Keith Chau
Graduate
Finance and Pharmacology
Keith Chau reckons he stumbled into Finance, but it's clear he fell on his feet.
About to begin a role as an investment analyst for PricewaterhouseCoopers, Keith is excited about joining a large firm with plenty of contacts, opportunities and scope for international travel.
It's a far cry from the days he was studying Health Sciences First Year. At the time, his friends were talking about their Finance papers and he decided to check them out.
"From the start I thoroughly enjoyed it," he recalls. "It was all about making money by using your head. Areas such as corporate finance were surprisingly creative - coming up with interesting solutions within a set of rules."
Already, Keith has tasted some of the variety of Finance as a career. His first position since graduating was a short-term project with Clare Capital, developing "Valuecruncher" a new, more efficient model for valuing businesses.
And Keith hopes that his science background may add even more strings to his bow. Following his conversion to Finance, he did not give up on science completely, but carried on to gain a BSc in Pharmacology - creating a combination that could hold potential for the future.
One scenario Keith entertains is becoming involved in the biotechnology industry, possibly working in the area of venture capital.
"I was involved in a biotechnology network, BioSouth, and it became abundantly clear that New Zealand has so much talent and capacity for developing new drugs and techniques. What's more, there are a lot of people around the world keen to throw money into the industry!"