The Art of Asset Management: Curating a Firm Like a Great Collection

-Yonela Makwetu

"Every great art collection reflects the eye of its curator. The same applies to great investment houses."

Whether in a gallery or a boardroom, success often depends on the person behind the scenes. Their lens, instincts, and intent shape what gets included, what gets left out, and ultimately, what defines the collection or the firm.

In art, collectors pursue works with cultural depth, aesthetic value, or personal resonance. In asset management, we build portfolios and teams with diverse perspectives, high conviction, and differentiated skills. Both worlds start with observation: where we've been, where we are, and where we're headed.

First, know your why

Are you collecting pieces for beauty, emotion, cultural significance, or investment value? It's the same foundational question we asked when relaunching AIP Capital Management as an alternatives-focused firm. Why should clients come to us instead of any of the other outstanding investment houses in South Africa?

Are we the collectors who only seek Picassos, timeless, familiar, and universally celebrated? Are we fans of Renaissance principles, where art (and portfolios) reflects order, structure, and classical influence, but also helped spark new ways of thinking? Or maybe we lean into the bold and imaginative, our inner Surrealist, backing the next Salvador Dalí when no one else sees it yet. Or perhaps, like many collectors today, we look inward and close to home. We back contemporary South African voices. We build with originality and purpose, whether that means investing in Zanele Muholi, Helen Sebidi, William Kentridge or Blessing Ngobeni.

From curator to co-curator

When I joined AIP in 2021 to help lead its transformation into a fully-fledged alternatives-focused business, my colleagues and I became co-curators. We had observed several key inflection points in the market: the rise of passive investing, the democratization of information, and the resulting challenge for traditional strategies to consistently outperform.

So we made some clear choices. We leaned into hedge funds, with their broader toolkit and ability to deliver returns in more than just one market direction. We added senior living private equity, driven by conviction in long-term demographic trends and the desire to help shape how people age with dignity and design. We focused on niche and misunderstood opportunities, because sometimes, the most valuable pieces are the ones the market doesn’t fully understand yet.

We’re building portfolios that are dynamic, resilient, and reflective of the world ahead. We’re backing talent. Making long-term bets. Creating value from intangibles. And like any great collection, it’s not always about instant recognition, it’s about lasting significance.

Running an asset management firm, like collecting art, isn’t about volume. It’s about vision. It’s about knowing what matters, curating it well, and having the courage to hang it on the wall before the rest of the world catches on.

At AIP, we think of our business as a conversation between eras, a little like Warhol meeting Basquiat. A mash-up of old world structure and new world instinct. We honour the fundamentals, but we build with an eye on what’s next.