The Impact Investing Podcast

As much as investing for both purpose and profit is in vogue these days, there's still a wide gap between the number of people talking about impact investing and those doing it. The fact that impact capital doesn't flow nearly as freely as traditional investment capital, makes scaling a social enterprise or raising an impact fund all the more difficult.

My guest today is Keith Ippel, CEO and Founder of Spring Activator in Vancouver, British Columbia. Spring Activator works with purpose-driven entrepreneurs at an early stage by providing incubation, acceleration, and investment readiness programming. The organization also works on the demand side of the impact investing equation by helping train impact investors to find and due diligence deals.

Keith founded the organization nearly eight years ago and is still incredibly passionate about building the entire impact investing ecosystem. Keith is a reformed Management Consultant who, after being raised by entrepreneurs, was dragged back into entrepreneurship through the opportunities he was seeing for technology to solve real-world problems. After a successful run leading a variety of technology-based businesses, Keith began seeing the opportunity to nurture the field of impact investing and launched Spring Activator.

During the episode, Keith and I discuss the state of the impact investing space globally and in Canada, what support early-stage social entrepreneurs need to scale their businesses, how to reduce the talk-action gap in impact investing, and how his organization helps investors learn how to become impact investors. And be sure to stay tuned to the very end where Keith discusses his outlook for impact investing over the next decade.

Mining is an inherently challenging industry from an impact perspective since it's all about the removal and consumption of the earth's limited natural resources. The manner in which we have historically mined these resources has caused great harm to people, communities, and our planet.

At the same time, our existence (as it stands today) absolutely depends on mining to provide everything from the minerals we use in virtually all of our toiletries (makeup, vitamins, toothpaste, soap, etc.) and the fertilizer we use to grow food, to the metals we use essential to necessities like cars, buildings, roads, mobile phones, and medical equipment.

Plus, mining is a massive industry that contributes greatly to wealth creation for an exceedingly large number of people globally. In Canada, nearly 700,000 people work either directly or indirectly in mining and receive the highest average wage/salaries of any industry in the country.

Since it isn't possible in the foreseeable future to stop mining entirely it seems abundantly clear we need to shift our focus to reducing demand and improving mining sustainability.

Enter today's guest, Elizabeth Freele, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Sympact Advisory, based in Vancouver, Canada. Liz, is a passionate social sustainability strategist and futurist entrepreneur, supporting everything from pre-seed to mature enterprises in challenging operational environments across the Americas, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. She holds an MBA from IE Business School, a certificate in Sustainable Business Strategy from Harvard Business School, and a BA in Political Science and Global Development from Western University.

Liz and her colleagues at Sympact work with companies to help improve their social performance to foster both company and community resilience. And given Liz's long background in the mining industry, the organization has quickly established a stronghold there.

In today's episode, I sit down with Liz to flesh out the nuances of the ESG impacts of the mining industry from an ESG perspective and the practical opportunities for improving its sustainability. During the episode, we discuss the state of mining today, just how dependent we are on the industry, the most harmful practices that need to end, how mining companies can do better, and which organizations she sees as leaders in the space. And be sure to stay tuned to the very end when Liz discusses her views on where there is the most opportunity for impact investing in the mining industry.

In a meeting hosted by the Rockefeller Foundation in Italy in 2007, the term impact investing was coined. Yet seven years prior to that, in 2001, Sir Ronald Cohen (just Ronald Cohen at the time) was requested by the UK Treasury to establish the Social Investment Task Force (SITF). The SITF was tasked with exploring the ways in which the UK could create wealth, spur economic growth, and improve the lives of its most vulnerable people at the same time. It was his work here where he and his colleagues developed much of their thinking on impact investing.

Only a year after establishing the SITF, Ronnie (as he prefers to be called) would become Sir Ronnie, not for his work in impact investing but for his three decades of work essentially bringing venture capital to the UK. Ronnie was only 26 years old when he co-founded Apax Partners, a private equity firm that would grow to manage $50B in assets with offices across the globe.

