Shows
Good FutureLinda Romanovska: Taxonomy opportunities; a global perspective on Australia’s Sustainable Finance TaxonomyThroughout almost 100 episodes of the Good Future podcast we’ve traced the evolution of the sustainable investment sector. But now we’re entering a new era of sustainable finance, where climate risk reporting, impact measurement and climate-tech innovation have become core parts of investment management.
Sustainable investing has matured, and that’s in large part due to a global push to define precisely what it means to be ‘sustainable’, with a huge contribution being made by the development of sustainable finance taxonomies all over the world.
Last month we saw the launch of Australia’s very own Taxonomy, and today we’re joined...
2025-09-0136 minGood FutureAnjali Nelson: GreenCollar driving natural-capital innovation with Nature Plus biodiversity creditsOn the podcast today I have Anjali Nelson, she’s General Manager of Operations at GreenCollar, an environmental markets developer that’s leading not only Australia, but the world, in developing nature-based solutions to combat both climate change and biodiversity loss.
This is the fourth episode in our series of conversations exploring opportunities to ‘invest in natural capital.’ And it was a great opportunity to unpack the structures and benefits of carbon credits, but more importantly, to hear about how this market based mechanism is evolving, to offer benefits beyond just carbon removal, and steer capital towards the conservation and restorat...
2023-10-1032 minGood FutureNigel Sharp: A pioneer in the business of biodiversity, farmer, impact investor and conservationistToday we’re approaching the topic of investing in biodiversity, by speaking to Nigel Sharp, he’s a farmer, but he’s also a businessman and a fund manager. And over the past two decades he’s been a pioneer in the ‘Business of Biodiversity’.
Nigel is a pioneer in this space, the Tiverton investment vehicle has developed a whole range of agricultural projects on land holdings all over Australia, and all with the regeneration of biodiversity at their core.
But that’s not all. He seeded the Dragonfly venture fund, to support early stage climate-tech and regen-ag startups. And, he founded the...
2023-10-0328 minGood FutureTony Goldner: TNFD launch, nature disclosures, and corporate action on biodiversity lossThe past decade has seen huge progress in the way companies analyse their exposure to carbon emissions, but far less effort has been put into understanding the complex interactions companies have with nature, and the risks this poses for investors and the health of our environment.
If we’re to have a hope of reaching net-zero, we need to reverse the trends of biodiversity loss and incentivise companies to assess the risks and opportunities around natural-capital.
On the podcast today we have the perfect guest to discuss this topic, I’m joined by Tony Goldner, he’s the CEO of the TN...
2023-09-1939 minGood FutureRachel Lowry: How WWF supports investors to value natural-capital and protect biodiversityOn the show today we have Rachel Lowry, she’s Chief Conservation Officer at WWF. In this episode she explains why investors need to care about the growing biodiversity crisis, and the challenges of measuring and conserving natural capital.
It says a lot about the sustainable investment movement that finally, conservationists and financial services are working together. To identify hotspots of risk, and establish sustainable models of capital allocation that can drive positive, measurable outcomes.
Rachel is a passionate environmental advocate, but more than that, she’s focussed on solutions, and in this episode we dig into the practical actions that...
2023-09-0652 min
2nd Renaissance with Anders Sörman-NilssonJohn Treadgold "Sustainable Finance, ESG and Impact Investing for a Better Future"Today on the 2nd Renaissance I sit down with an old friend, John Treadgold, who is a sustainable investment expert, as we decode the business case for sustainability. We find out what the difference between ESG and impact investing is, the positive short and long term influence that the financial services industry can have on moving the climate needle, how to finesse our story-telling to convey the massive business opportunity that comes with sustainability, and why John is now so confident speaking his truth and making a significant impact in raising investors’ and the community’s awareness of the clim...
2023-01-121h 19Good FutureBen Krasnostein & Jodi York: Impact benchmarks & investing in climate-solutions at Kilara CapitalWe’re moving from theory to practice with Ben Krasnostein and Dr Jodi York from Kilara Capital.
They’re an impact investing powerhouse and today, we’re digging into the models and frameworks they employ, but more importantly, how their impact approach can help to both drive-down greenhouse gas emissions, while also boosting financial returns.
