Shaty Mohamed, ECI’s summer intern, talks about how she prepared for the internship interview process, what she’s learned about relationship management in private equity, and why she’d make a good Traitor.
Q: How did you come across the ECI internship?
I first got involved with upReach, ECI’s internship partner, in my first year at UCL. I’d already joined a few social mobility programmes in sixth form, like SEO London and the Social Mobility Foundation, and once I got to uni I wanted something a bit more career-focussed, so upReach was perfect. There was a detailed pack on each company and role, so you know exactly what you’re signing up for. I’d done a couple of private equity insight weeks in first year and really enjoyed them, so when I saw I was eligible for the ECI 6-week summer internship, I just thought, right, let’s go for it!
Q: What was the interview process like?
Honestly? A bit scary! It was an hour and a half. For the first half hour, they sat me down with a laptop and Amplifind™, ECI’s proprietary AI tool, and gave me a company to look into, and then I had half an hour to present my view on whether it was a good investment, followed by half an hour of competency questions. Tamsin and Skyler were lovely, and throughout the presentation there was a lot of back and forth so it felt more like a conversation than a formal presentation, but it was so different to anything you do at university.
My last exam was literally the afternoon before, econometrics, so already not ideal, and I was up at 5 am doing my final prep. It’s a hard one to revise for because a lot of it you only really learn on the job, so I focused on what ECI looks for in a business: resilience, growth and a strong management team, and made myself a little checklist to work through. I still walked out completely convinced I’d bombed it. I even took myself off for a consolation matcha straight after, so getting the offer was amazing.
Q: What projects have you worked on that sparked your curiosity?
One of my favourites was a customer analysis for one portfolio company with the Commercial Team. It was really data-heavy, and honestly that played to my strengths, because a big chunk of my economics degree is basically staring at graphs and data and going, okay, what is this actually telling me? I loved that it was so practical too, you could see exactly how the business would use the findings to prioritise certain products or channels.
More recently I’ve been doing a little research project for the Investment Team on the health tech sector, looking specifically at regulatory affairs in pharma, so all the compliance you have to meet across a drug’s life cycle. It’s a genuinely fascinating, fast-growing space, and it’s been really interesting to see how the whole industry is shifting in the wake of AI.
Q: What has surprised you about private equity?
Everyone tells you private equity is a “relationship business”, but I hadn’t quite appreciated how much actual work goes into managing those relationships. Amplifind™ is almost a bit scary to look at, in the best way, because you suddenly see just how many relationships surround a single business we might like, from the management team to the advisers pitching for it, to the experts who know the sector inside out. And all of those relationships need to be built, maintained and understood, because that context can genuinely be the difference between winning and losing a deal. Frankly, I could do with a personal version of Amplifind™ to tell me which friends I’ve forgotten to message in a while.
Q: What’s next for you after the internship?
Back to uni for my final year, and then it’s straight into exams and grad applications. A few firms have started running private equity graduate schemes, which is quite new, since PE doesn’t usually take people at the really junior end, so I might try my luck there, and I’m also looking at M&A and strategy consulting. Either way, this summer has pretty much confirmed that investing is what I want to do longer term.
Q: Any advice for future interns?
Be proactive. About halfway through I sat down and thought, right, what else do I actually want to get out of this? Then I wrote a little list and messaged a bunch of people asking if I could get involved, and nobody ever said no. People are so keen to help, so if there’s something you want to do, just ask.
Quick Fire with Shaty:
If you were a pizza topping, what would you be?
Green chilli. It looks like a harmless little green thing, and then you take a bite and suddenly need ten glasses of water. It’s POW!
What’s your song of the summer?
Ooh, I had a whole list for this! But the ones I’ll always associate with listening to during this internship are All-American B*tch by Olivia Rodrigo and Can’t Tame Her by Zara Larsson.
Are you an early bird or a night owl?
A night owl, without question. Everything feels more exciting in the evening, and I love having plans at night. That 5 am interview prep was very much a one-off…
If you could appear on any TV show, what would it be?
Definitely the Traitors. I reckon I’d make a great Traitor and I’m proud about that! As a Faithful, I’d be hopeless though, because if I like someone I just tend to take them at their word.
What are you most looking forward to in the next 12 months?
In date order: Halloween, my 21st birthday and graduating. I’m a big costume person, and this year I’m doing angel and devil with a friend, and then maybe the Schuyler sisters from Hamilton, or Glinda from Wicked; it all depends how many of us there are!
