Hideto Fujino, Chairman, President and Chief Investment Officer of Rheos Capital Works Inc.

Continuing to cherish one brand leads to trust and reliability.

Representative Director, Chairman, President and Chief Investment Officer of Rheos Capital Works Inc.　Hideto Fujino (Hideto Fujino)

■ Profile

After serving as a fund manager at major domestic and foreign asset management companies, he founded Rheos Capital Works in 2003. He is the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of the "Hifumi" series. He is also active in investment education activities, and serves as a senior professor at Tokyo University of Science, a visiting professor at Eikei University, and a visiting professor at the Faculty of Regional Revitalization at Shukutoku University.
He is a director of the Investment Trusts Association, Japan. His recent publications include "The Professional Investor's Thinking Method for Reading the Future" (Cross Media Publishing) and "Important Money Talks Investors Want to Tell Their Parents" (Seikaisha Shinsho).

Leos Capital Works, an asset management company, aims to invest even a small amount of cash that is not being managed efficiently, thereby increasing future national assets and creating a brighter future for Japan and the world. We spoke to CEO Hideto Fujino about the changes in his values ​​and way of thinking, and how he gained credibility and trust as an investment trust.

Until my second year of university, I was shocked that I didn't get into the university of my choice, so I became a bit of a recluse and often played the piano at home. When I was reclusive, I wondered if I was really okay with continuing like this.
When I returned to school for the first time in a while, I spotted an announcement on the bulletin board for a "Japan-China Student Conference." It said, "Free visit to China!" I decided to participate, thinking it would be a good opportunity to restart my life. In fact, the group was very enthusiastic, and I was surprised when they told me, "We're going on a sales trip now." I wondered why they were going on a sales trip when the travel expenses to China were free, but it seemed to work by having students who wanted to visit China approach companies and get sponsored. I had never done sales, so I went around selling to them but didn't get a single contract, but another student secured many contracts and was actually able to travel to China for free. When I heard the students say they had "gotten the contract," I realized that it was important to bow my head, sell, and make the project a success.

■This experience changed my values ​​and my outlook on life has also changed dramatically.

Later, I had the opportunity to visit China myself, and my encounter with a professor in the mathematics department at Tsinghua University was a great asset in my life. Despite being a math teacher, he was incredibly muscular. His physique was so impressive, I asked him, "Why are you so muscular?" He then showed me a photo from his high school days, in which he looked extremely skinny. Although he had won a gold medal at the Mathematical Olympiad, during the Cultural Revolution he was labeled as being influenced by Western capitalism and was forced to do 10 years of forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. During his time in captivity, he was completely prohibited from touching mathematics, and he farmed the wilderness with cows and horses and received ideological education. Ten years later, after his release, he was finally able to resume his mathematics studies.
Even though he had been through a horrific experience, the teacher was smiling the whole time. When I asked him why he was able to smile despite having been through such a harsh experience, he said, "I'm happy because I'm glad you came from Japan." When I heard this, I realized that it was important to become the kind of person who can say, "I'm happy because you came." This experience as a student drastically changed my values.
I went to law school hoping to become a judge or prosecutor, but I ended up not passing the bar exam while I was still a student. However, I felt that I couldn't afford to repeat the year and find a job, so I decided I had to find work somewhere. The financial industry was booming at the time, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to earn some money, and I started working at Nomura Investment Advisors (now Nomura Asset Management).
After graduating from university, I got a job with the intention of taking the bar exam again, but the department I was assigned to was so interesting that I ended up forgetting that I was just working part-time. The job I was assigned to was to investigate the presidents of small and medium-sized companies before they went public, but it wasn't just the people I met who were like office workers; there were a lot of rough, experienced people. I was aiming to become a prosecutor, so there was a time when I thought I would bring these people to justice through the law.
However, through this work, I met companies with groundbreaking ideas, world-class companies, and people who had gone public and become wealthy, and I learned that there are all kinds of companies in the world. As I learned that some lesser-known companies make products that people use on a daily basis, I began to appreciate the fascinating world of business. The president of a company before it went public, whom I initially thought was rough, gradually began to look like a hero to me.
A product is always created by someone who plans and creates it, and it cannot exist without passion and love. Everything you see today has a founder, who built a factory, raised funds, and took a chance on it. Many people don't realize this.
I realized that every product has a life of its own, and the world began to look colorful to me. This made me interested in starting my own business. However, I didn't have enough money or experience to start a business, so after working for two foreign companies, I founded my own company at the age of 36.

■Taking care of product brands makes a company stronger.

Since credibility and trust are important in starting a business, we started out as a consulting firm and gradually shifted to investment management. We currently manage and sell the Hifumi series, one of Japan's largest active investment trusts. With a total of over one million customers nationwide, we are one of the largest active funds for Japanese stocks and one of Japan's largest funds for global stocks.
I believe we have been able to grow to the scale we are today because we have carefully nurtured one brand. There is a company brand, but investment trusts do not have a product brand. That is why we focused on creating a product brand, and have continued to promote the brand "Hifumi." At first, people kept saying, "Fujino, you don't understand why we should focus on one brand," but that was because no one else had done it. On the contrary, I saw it as an opportunity. That is why our company has cherished "Hifumi" as a product brand and developed our business.
As for my future outlook, I would like to make Japan a nation built on asset management, and I would like to convey the excitement of discovering growing companies and providing long-term support. Since investment is also related to manufacturing, I would like to spread the appeal of such investment to every corner of Japan.

■Message to university students

I want you to try many different things. The important thing is to think "win or learn" rather than "win or lose." Failure is an opportunity to learn, so it's a shame to not try new things because you're worried about failure! Only you can experience your failures. Successful people have failed too. Beyond the investment of failure lies the hidden return of success!

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on July 23, 2023 by Shion Teranishi, a third-year student at Kokugakuin University