Ben is founder and managing director of the investment management firm, Kilara Capital. He was born and bred in Melbourne, and after a stint in legal practice he found himself drawn towards business, investing and doing deals. He opened the doors to Kilara in 2017.
And Dr Jod...
2022-12-0650 minGood FutureSarah Gelfand: Measuring impact investment performance with BlueMarkIn today’s episode we’ve got Sarah Gelfand on the show, she’s Managing Director of BlueMark, an impact verification business that was spun-out of consulting firm Tideline.
She works with the world’s leading impact investors, to verify their impact results across both their management practices and their impact performance. And most recently she authored a report called ‘Raising the Bar’, which attempts to improve the quality of impact reports, which is vital, as there’s more being published than ever.
Sarah has her finger on the pulse of leading practice in impact measurement and management. Her clients are some of th...
2022-11-0930 minGood FutureDean Hand: Impact Investing at an Inflection Point, The evolution of the GIINWe talk a lot about impact investing on this show, and while we tend to focus on the deals and the companies, we often gloss over the more challenging process of impact measurement and management.
Right now is an important time to explore these issues, because the structures of impact investing are at an inflection point. The market has realised the importance of using consistent systems, and the frameworks are starting to consolidate, they’re harmonising.
Today we have Dean Hand on the show to help us explore impact measurement and management, she’s Chief Research Officer at the GIIN (the...
2022-10-2036 minGood FutureRosemary Addis: A new government, a new business, and why criticism of ESG is healthyIf there’s one person you want to speak to, to get the lowdown on everything impact investing in Australia as well as round the world, it’s Rosemary Addis.
She’s been a guest on the show before, and it’s great to have her back to talk about everything from Australia’s new government, the growing pains facing ESG investing, how impact will integrate with the global disclosure rules, as well as her new venture, Mondiale Impact.
Rosemary has been pivotal to the development of sustainable finance, she co-founded Impact Investing Australia, she’s our representative on the G8’s Social...
2022-08-1735 minGood FutureCory Ames interviews John Treadgold: building a social enterprise and the impact of podcastingThis episode is a little different, because Cory Ames interviews me.
Cory hails from San Antonio in Texas, he hosts the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation podcast, and when he invited me back onto his show, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to share it with you all. To offer a different perspective on my work, my ideas, and how the Good Future podcast has evolved.
You’ll hear a lot more of my voice in this episode than usual, but I did try to turn the questions back to Cory, to dig into the social enterprise sector in the US...
2022-07-1345 minGood FutureReece Proudfoot: The WWF approach to impact investment and regenerationThis week, I’m speaking to Reece Proudfoot, he’s Head of Innovation & Impact Investment at WWF Australia.
That’s right, the charity with the Panda as it’s logo, that’s worked hard for decades on conservation and saving animal habitats. They’re going beyond their projects in the field and they’re also investing in systems change by supporting high-impact enterprises.
And that’s what we’re all about here on the Good Future podcast, I’m your host John Treadgold, and I’m asking the big questions about the business of sustainability, the new economy, and how your spending and inve...
2022-04-2828 minGood FutureRachel Halpern: Jana’s new Head of Sustainability, from ESG to real-world impactRachel Halpern is the newly installed Head of Sustainable at asset consulting firm Jana.
Now asset consultants like Jana have an important role for big investors like super funds and insurance companies. They analyse and recommend which investment managers would be a good fit for their portfolios. And now, with the addition of a head of sustainability, it becomes very clear that ESG and Impact are essential considerations for institutional investors.
It was useful to explore the business of asset consulting, to understand the role it plays in advising Australia’s biggest investors, and how they’re integrating sustainability issues into...
2022-04-0727 minGood FutureLiza McDonald: Aware Super’s ESG and Impact Investment ApproachLiza McDonald is head of Responsible Investment at Aware Super, one of Australia’s largest super funds, which means she and her team are not only responsible for the retirement savings of millions of Australians, but they also have shareholdings in companies all over the world, which gives them an opportunity to engage, and maybe even influence these companies to make positive change.
Aware Super is not only leading in being one of the largest funds in Australia, it’s also leading in terms of its approach to sustainability. They committed to net-zero last year, they’ve divested from coal, and th...
