The Frontier Mafia

Since we ‘do not have competition’ we need to find other benchmarks for performance that offer a means of comparison with the world at large. As a “Purpose” driven business, we do not believe in setting primary benchmarks/KPI’s based on financial numbers. One thing we look at, for instance is how successful we are at selecting and incubating talent.

Frontier has a knack for making brilliant individuals even more brilliant. A closer look at Echelon magazine’s 40 under 40 list reveals the presence of nearly 10–12 people who started off their careers in research and/or analysis. Three of those people started their careers or are still attached to Frontier itself. In absolute terms Frontier has more alumni on that list than virtually all the organizations in Sri Lanka, and given our small size, on a proportional basis, far more than anyone else. Furthermore, members of our organization have found success in their careers, in varying fields of work, beyond their time at Frontier.

Just what makes us a good incubator? We’re not exactly sure. We like to think our flexible and learning oriented culture plays a role. However, like the Paypal mafia, The class the stars fell on or the Harvard MBA class of 1949 the exact combination of success factors that lead to this phenomenon are hard to compute. It could be because we naturally attract free spirited, brilliant and innovative people to our firm.

Frontier is a talent incubator. And not necessarily talent only in economics, finance or any of the other traditional areas our businesses are in. In a broader sense, we are an organization that believes in giving a start to those with potential to be the most influential young innovators, disruptors, thought leaders and entrepreneurs of the future.