By 2013, then Prime Minister David Cameron asked Ronnie to lead the G8 Social Investment Task Force (G8T) in order to "catalyze a global market in social impact investment." Not long after that he was then asked by the British Government to lead an effort to expand the G8T further globally and resulted in him establishing The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG) in 2015.

During this time, Sir Ronnie also contributed to creating the world's first Social Impact Bond which aimed to reduce recidivism rates at the Peterborough Penitentiary in the UK. He and his colleague's findings on SIBs were articulated in a now-famous report "Impact Investment: The Invisible Heart of the Markets" which kicked off a movement to spread the idea of impact investing across the world.

All of that amounts to one hell of an impressive career by any standard but especially for a refugee who fled Egypt as a result of the Suez Crisis in the 1950s. At 11 yrs old, Ronnie and his parents arrived in the UK with just a single suitcase each and Ronnie clutching his precious stamp collection in his arms. Therefore, it is my great honour to welcome Sir Ronald Cohen to the podcast.

Show Notes:

Access to safe and affordable housing is absolutely essential to meeting humanity's most basic needs. Housing not only protects us from the elements but provides security and stability that's so important to our physical, emotional, and mental health. Yet even in the world's most developed markets, housing affordability is approaching crisis levels.

In 1952, Harry Markowitz published a now-famous article where he proposed that investors should optimize portfolio expected return relative to volatility. Markowitz helped investors realize that by owning a diverse basket of investments, they could significantly reduce their risk without suffering a commensurate reduction in their expected return. This insight marked the birth of Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) and, by the late 1960s would come to change how investors across the globe thought about investing. The trouble is, some of the assumptions underpinning MPT are keeping more investors from embracing ESG and impact investing.

Today's guest Jon Lukomnik joins us to discuss his new book Moving Beyond Modern Portfolio Theory: Investing That Matters. In the book, which is co-authored by James Hawley, Lukomnik and Hawley give a thorough accounting of how many of the assumptions underlying MPT are unrealistic or mistaken. For instance, MPT dictates that investors can mitigate systematic risks (the risks inherent in specific investment) through diversification but cannot influence large systemic risks (threats to the entire system) such as climate change or massive geopolitical instability. Lukomnik and Hawley argue that investors can and do affect systemic risks. For evidence, one need look no further than the 2008 financial crisis where investors fueled the rise of Mortgage-Backed Securities and other collateralized securities that eventually threatened to topple the global financial system. Similarly, MPT is wrong to assert that investors cannot mitigate systemic environmental or social risks like climate change. They can. But doing so requires investors to utilize tactics that aren't part of their traditional toolbox (e.g. shareholder engagement, policy & advocacy, etc.).

Jon is well-positioned to write this book. He is currently Managing Director of Sinclair Capital, a consultancy to institutional investors and formerly was a senior city official running New York City’s pension funds where he oversaw $80 billion in assets. He also co-founded the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), which now represents investors from 43 countries, overseeing some $42 trillion in assets. Jon has been a board member of public, private and not-for-profit companies.  He is a three-time recipient of the NACD’s Directorship 100 award for being one of the 100 most influential people in US corporate governance. He has also been honoured by the ICGN, Ethisphere, Global Proxy Watch and others.

In this episode of the podcast, Jon and I discuss the major arguments from his book including; the importance of MPT; some of the flaws in its underlying assumptions; how the very success of MPT has further undermined the assumptions that underpin it; and why MPT apologists who argue that ESG and impact investing will underperform have it wrong. And be sure to stay tuned to the very end when Jon responds directly to a conversation from an investment podcast where the experts argue that ESG and Impact Investing is doomed to underperform.

ENTER OUR GIVEAWAY - for a chance to win an awesome impact investing gift pack that includes a $250 Patagonia gift card, a 60 mins impact investing coaching call with yours truly, and two great impact investing books (including Moving Beyond Modern Portfolio Theory). Visit www.davidoleary.ca/giveaway to enter to win. 