2022-03-0234 minGood FutureSally Mccutchan: Launching Bridges Australia, and a career of impact investingSally Mccutchan has been a vital leader and catalyst for the growth of impact investing in recent years. After a career in investment banking and consulting, she took on the role of CEO of Impact Investing Australia, an organisation dedicated to catalysing growth in the sector.
We go deep in this one, we discuss Sally and the team’s hard work to try and get an impact wholesaler off the ground in Australia. That’s a work in progress, and Sally explains the huge opportunity there.
But we also look forward, and dig into the exciting news that Sally will be b...
2022-02-0251 minGood FutureSeb Beloe, WHEB: How to have impact in listed equity marketsThis week is the final episode in this series of conversations that explores impact investing in listed equities.
Impact investing has a long history in private markets, but when it comes to investing in public companies that are listed on a stock exchange, it’s a lot harder, to measure your impact, and to influence the companies you’re investing in.
Seb Beloe was an early guest of the show, and he’s back to tell us more about his fund, which is called the WHEB Sustainable Impact Fund. He’s head of Research at WHEB Asset management, and he’s a deep t...
2021-11-2428 minGood FutureTim King, Melior: How to have impact in listed equity marketsWe’re continuing our series that explores how an investor can have impact in listed equity markets.
Impact investing has a long history in private markets, but when it comes to investing in public companies that are listed on a stock exchange, it’s a lot harder, to measure your impact, and to influence the companies you’re investing in.
Tim King is here to talk about his approach to impact at Melior Investment Management. Tim is chief investment officer, he has deep experience in wrangling equity markets, and as you’ll hear today, he’s applied his broad research and analys...
2021-11-1731 minGood FutureTim Crockford, Regnan: How to have impact in listed marketsImpact investing has a long history in private markets, but when it comes to investing in public companies that are listed on a stock exchange, it’s a lot harder, to measure your impact, and to influence the companies you’re investing in.
Today, I’m speaking with Tim Crockford, all about the Regnan Global Equities Impact Solutions Fund.
Tim is head of Equity Impact Solutions, he’s based in the UK, and he has a unique approach to analysing companies, and to measuring impact. He and his team go to remarkable lengths to explore not only companies of interest, but exam...
2021-11-0433 minGood FutureKerry Series, Inspire: How to have impact in listed marketsThis month, I’m exploring how we can have impact by investing in public markets.
Impact investing has a long history in private markets, but when it comes to investing in public companies that are listed on a stock exchange, it’s a lot harder, to measure your impact, and to influence the companies you’re investing in.
My guests are all pioneering investment managers that all have their own strategies; and their foundational philosophies for pursuing impact are unique.
This week, it’s Kerry Series, and his fund the Inspire Australian Equities.
Kerry’s worked across the length and breadth of...
2021-10-2526 minGood FutureDanny Almagor - A New Impact Investment Firm, Sentient; and the Evolution of Small GiantsDanny Almagor has been a central pivot point of the Australian impact investment scene for more than a decade, and he’s someone I’ve wanted to sit down with for a chat, for a long time.
He’s the founder of Small Giants, and Impact Investment Group. He’s the husband of Berry Lieberman and he’s just an all-round top bloke.
Danny is an engineer by trade, but he’s a spiritual explorer in practice. He’s on a journey that I’m sure resonates with many of my listeners, and that’s a quest to make the world of business…...
2021-10-1338 minGood FutureFabienne Michaux: SDG Impact and UNDP: investment maps and impact standardsMy guest today is Fabienne Michaux, she’s Director at SDG Impact, it’s an offshoot of the UNDP and it’s focussed on harnessing impact investing to fund solutions to the SDGs.
SDG Impact uses the intelligence and insights it has on the ground in less developed countries all around the world, to identify challenges and problems that are in need private capital investments.
They’re a bridge between projects on the ground, and investors, but, they’ve also developed a handy set of Impact Standards which help investors to make better decisions and hopefully, boost their impact.
Alright let’s get...
