A brief Introduction: Hello everyone! My name is André. I entered the financial services industry in 1999 when I founded my company Free Enterprise Advisors. In the beginning, it was an insurance brokerage firm. As time passed, clients began requesting solutions that demanded increasingly sophisticated skills, approaches, tools, and investment advisory.

Curiosity is a very good friend of mine. When I learned that CAIA was to open its Miami Chapter, I flew up for the meeting where I befriended Debbie Mclean and Bill Kelly. A few years later, Bill mentioned that a new program was under development which soon became the Financial Data Professional Institute. The new program piqued my curiosity, and after a trip to Amherst, MA in 2019 where I befriended Dave Graffum and Mirjam Dekker, I pursued the FDP Charter.

Why did I take up the FDP challenge? To get prepared for the future of financial services.

What's great about FDP: The FDP Charter is a comprehensive program that prepares candidates for the financial services industry of the future. It perfectly bridges the gap between financial and data science professionals. Data analytic thinking is one of the best examples of skills acquired while gaining my FDP Charter. Machine learning and Data Science in finance are two areas of expertise that my studies also helped me develop.

My advice for aspiring industry professionals: Despite all the “Big Data, Algorithms and Clustering” involved, this is ultimately about people and connections. Since the early days of my career, I understood that to deliver excellent professional services one must ask the right questions and process the answers accordingly. Continuous curiosity and ongoing education are essential for career development. The financial services industry is complex, highly regulated, full of risks and opportunities. Innovations and disruptive technologies are knocking at our doors more frequently now than ever before.

About André Costa

André is the Founder Director of Free Enterprise Advisors, a Wealth and Risk Management firm based in Brazil. André graduated in 1992 with a degree in Veterinary Medicine. He also received his Commercial Pilot license in 1992, soon after graduating from university. He managed his family’s business, an aircraft repair station, and Aircraft Charter, from 1992 until his father sold the business in 1996. While managing his family’s business, André developed an interesting network of friends and global business contacts who later became his first clients when he founded Free Enterprise Advisors in 1999.