Resources from this episode:

When we think about impact investing, art isn’t the first thing that comes to mind for most of us. Yet investors have used art to store and grow wealth for millennia. And few of us would deny the incredible power that art possesses to change hearts and minds and to motivate us into action. Who among us wasn’t touched deeply by Amanda Gorman’s spoken word poem, “The Hill We Climb” at Joe Biden’s inauguration earlier this year?

But few of us, artists included, consider carefully how we might use our artistic talents to create, or our capital to finance, art as a force for social and environmental impact. In this episode of the podcast, I sit down with art activist and changemaker Benjamin Von Wong.

Von Wong's work lies at the intersection of fantasy and photography and combines everyday objects with shocking statistics. His work has attracted the attention of corporations, like Starbucks, Dell, and Nike and has generated over 100 million views for causes like ocean plastics, electronic waste, and fashion pollution. Most recently, he was named one of Adweek's 11 content-branded masterminds. He is also the host of the Impact Everywhere Podcast.

During the episode, we discuss how Benjamin chooses causes to tackle,  how he conceives of his installations, the logistics that goes into creating them, how he finances his projects, and how he thinks about impact measurement. And be sure to stay tuned to the very end where Benjamin touches on how he thinks about the new world of NFTs which are changing the economics for artists the world over.

Resources from this episode:

I have spent well over two decades working in the investment management industry. For the vast majority of that time, ESG and responsible investing toiled in obscurity and dismissed as the pursuit of impractical idealists. However, in recent years we reached a tipping point and the industry is racing to get in on the action by overhauling its marketing and sometimes even its investment processes.

These days you would be hard-pressed to find an investment manager that isn’t claiming to be incorporating ESG considerations into its processes. And there are plenty of investment managers quick to claim to be doing impact investing.

The trouble is, there’s a big difference between making investments that have an impact (all investments have some impact) and doing legitimate impact investing. The reason so few large money managers are doing real impact investing is because it’s harder, more time-consuming, often offers less liquidity, and doesn’t have the necessary scale.

In this episode of the podcast, I sit down with Andrew Parry, Head of Sustainable Investing and Newton Investment Management out of London, U.K. With roughly $60 billion in assets under management, Newton is a boutique investment management business that is one of eight asset managers owned by BNY Mellon Investment Management. Under Andrew’s leadership, the firm has put responsible and impact investing at the heart of its philosophy and approach.

Andrew has spent his career in investment management across a variety of respected asset managers including Hermes, Lazard Brothers, and Julius Baer, and Baring Asset Management. Parry is also a member of the CFA UK’s Committee for Diversity & Inclusion.

During the episode, we discuss how Andrew sees ESG investing versus impact investing, how he weaves an SDG focus into the firm’s investment process and product creation, the change in demand for responsible investments in recent years, and why he views every business as a de facto social enterprise. We also get into the age-old debate of whether responsible investing leads to lower future returns. And be sure to stay tuned to the very end where Andrew discusses his outlook for the investment industry headed over the next decade

Resources from this episode:

If impact investing requires us to address systemic inequalities, and it does, then you can’t claim to be an impact investor and ignore gender equality. Consider that women, girls and gender-diverse people represent half of the earth’s population and that in virtually every culture across the globe, for all of human history, they have been systematically oppressed. In this episode of the podcast, I sit down with Joy Anderson, the Founder and President of Criterion Institute and a true OG of gender lens investing. 

Criterion Institute is a non-profit think tank that works with social change-makers to demystify finance and broaden perspectives on how to engage with and shift financial systems. The core mission of Criterion Institute is to expand the demographic of those who see themselves as able to use finance as a tool for social change. This is achieved by providing resources such as blueprints and toolkits to bring people to the table who normally would not feel welcome. Criterion Institute challenges the structural inequities that create barriers in the finance world, especially as it pertains to women. 

Joy’s interest in social change and systems of power was formulated through her experiences in academia during her undergraduate studies and in her work as a high school teacher in the New York public school system. Joy has since worked in finance for 20 years and was listed in Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2011. In founding Good Capital alongside Timothy Freundlich and Kevin Jones, Joy experienced first-hand the opportunities and challenges involved in impact investing. 