2021-08-2327 minGood FutureVicky Lay - The Importance of Empathy, and the Artesian Approach to Impact InvestingOn the podcast today I’m speaking with Vicky Lay. Vicky is a partner and Head of Impact at Artesian Alternative Investments. She’s been a central architect of the firm’s embracing, of their impact potential, and she’s engaged with the startups they invest in. You see, Vicky was a founder herself, she knows the heartache of the valley-of-death, and the thrill of securing funding.
And it’s that skillset that she applies to mentoring founders, to helping them see their own potential, and to ditching their limiting beliefs.
Artesian are specialist investors in two broad areas: fixed income and...
2021-07-1932 minGood FutureChristina Leijonhufvud: Benchmarking Impact Practice and Impact Performance with BlueMarkOn the show today I have Christina Leijonhufvud, she’s the CEO of BlueMark, a company founded by the impact investment consultancy Tideline. Now BlueMark has a very specific focus, and that’s to provide third-party verification of the impact investment practices and performance of the world’s leading impact practitioners.
There’s a dizzying array of impact frameworks available today, and more seem to pop-up everyday. This is progress, but as impact investment pushes into the mainstream, we face the paradox of success, it’s the challenge of maintaining impact with integrity and pushing-back against impact washing.
And this is where i...
2021-06-1739 minGood FuturePhineas Glover: the evolution of ESG research, and the sustainable competitive advantageMy guest today is Phineas Glover. He’s head of ESG Equity Research for Asia Pacific, at Credit Suisse. He’s a leading source of up to date information on the environmental and social issues that are having material financial impacts on companies. It’s no longer just about earnings, or profit margins; the world’s biggest investors are now playing close attention to issues and themes beyond just the financials.
I really enjoyed this one, Phineas explained what it is a sell-side research analyst actually does, and then we got into weeds about whether the term ESG has lost its mean...
2021-05-2742 minGood FutureAlister Coleman: backing mission-led startups that are destined to become FolkloreOn the show today I have Alister Coleman, he’s founder and Managing Partner of Folklore Ventures, they just rebranded, their focus is on helping founders launch exciting new ideas, and shepherding them towards becoming Folklore.
Before diving into VC, Alister was a founder himself, doing the hard-yards to launch, build and eventually sell a software business. He knows well the commitment it takes, and the sacrifice, to give birth to a startup. And in our conversation he explained that it’s a very human process, that it’s not the markets, or the mechanics of the product, its human streng...
2021-05-1824 min
The Inquiring Mind Podcast7. The Death of Higher Education in America with Warren TreadgoldWarren Treadgold is the National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Byzantine Studies and Professor of History at Saint Louis University. He holds a BA and Ph.D. from Harvard and has taught at UCLA, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Hillsdale College, and Florida International University. He is the author of ten books and numerous articles on Byzantium, late ancient history, and literature. His work appears in Commentary, The Weekly Standard, The Wilson Quarterly, and Academic Questions.
Most recently he is the author of the wonderful book The Universities We Need which I highly recommend. You can purchase...
2021-04-301h 41Good FutureAndy Kuper: Leapfrog and Temasek enter record $500M impact dealIt’s exciting to have reached episode 71 of the Good Future podcast, and, it’s a pleasure to welcome back Andy Kuper, who was a guest in the early days of the show. Andy is of course the founder and CEO of Leapfrog, a global private equity firm focussed squarely on having a positive impact in fast growing economies.
The need to divert capital towards high-impact investments has only grown in the wake of the covid 19 pandemic, and that means Leapfrog have been busy. They’ve recently signed an unprecedented agreement with the Singaporean investment company, Temasek.
It’s more than a d...
2021-04-3027 minGood FutureAndrew Gray: How AustralianSuper engages with companies on climate action and net-zero targetsToday’s guest is Andrew Gray, he’s Director of ESG and Stewardship at AustralianSuper, which is the country’s largest superannuation fund. And while the fund manages people’s nest-eggs, they have the challenging role of planning long into the future. Sustainability isn’t optional to them, sustainability is about long-term thinking, and avoiding risks, to try and make sure retirement is comfortable, and that the environment is still in good shape.
Andrew has been with AustralianSuper for ten years, and before that he was at Goldman Sachs. His long experience has been welcomed on the global stage with his role o...
