Helena Clavel-Flores

Investing

I have a natural curiosity in people, their beliefs, and visions. As part of the investment team at QPE, I thoroughly enjoy meeting a founder/management team, getting to know them and their business. I was exposed at an early age to a diverse mix of inspiring people. My father was a serial entrepreneur, an engineer constantly determined by new ventures, and my mother a University professor and local politician in southern Spain.

Our family life was overflowing with social interactions, contrasting views, and passionate discussions about business, politics, economics, and arts. I loved taking part and developed an insatiable thirst for knowledge. I became an avid reader in my effort to understand the world, and to substantiate my emerging thoughts.

I ran my first venture at the age of nine, although it was initially very lucrative, it ended rather abruptly and at a significant loss when the school intervened and made me return all the revenues (not operating profits!). To this day, I scrutinise regulator risk.

As a teenager, I volunteered in an orphanage, which influenced me profoundly. It illustrated the crucial and unfortunate effect of uncontrollable inequality of circumstances at birth. I became mindful of the potential positive impact of education and healthcare in society and those are the sectors I focus on at QPE. It also revealed how financial backing and business acumen are vital for success even behind the best-intentioned, most selfless actions.

Throughout my life I have treasured travelling, communicating in different languages, and embracing new cultures. I have spent transformative years across six countries. The UK is home and where I have lived the longest. I have been fortunate to study and work in Manchester, Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and more recently in London. This experience has taught me that communication takes place on the recipient’s terms, is all about awareness and empathy and that it is paramount when partnering with a management team.

I worked for fifteen years in Finance, most recently with Credit Suisse in London advising professional investors on opportunities across asset classes. I am grateful for all that I experienced but part of me missed the direct contact to the real economy. At QPE I can preserve professional finance discipline and be close to authentic people and businesses. I value tremendously the privilege of straight influence in business successes.

I strive for continuous improvement, which sometimes means academics, and other times is about art, music, or a new sport. That drive to excel converts into an exciting multidisciplinary journey, developing skills with an MBA from London Business School and recently with an MSc in Contemporary Psychology. At QPE, I am relishing the tireless opportunity to discover and accelerate the growth of companies in the lower midmarket.

I feel a profound sense of duty towards society and future generations, and am passionately committed to creating a positive environmental, social, and governance impact. Furthermore, I believe it is a necessary condition for consistent long-term value creation. I am an obsessive member of QPE’s ESG Steering Group. In addition, I support charities in a wide range of areas, most notably I chair Miracles, a UK charity providing 24-hour emergency support for families in crisis and living in poverty.

On the weekends, I hurriedly chauffeur my three delightful children from activity to activity and attentively support them in their endeavours across the football, netball, hockey, and tennis pitches. I enjoy yoga and any attempt to improve my tennis. What I find most enjoyable, are long late-night social gatherings with my I-still-can’t-believe-you-exist husband and close friends over preferably fine food and wine.