During this episode, Joy and I discuss how highly complex jargon creates barriers in the finance industry; the importance of understanding context when moving money to create social good; and the link between increased political risk in investments and rates of gender-based violence. And be sure to stay tuned to the very end where Joy addresses the problem of keeping the finance field binary and the cultural shifts she hopes to see in the future. 

Resources from this episode: 

This is a special edition of the podcast. It is a recording of live a conversation we had on Clubhouse about the ways in which wealth inequality happens that no one is talking about. It features two guests from previous episodes whose work has some loose intersection points. I was excited to bring them together to discuss this important topic. It was a long episode but well worth the listen!  

The emphasis of this podcast is the very first word: impact. We’re constantly exploring how organizations and individuals can invest more responsibly, in a way that makes a real difference for people, communities, and the environment.

That sounds simple enough. But when it comes time to measure the impact that an investment has made, that’s where most initiatives fall short. It’s difficult to understand what impact really means, especially with such a wide and diverse set of potential criteria. Some might even call it a riddle.

In this episode of the podcast, I sit down with Jenelle Sobey, the CEO and Co-Founder of Riddl. Riddl is an organization that helps companies and nonprofits of all sizes track, analyze, and share their social and environmental impact data.

One of their biggest goals is to show organizations the many different types of impact, and how they can reach the ones that matter most to their mission. They do this through in-depth software that allows companies to manage their goals, activities, and collaboration all in one place.

Jenelle’s interest in solving social problems started in childhood and led her to study political science in an attempt to solve problems through politics and government. But her work experiences - which range from Academia to Social Entrepreneurship - would lead her to the belief that technology could also be a key lever to drive social impact. It was this belief that ultimately led her to start Riddl with co-founders, Derek Hatchard and Jessica Peters.

During this episode, Jenelle and I discuss how the Riddl software works, what types of companies are currently using it, and the power of industry data in measuring impact. And be sure to stay tuned to the very end where Jenelle dives into the social return on investment calculator they’re in the process of developing!

Resources from this episode:

Private equity can be a wonderful thing. The combination of capital and expertise provided by private equity investors can help companies to grow and create jobs. This is particularly true for smaller and mid-sized companies which tend to be engines of job growth.

But at the same time, traditional private equity structures have contributed to wealth inequality. Not just for executives of the portfolio companies, but for their employees and the communities they operate in.

In this episode of the Impact Investing Podcast, I caught up with Delilah Rothenburg, Founder and Executive Director of The Predistribution Initiative. The Predistribution Initiative is a multi-stakeholder project designed to co-create improved investment structures, particularly for mainstream markets.

Their goal is to share more wealth with workers and communities, incentivize investment teams for environmental, social, and governance (or ESG) integration, and ultimately make sure that systemic risks - like income inequality and climate change - are addressed.

In our conversation, Delilah and I discuss the many challenges within traditional private equity structures, from outsized influence to unfair profit distribution and market instability. Plus, what investment professionals at all levels of the playing field can do to solve them. And be sure to stay tuned to the very end where we discuss how The Predistribution Initiative is exploring new solutions to these traditional private equity issues.

Resources from this episode:

For decades, Sub-Saharan Africa has been a hotspot for foreign investment and international aid. It has also been subject to the kind of philanthropy that is often more destructive than helpful. As an impact investor, it’s imperative to understand what that type of philanthropy looks like and how to avoid it.

Welcome to episode 25 of the Impact Investing Podcast.

The richest 26 people on earth own as much wealth as the poorest 3.8 billion. The wealthiest 10% control 84% of the world’s wealth. Meanwhile, 4.8 billion people fight for just 2% of the world’s wealth. Reducing wealth inequality is possibly the biggest moral imperative of our time. It also happens to be one of the largest threats to global peace and geopolitical stability.

My guest today is Jon Shell, Managing Director of Social Capital Partners (SCP). Social Capital Partners looks to bring market-based approaches to solving complex systemic social problems like wealth inequality. The organization has tackled a variety of problems through different approaches over the years. What stands out about Social Capital Partners is its commitment to impact. The organization has made numerous radical pivots in its approach over the years, as its staff experiment, test, and learn. For a full rundown of the organization’s fascinating history, listen to episode #01 of the podcast where I chat with SCP’s founder, Bill Young.