2021-04-0830 minGood FuturePaul Ronalds: Impact Investing, a path to sustainable funding for Save the ChildrenAmid the corona virus crisis, charities saw a dramatic decrease in donations at a time their services were needed the most. My guest today is Paul Ronalds, he’s the CEO of Save the Children Australia, and he knows this challenge well.
He’s long been an advocate for charities to evolve, and adapt to a new funding environment. It’s one reason his organisation has launched a pioneering Impact investment fund, which supports social enterprises through equity and debt funding.
In this conversation Paul explained the intricacies of the Impact Fund they’ve launched, and we explored the lessons that the...
2021-03-1635 minGood FutureBrynn O’Brien: The power of voting & shareholder resolutions to drive positive changeHow can we influence big, public companies to think more long-term, and be better corporate citizens.
Well, today I’m joined by Brynn O’Brien to answer just that question, she is Executive Director of the ACCR, the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility. The ACCR is a research and advocacy organisation that engages with companies on managing a whole range of issues; like climate, labour, human rights and governance.
Brynn’s passion for these issues shines through in this episode, but so too does the technical rigour and the financial depth that she and her team harness to drive some big ch...
2021-02-2538 min
Wonders of the WorldThe Monasteries of Meteora and John V PalaeologosStunning medieval monasteries perched on infinitely steep precipices, the monasteries of Meteora are sanctuaries in the sky. But what happened in Byzantium to convince monks to seek solitude in such forbidding locales? Stories of the collapse of Constantinople typically focus on the end, in 1453, but the fall really begins much earlier than that, fueled in many ways by the sheer incompetence of John V Palaeologos, the second longest serving Roman emperor, whose reign was a constant barrage of humiliations. He managed to be put in prison on four different occasions! While we explore this fascinating...
2021-02-2057 minGood FutureStephen Fitzgerald: Green bonds, impact reporting and farming in SussexToday we’re talking about Green Bonds, with Stephen Fitzgerald. Stephen is the founder of Affirmative Investment Management, a specialist firm that manages only impact bonds. Their pure-play approach makes Green Bonds, Social bonds and sustainability bonds available to more investors.
Stephen has a lot of insights to share, from the early days of his career at Goldman Sachs to his roles with QBE, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and of course Affirmative.
I really enjoyed this one, Stephen is a genuine guy, and he’s putting his deep understanding of financial markets to good use.
All the show notes and...
2021-02-0424 minGood FutureEric Rice: How Blackrock approaches impact investing in public marketsMy guest today is Eric Rice, and in his role as Head of active equities Impact Investing, at Blackrock, he’s working to bring the rigour of impact investing to public markets.
Blackrock is the world’s largest fund manager, they have more than $7 trillion of assets under management, so the potential to scale impact is massive. But, there are big questions around whether public companies can be held to account in the same way as private companies, and, whether a fund can maintain impact-with-integrity at such a large scale.
Eric didn’t start out in finance, in fact, he was a...
2021-01-1257 minGood FutureBen Thornley: Building trust through Impact verification with Bluemark certificationMy guest today is Ben Thornley, he’s co-founder and Managing Partner of Tideline, a specialist consultancy for the impact investment industry. Ben works with the firm’s long list of clients to integrate impact and sustainability into various stages of the investment process.
And they’ve recently spun-out a stand-alone business called BlueMark, which provides third-party impact verification services for investors across the spectrum.
Ben’s a consultant, he expertly explained some of the nuance and details about how the world of impact investing has changed over the past decade, and the components that are of particular interest today.
And, goi...
2020-12-1039 min
The Impact ProjectLivsetream: Turning your Passion into a Career w/ John TreadgoldWe're excited to share our very first livestream! Join us as we explore how to turn your passion into a career with none other than John Treadgold! John is the host of the Good Future Podcast, a passionate change-maker in the for-purpose space, and was the inspiration for this very podcast. We hope you enjoy the episode!
2020-12-0735 minGood FutureMatt Whineray: how sustainable investing will fund the future of New Zealand pensionsMatt Whineray is CEO of the New Zealand Super Fund, and the co-chair of the Sustainable Finance Forum.
