“I agree with it to an extent, that it’s important to say yes to as many different business experiences as possible,” Wilson conceded.

However, it was only upon completing her MBA, when Wilson returned to Luxembourg in the position of deputy CEO, that she gained the confidence borne of experience and expertise to say no.

“I’d say saying yes is important early in your career, and choosing that moment of seniority where there can be more value in saying no. For me my MBA provided a natural break between the two.”

For those that don’t have a clear punctuation in their career, identifying the point at which to make the transition can be more difficult. “I’d say to others it’s the moment in your career where you start to become responsible for others that it’s important to learn the art of no,” said Wilson. “It doesn’t benefit anyone to say yes when you don’t actually mean it.”

The change in attitude made a difference not just in external investments but in internal organisational relationships.

“I needed to learn how to say no to junior colleagues. Not ‘oh that’s fascinating’ or ‘let’s think about that a bit’ but no. It felt very uncomfortable because if there’s anything the British don’t like, it’s saying no.”

However, in Luxembourg she has found her new direct approach worked well. A country of over 170 nationalities, with 50% of the population hailing from abroad, not to mention 185,000 cross-border workers, it can be difficult to make oneself understood. “Other nationalities don’t understand the British indirectness. Saying no clearly has actually made interactions far less complicated,” she said. “It may also teach junior colleagues that it’s ok to occasionally say no.”

Looking back, Wilson wishes that she herself had developed the confidence to respond in the negative a little earlier in her career.

“What most stands out in my mind was a time at business school when I was involved in quite a few consultancy projects. We had been discussing a project until about midnight, and I was then asked ‘could you just….’ Of course, you never like to say no to such a politely phrased question, but this meant I ended up working on something until about 4am. I am not an evening person at the best of times, and what I produced was of pretty shoddy quality and certainly not what any client would have wanted,” she said.

“If I had just said no, it can wait, then we would have ended up producing something better. You may feel you are letting someone down by saying no… but actually you are letting them down much more by producing something which is not up to scratch.”

On the occasion first described, when Wilson was representing the smallest investor at the table, she is very glad that she spoke up.

“In impact financing we tend to be very conscious of the effect on the underlying entrepreneurs if the investment goes wrong.” She explained how this can lend a strong common interest to negotiations with groups of investors that perhaps are not always present in other types of investments. “It means that we are more likely to do what we can to support the investment, and as investors we are more likely to collaborate--and it turned out on this occasion that some others at the table also had doubts, so in the end I wasn’t alone.”

The crucial rule, Wilson found, however, is not to say no too often. “Used sparingly, it can be quite effective. You don’t want to exercise a veto for the sake of it. You’ve got to be aware of the power of no,” she said.