In this episode, Jon and I discuss the organization’s latest pivot and the publication of its newest public policy discussion paper titled: Building an employee ownership economy. During our chat, we dive into the importance of employee ownership as a channel for distributing wealth more equitably, the necessary conditions for employee ownership to thrive, and the differences between the Canadian and US environments. And be sure to stay tuned to the very end when we discuss the types of organizations that are well suited to utilizing the employee ownership trust.

Resources mentioned during the podcast

Given the capitalistic societies most of us live in, we spend an inordinate amount of time focused on accumulating, growing, and deploying capital. You could fill a library with all the books dedicated to the what and how of capital. Yet, we devote shockingly little time to considering the why of capital. Much in the same way Simon Sinek asks all businesses to “start with why”, Jed Emerson would like us purveyors of capital to start with why.

In other words, we would be well served to stop and ask ourselves, what is the purpose of capital? With me today to tackle this question is Jed Emerson, one of the impact investment industry’s elder statesmen who literally wrote the book on this topic. In addition to his writing, Jed currently focuses on working with families exploring how to ensure a long-term legacy by managing their full net worth for impact. He also advises investment firms on the implications of an impact investing framework for their practice. He is an internationally recognized Thought Leader in impact investing, social entrepreneurship, and strategic philanthropy.

During the episode, Jed and I discuss his journey through the industry from his early days as a social worker to his current work as a writer and adviser. We also dig into the major themes in his book, The Purpose of Capital including the role of spirituality in impact investing, the role of Western dualism and our separation of self and other, and how Jed’s views have evolved over the years.  And be sure to stay tuned to the very end where we talk about what Jed believes we’re getting wrong when it comes to impact measurement and management along with his outlook for the future of our industry.

Welcome to episode 23 of the Impact Investing Podcast.

The idea of discussing ownership and legal structuring of businesses may not sound super exciting at first blush. However, it’s a vitally important topic, especially for impact businesses. The issue founders must contend with is, how do they protect the purpose/values of their business as it grows and brings on new staff, clients, suppliers, and most importantly, investors? Investors are particularly problematic given the prevalence of the shareholder-primacy paradigm which dictates that company executives seek to maximize shareholder value above all else. How do we avoid the pitfalls of Capitalism’s relentless pressure for profit growth from distracting us from our core purpose?

That’s what today’s guest is here to explore with us today. Natalie Reitman-White is Ownership & Governance Design Advisor with Alternative Ownership Advisors. Natalie’s firm is a Stewardship Ownership consultancy that works with impact businesses to think about alternative legal structures that can embed a company’s purpose into its organization structure, governance, and financing.

During the episode, Natalie and I discuss the origins of Alternative Ownership Advisors and how it got its start when Natalie was running an organic food producer and had difficulty finding answers to her questions in pursuit of a more suitable legal structure. We then dive into the details of how Alternative Ownership Advisors helps business owners. We dive into the details of various legal structures, examples of businesses that have utilized them, and discuss how these models solved the challenges of protecting their purpose and values. And be sure to stay tuned to the very end where we talk about the types of businesses that are best-suited for considering an alternative ownership model like a perpetual ownership trust.

If there is a lesson to be learned for investors wishing to solve real social challenges, it’s that we need to do less talking and more listening. We need to make space for not only a diverse range of views and perspectives but particularly for those with lived experience. Perhaps nowhere is the need for listening and learning more pronounced than when it comes to tackling reconciliation and challenges faced by Indigenous communities.

The vast majority of investment capital is held by those with very little understanding and appreciation for Indigenous ways of knowing and being. And this is problematic because those differences have a profound impact on not only how to solve the challenges Indigenous communities face but, more profoundly, what “improvement” actually looks like. In other words, we can’t be true allies of any group of people if we don’t understand their challenges and desired outcomes.