In this conversation we dug into what makes the NZ super and pension system unique, as well as how the organisation integrates sustainability. And, it’s a public fund, it’s a government body, and I wanted to know how the increasingly politicised issues of climate change and pollution are managed by Matt and his team.
Matt also talked about his move from the private sector in Hong Kong and New York, and the challenges of shifting from the sell-side, to the buy...
2020-11-2632 minGood FutureAmit Bouri: Founding the GIIN, embracing risk, and activating impact investors in a crisisMy guest today is Amit Bouri, he was one of the founders of the Global Impact Investment Network (known as the GIIN) back in 2009. Today, he’s the CEO, and he not only manages this key global institution, but he’s also steered the global direction of the field of impact investment.
This was a radical new concept a mere ten years ago, the idea of investors measuring their social impact as closely as they measure their profits. But today, it’s prolific. Growth is strong, and it's proven that it can not only survive a downturn, but also contribute to the...
2020-11-0953 min
The Sachin and Adam ShowInsight into the World of Impact Investing with John Treadgold.This episode features John Treadgold who is a communications and strategy consultant who works with major companies and governments to pursue greater sustainability in their investments. In his career he has worked with the UN, The World Bank and many fund managers. John also has a podcast called 'Good Future' where he interviews business leaders in sustainability, impact investing and social enterprise who are re-defining economics and building companies as a force for good.Much of our focus on this weeks episode was on impact investing, how to combat the issues of capitalism and sustainability. 2:18: What does re-capitalism mean for Joh...
2020-11-0259 minGood FutureJacqueline Novogratz: Patient capital, impact businesses and finding your purposeJacqueline Novogratz is leading a moral revolution. She left a successful career in banking in New York when she was 25 to head to Rwanda with hopes of launching a microfinance fund. It didn’t go quite as planned, but she persevered.
Along the way she worked for the World Bank and for Unicef, she founded leadership programs at the Rockefeller Foundation, and then in 2001 she founded Acumen. A not for profit that invests patient capital in businesses that provide critical goods and services to people living in poverty.
Acumen has invested $128 million of patient capital to build more than 130 social en...
2020-10-1554 minGood FutureWilliam Wu: An investor and a teacher of positive impactOn the show today I have William Wu, he’s portfolio manager at Melior Investment Management, he teaches courses in sustainable investing at UNSW and he advises on boards of purpose-led businesses.
Will and I have had some great conversations in the past, and it was a pleasure to take it further today. We discussed how you can have an impact when investing in public markets, how ESG is evolving and the changing ways investors can influence the companies that are playing a growing part in our society.
Now Melior is only young and they’ve just completed their first impa...
2020-10-0132 minGood FutureMichael O’Leary: Empowering investors to keep companies AccountableMichael O’Leary was part of the team that founded BainCapital’s DoubleImpact fund, he’s been flying the flag for the evolution of finance for many years, and he’s published a book it’s called Accountable: The rise of Citizen Capitalism.
Michael’s book manages the difficult task of talking about the new world of capitalism without being preachy. He brings together the nature and stories of the world’s biggest companies, and ties them to the many ways both investors and consumers are becoming increasingly empowered to influence and drive change at these companies.
You can find a link to his...
2020-09-171h 10Good FutureSir Ronald Cohen: A new economic system through Impact-Weighted AccountsMy guest this week is Sir Ronald Cohen. Ronnie has been a venture capitalist, private equity investor, and leader of the global impact investing revolution. He was co-founder and Executive Chairman of Apax Partners, And today, he’s the Chairman of the Global Steering Group on Impact Investing (GSG) which followed the G8 Social Impact Investment Task Force.
He’s Chairman and co-Founder of The Portland Trust, co-founder of Social Finance UK, US, and Israel, and co-founder of Bridges Fund Management. Plus, he’s written a book, it’s called Impact: Reshaping capitalism to drive real change.
I’ve looked forward to...
2020-09-0350 minGood FutureRachel Etherington: driving wealth towards sustainability for people and the planetRachel Etherington is a committed advocate for sustainable investing, she understands impact, ESG and the SDGs, but she’s also enthusiastic. Rachel is a specialist financial advisor at Crestone, she helps her clients manage their wealth inline with their values, but that’s only half the story. She’s on the board of the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, and she’s on the board of Future Super.
