Allan Gray
THE IDEA
The idea is simple - nothing of value is built in a second.
MEDIUM
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THE QUARTERLY COMMENTARY
Every quarter, Allan Gray releases their Quarterly Commentary magazine to clients and stake holders with investment and general finance updates from that time period.
THE CHALLENGE
We were challenged to design the cover for this magazine along with a compelling story that went with it to drive home the impact of long-term investment.
LONGTERM THINKING IN ACTION: PANAMA CANAL
The cover of this Quarterly Commentary features the Panama Canal, one of the most challenging engineering feats in the world. Before its construction, merchants had to send ships through the Straits of Magellan, at the tip of South America, to move goods between Europe and Asia.
A trip that took months. Following the Suez Canal success story, the French attempted doing the same at the Isthmus of Panama, with construction starting in 1881. The project was beset with problems from the outset due to financial burdens, engineering difficulties and disease spreading among the workers. Eventually the French abandoned the project and the Americans took over. Driven by John Frank Stevens, a self-educated engineer, new technologies were applied to excavate and engineer the Canal and medical innovations were used to keep the workforce productive.
Despite setbacks and sometimes gruelling conditions, the Canal was completed in 1914. Today, 103 years after its construction, it is still a vital part of the global economy, with more than 13 000 vessels moving through the Canal every year.
The commitment and perseverance that led to the construction of the Panama Canal inspires us at Allan Gray. With courage of conviction we remain steadfast in our investment beliefs, which have allowed us to create long-term wealth for our clients since 1974.
LONGTERM THINKING IN ACTION: MOLAI FOREST
The cover of this Quarterly Commentary features the Molai Forest in Assam, India. In 1979, a teenage boy named Jadav “Molai” Payeng noticed that a great number of snakes that had been washed onto a sandbar during flooding were dying in the heat due to the lack of a tree canopy. He was deeply moved by what he witnessed and decided to take action. He alerted the forestry department only to be told that there was little chance of growing anything in the arid conditions. Undeterred, he planted trees daily for over 30 years, turning the once-barren sandbar into a sprawling 1360 acre forest. Today, this ecological haven is home to a diversity of wildlife, including birds, deer, apes, elephants, rhino and even endangered Bengal tigers.
The Molai Forest is an accomplishment that demonstrates the power of adopting a long-term approach. It teaches us at Allan Gray what commitment, courage and perseverance can achieve over time.
LONGTERM THINKING IN ACTION: KEVLA
The cover of this Quarterly Commentary features the synthetic fibre Kevlar, which is most famously used for bulletproof vests. The material was invented by Stephanie Kwolek and developed by Herbert Blades, both scientists at the DuPont Corporation. Working to create a synthetic material to replace steel, Kwolek first noticed a liquid crystalline solution behaving differently to expectations. Conventional wisdom would have been to throw it away. Instead, intrigued, she persuaded a sceptical lab technician to spin it into a fibre.
The result was a fire-resistant material five times stronger than steel. Her colleague, Blades, spotted the potential of the material straight away. He persevered through seven years of experimentation before finding a way to produce Kevlar economically and at high speeds. Over five decades later, new uses for Kevlar are still being discovered.
Kevlar is testament to what contrarian thinking and dogged persistence can achieve. Like Kwolek and Blades, we look for potential where others may not and through our unwavering commitment to our investment philosophy are able to create value for our clients over the long term.