That’s why putting capital in the hands of those who have been excluded from economic prosperity is so important and why the work that today’s guest today does is so important. Sara Wolfe is Director of the Indigenous Innovation Initiative with Grand Challenges Canada and her work is to provide both financial and non-financial support to drive innovation and social impact that is led by and/or created by Indigenous peoples.

In this episode, Sara and I discuss the broader mandate of Grand Challenges Canada, the birth of the Indigenous Innovation Initiative, the challenges Indigenous communities face, and the forms of financial support they provide to Indigenous entrepreneurs. We also discuss Sara’s fascinating journey that led her to where she is today, including her time spent working as a midwife. And be sure to stay tuned to the very end where we talk about the critical importance of the various forms of non-financial support she and her team provide.

Newcomers to even the most welcoming countries, face significant challenges. From language and cultural barriers to finding affordable housing, all the way to the mental health challenges of being alone in a strange new place. And supporting newcomers during this difficult transition is not only a moral imperative but makes compelling economic sense. The better and more quickly newcomers adjust to their new home, the happier, healthier, and more productive citizens they will be.

And while some of these barriers are difficult to solve, some are not. Nowhere is this more evident than the employment barriers faced by highly trained and educated newcomers. Who among us hasn’t been in a cab or an Uber driven by someone who was an engineer or other high-income earning professional back home. This can happen for a variety of reasons but one is that many newcomers cannot afford the necessary certifications/licensing necessary to find employment in their field of expertise.

My guest today is Claudia Hepburn, CEO of Windmill Microlending (formerly known as the Immigrant Access Fund). Windmill is a registered charity that provides loans of up to $15,000 to over 1000 newcomers to Canada each year who are unable to afford the licensing or certifications necessary to find employment in their field of expertise.

In this episode, Claudia and I discuss the challenges that newcomers to Canada face, the types of places and industries newcomers come from and work in, and how the organization’s efforts lead Windmill clients to see, on average, a tripling of their income and a 97% repayment rate. And be sure to stay tuned to the very end where we discuss how the organization utilizes both charitable dollars and impact investment capital to fund all of its amazing work.

Most people don’t automatically look to the public sector for the latest and greatest innovations. However, when it comes to the world of social finance, the public sector is, in many ways, leading the private sector. In our last episode, we explored the world of blended finance – where governments are finding innovative ways to use public funds to drive private sector capital into projects that achieve impact. Another prominent example will be discussed in today’s episode.

Today’s guests Beth Woroniuk, Policy Lead, and Bonnie Foley-Wong, Head of Investment Strategy at the Equality Fund join us to discuss the work they are doing to support grassroots women’s movements in the Global South to advance gender equality. What’s particularly interesting about the Equality Fund’s work is both the manner in which it is tackling Gender Equality but also its genesis. The Equality Fund was seeded in 2019 by a $300 million contribution from Global Affairs Canada, in a first of its kind initiative to stand up a new type of entity that could use the government contribution to achieve not only financial sustainability but also catalyze an even larger commitment of private sector investment capital and philanthropic capital.

Microfinance is an intervention that we usually think of as being valuable in a developing world context. The world is full of hard-working people with an entrepreneurial spirit who lack access to the necessary financing to get a business off the ground. Lending to these entrepreneurs has a host of societal benefits that include creating jobs and incomes for families in their communities, a spike in local economic activity as these businesses purchase local goods and services, and generates tax revenues for local governments to afford additional public services.

So one of the last places you might think microfinance is necessary is in a nation like the US which sells itself on the American Dream; a land of opportunity where anyone can be successful if they work hard enough. But in this episode we speak with Andrew Posner, Founder & CEO of Capital Good Fund who joins us to discuss why even in the US, microfinance is necessary and how his non-profit organization uses microfinance and coaching to combat a $200 billion dollar a year predatory industry that consists of payday lenders, pawnshops, rent to own stores, and subprime lenders; each offering some form of consumer loans at high double or often triple-digit interest rates.