Every time I speak with Rachel I come away a little bit wiser about the world of sustainability and finance, but more than that, I come away with a renewed sense of optimism...
2020-08-2042 minGood FutureMichael Traill: Update on Social Impact Taskforce, and planning Capitalism 2.0Michael Traill is one of the founding-heroes of impact investing in Australia. He led a pioneering finance deal in 2009 which bought out the assets of the struggling child-care company ABC Learning. He revived the business as Goodstart Early learning, which remains Australia’s biggest child-care centre group. And a foundational story of impact investing in Australia.
Since then the sector has grown, and last year the Federal government setup a taskforce to make recommendations about what they can do to help nurture impact investing. And in their wisdom, they made Michael the chair.
The taskforce published an interim report at th...
2020-08-0641 minGood FutureViktor Shvets: As debt and the information-age collide, what will the new-economy look like?I have Viktor Shvets on the show today. He not only runs Macquarie Bank’s office in Hong Kong, but he’s also written a book.
It’s called “The Great Rupture: Three Empires, Four Turning Points, and the Future of Humanity”, it’s an impressive read, it pulls together history, economics, geo-politics and psychology to try and map how the mis-steps of key empires, in the past, can help us prepare for a very uncertain future.
Viktor doesn’t shy away from the big issues in his book, and we cover it all in this episode. He offers one of the best ex...
2020-07-301h 01Good FutureIngrid Burkett & Alex Hannant: designing the future of business, team-work & regenerative thinkingI have the co-directors of the Yunus Centre at Griffith University on the show today. Ingrid Burkett and Alex Hannant have published a paper called Roadmap to Recovery and Regeneration, it recognises that right now is a pivotal moment for renewal.
Ingrid Burkett has a masters in business and she’s a graphic designer. She uses design-thinking to drive innovation and entrepreneurialism across all aspects of social impact.
She was previously President of the International Association for Community Development, and she was the Inaugural Social Design Fellow at the Centre for Social Impact at UNSW and UWA.
Alex Hannant has a...
2020-07-0843 minGood FutureJohn Elkington: a lifetime of corporate sustainability and the rise of the Green SwansJohn Elkington has been at the forefront of environmental research, advocacy and writing since the 70’s. He launched a consulting company called SustainAbility, long before the term had become the buzzword that it is today. He’s a writer, a speaker, and a provocateur.
A lot of his work has been in corporate sustainability, helping companies adapt and innovate amid environmental and social change.
Plus, he written a new book, it’s called Green Swans. It riffs on the concept of Black Swans, popularized by Nassim Taleb. But instead of representing unexpected catastrophic events, Green Swans represent an opportunity, for positi...
2020-06-2459 minGood FutureSimon O’Connor: Impact Investing is booming, RIAA’s 2020 Benchmark reportThere’s plenty of uncertainty in the world right now, but optimism is returning. We’ve got a battered economy, and lots of people out of work, but for impact investors, that’s an opportunity. It’s a chance to build-back better.
The Responsible Investment Association of Australasia, aka RIAA, have just released their Benchmarking Impact report for 2020. So I’ve managed to wrangle the CEO, Simon O’Connor, to come back on the show and tell us all about it.
The report captures the full spectrum of work being done on impact investing in Australia. It looks backward to gauge perfor...
2020-06-1132 minGood FutureBronwyn King: A true influencer, getting tobacco out of our investmentsBronwyn King is not a fund manager, she’s a doctor. Nonetheless she’s led a personal crusade to help the finance industry to wise up about the true impacts of investing in smoking. And as of last year her team were responsible for getting a massive $1.3 trillion in pension dollars to be invested under tobacco-free policies.
Cigarettes kill millions of people every year. And the unfortunate truth is that many Australians actually have money invested in these companies. Whether they know it or not, many super funds still have big holdings in big tobacco.
Dr King is a true infl...
2020-05-2839 minGood FuturePhil Vernon: the future of ethical investingI’ve wanted to have Phil Vernon on the show ever since I started this podcast. Phil was CEO of Australian Ethical investments for ten years before he stood-down last year.
