Robert Mulligan, president and head of sales and distribution of Mirae Asset Global Investments (USA) periodically likes to remind himself of one number: 960 million.

That's the number of middle class consumers the emerging markets are expected to have by 2020.

Mulligan and his colleagues feel that the future of investing, at least in part, is tied to riding this growing global wave of consumerism.

"The impact of consumerism in the emerging markets will be massive," Mulligan recently told MFWire. "More Audis were bought last year in China than in the U.S. They consume more beer. Macau is six times larger than Vegas."

Out of the six funds Mirae markets in the U.S., three are focused on investing in companies, in the middle to large cap space, that provide services or products to these emerging consumers.

These funds will hit their all important three-year market in the Fall, and so Mulligan is racing to build out his sales team to beat the drum on these funds.

'We are really trying to do two things, build a following, and build a brand," said Mulligan.

Mulligan's team currently includes five wholesalers, a national accounts executive and a client portfolio manager, among others.

He is currently looking to hire at least one more wholesaler, and possible a few others roughly by the three-year milestone for the funds. He says his ultimate goal is to have around 10 such salespeople.

Mulligan says his team is "working with a couple of wirehouses, a couple of regionals and a couple of independents," and is also caching out aggressively to the institutions.

"We're very much focused on getting the word out on these funds," he said. "The three-year mark is very important for us." 

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