During the episode, Andy and I discuss the challenges low-income Americans face, how race factors in, the importance of coaching in addition to lending to their clients, how COVID has disproportionately affected low-income Americans, and how the Capital Good Fund has adapted its services as a result. Be sure to stay tuned to the very end where we discuss Andy's ambitious plans for the Capital Good Fund over the next 5 years and why the coming US election is so important to those plans.

For all the promise of Impact Investing, the amount of capital flowing into these investments still represents a tiny fraction of the overall pool of global investment capital. There is no single reason for this. However, a meaningful part of the equation boils down to the risk, or rather, the perceived risks of making impact investments. This is especially true when impact capital is financing investments in developing countries.

This is where Blended Finance comes in. In this episode, we're joined by Joan Larrea who is the CEO of a non-profit called Convergence. Convergence was established in 2016 to help support the burgeoning field of blended finance and facilitate more blended finance transactions.

Joan joins us to discuss how a variety of techniques can be used to de-risk impact investments, how that de-risking can attract much larger sums of investment capital, and what conditions make blended finance a viable solution for impact investment providers and investors. For the social finance nerds out there, we get into the specifics of four common blended finance transaction types: Concessional Capital, Guarantee / Risk Insurance, Technical Assistance Facility, and Results-Based Financing. Make sure to stay tuned to the very end when we discuss the trends Joan is seeing and her outlook for the future of this exciting new field.

Jeff Baikowitz of Motherfood International and Melani O'Leary of World Vision Canada, join us today’s episode. Jeff is the Founder of Motherfood which has developed a particularly interesting model to bring great tasting, low cost, fortified foods to pregnant and lactating moms to address a hyper-critical period for babies and moms known as the first 1,000 days of life. Meanwhile, Melani O'Leary is a Nutrition Technical Specialist with World Vision Canada. In her work, Melani has responsibility for how World Vision Canada's programs are designed and implemented to improve nutrition outcomes for some of the world's most vulnerable people in regions like Latin America, The Middle East, Asia, and Africa.  Jeff and Melani join us on the podcast to discuss the critical importance of the 1st 1,000 days of life and why it potentially represents the best social return on investment one can make, how Motherfood is tackling this issue by working in communities to design fortified foods palatable to local tastes, how it is creating opportunities for women to sell these foods local to improve distribution and provide them an income opportunity, and how World Vision is leveraging its expertise, local presence, and community relationships to expand this model. 

I decided to flip the script for this episode and give listeners a glimpse into what I'm passionate about and the work that I do. My friend and colleague Anne-Marie Vettorel takes over as host. During this episode, we discuss my origin story, my early career in the investment industry, some embarrassing confessions (warning: you may learn more about me than you want to know) before we diving deeper into my work as Founder of Kind Wealth and as Managing Director of Origin Capital. This is an expansive conversation that covers a wide range of topics all the way from how and why the financial advice industry in North America is broken to the challenges of measuring impact while working in the least developed countries. We cover a lot of ground in a short period of time, so buckle up!

Jeffrey Cyr of Raven Indigenous Capital Partners (RCIP) joins us for today’s episode. Jeff is Managing Partner at RCIP; Canada’s first Indigenous financial intermediary. Its mission is to empower Indigenous entrepreneurs with the capital and expertise they need to succeed. Jeff joins us on the podcast to discuss how RCIP is making transformative investments that can generate positive financial returns while revitalizing Canada’s Indigenous economy. During the podcast, we discuss a wide range of topics including the firm’s quest to raise $5 million for its newly launched demonstration impact fund, why an Indigenous lens is needed, and how Indigenous ways of knowing and being tend to make Indigenous impact investing inherently more sustainable.

In this episode, David is joined by Mike Winterfield. Mike is Founder and CEO of Active Impact Investments; an impact investment fund that invests in early stage, for-profit, businesses looking to make some sort of environmental or social impact. 

On the podcast we discuss the exciting journey Mike is on as he is quickly approaching his goal to raise and invest $10 million for the firm’s first impact fund. Mike was previously President of Randstad Professionals, a division of Randstad Canada, a leading recruitment and HR services firm with annual revenues in excess of $300 million. Mike also was COO and later President of Traction on Demand, a developer of cloud-based technology solutions.