Series 4

Sustainable Impact

For this series, I’m changing the focus slightly – as well as meeting some exceptional impact entrepreneurs, especially within the sustainability space, I want to explore the impact investment space. Who are the funds that are funding innovation and positive change, and what does it mean to them? How is ESG evolving within the Venture Capital and PE world, and how does it impact sentiment and returns?

Given my background in hiring for VC and Private Equity (both investors and their portfolio companies) I have decent understanding of the industry and I’m really interested to get some insight into how it can be a force for social and environmental good, as much as for economic good. Impact investors come in different shapes and sizes and impact in different ways, but principally there are those who invest strictly in businesses whose ultimate purpose is on social or environmental impact, and those who are more driven by responsible investment and ESG, regardless of the specific focus of the investee company. Assuming both camps are seeking good returns for their investors, it’s going to be interesting to look at which strategy is most successful. 

As much as anything, these conversations are a learning curve for me. I haven’t been digging too deep into the Sustainability sector and ESG to date, so I’ll be learning a lot from some of the world’s leading experts, and some of the most passionate entrepreneurs in the coming months.  The first few interviews offer a really nice overview of the space – from a lesson in “How to be a responsible investor” (Episode 1), to “what’s happening in ECG and how does it apply in the VC world?” (Episode 2) to “which areas of sustainability are going to see most growth in the immediate years ahead.” (Episode 3).