Australian Ethical has been hugely influential in the responsible investment industry, through leading the discussion on how to invest ethically, while also offering a superannuation option that makes you money for your retirement, and, ensuring the environment is in good shape when you finish working.
They’re no charity, they’re a for-profit business, and under Phil’s control they saw the company’s market cap boom from $20 million to almost...
2020-05-1339 minGood FutureRemy Briand: The ESG evolution at MSCI, and performance amid the pandemicRemy Briand is head of ESG at MSCI. It’s one of the world’s leading stock market index providers and they assess more than 7,500 companies on their ESG performance.
Remy lives in Geneva and he’s an outspoken advocate for the importance of considering environmental, social and governance factors when making investment decisions.
In the world of responsible investing, there’s one data point that’s quoted more than any other, it says: that over the past ten years, Sustainable investment funds have earned better returns than their mainstream peers. It’s great news, but today I want to go deeper. I...
2020-05-0537 minGood FutureRoger Montgomery: Value investing, the economy and the impact of corona virusRoger Montgomery is one of Australia’s leading fund managers, he’s an author, a regular economic commentator and he’s been watching the corona virus situation unfold… long before it hit the headlines.
He’s the founder and CEO of Montgomery Investment Management, he manages money for individuals and families, and it’s great to get a chance to speak to him as we watch financial markets go through a historic correction, after a decade long bull run.
For all my listeners out there, I wanted to bring you a deeper look at what’s going on, in the stock market...
2020-04-2143 minGood FutureAlex Vynokur: Making sustainable investing accessible to everybody, through ETFsAlex Vynokur is the CEO and founder of Betashares, and he’s well placed to help us understand the market impact of the corona-virus, and what we can expect in coming months.
Betashares is only ten years old, but it pioneered the use of ETF’s, or exchange traded funds here in Australia. And they have a suite of ethical and sustainable funds that they manage through their own investment committee.
Alex is a business-man, and he’s a fund manager. He’s been deep in the Australian financial sector for a long time. So I value his views on the reac...
2020-04-0933 minGood FutureAnt Moorhouse: a global competition to solve the corona-virusToday I’m joined by Ant Moorhouse. He’s a champion problem solver who cut his teeth in the military, before discovering entrepreneurialism.
Now, he’s back in Australia where he’s furiously re-tooling his social enterprise, EarthTech, to discover and fund the enterprises that are working on solutions to beat corona virus, and more long-term, to help boost the recovery of the businesses and communities that are most hard hit.
Ant is a great storyteller, and he’s had a really rich life. What I took from this conversation is that the new breed of businesses, the digital natives, really hav...
2020-04-0244 minGood FutureZali Steggall: The goal that will define Australia’s next century, Net Zero by 2050Zali Steggall is not your usual politician. She defeated ex-Prime Minister Tony Abbott to take office last year, and now she’s shepherding a Climate Change Bill through parliament that has the potential to define Australia’s next century.
Her Bill doesn’t define policy or technology, instead it acts as a roadmap. At its core, it has the goal of getting emissions to Net Zero by 2050.
She’s garnered support from all sides, and for business, it offers stability and certainty that has been sorely lacking, and which is vital for making long-term investment and capital decisions.
Zali Steggall is the F...
2020-03-2336 minGood FutureShuyin Tang and Lee Fitzgerald: venture capital bringing impact at scale, in South-East AsiaIt's double the impact this week, with two guests; Shuyin Tang and Lee Fitzgerald are from Patamar Capital. Shuyin is a partner at the Venture Capital firm, and Lee is one of the founders.
Shuyin is originally from Sydney but she’s now based in Vietnam.
While Lee Fitzgerald hails from San Fransisco.
Patamar is focussed on improving economic opportunities for low-income communities in Asia, and they do it by making early-stage investments in high-impact enterprises.
It was great to go deep on the thinking behind a leading venture capital firm. They pride themselves on seeing opportunities that other people mi...
2020-03-1227 minGood FutureEric Savage: Impact in India, the land of the entrepreneurEric Savage has spent more than a decade living in India, in Bangalore. In this episode he explained his work at Unitus Capital. An impact investing firm that works to make capital available to a range of businesses, that have a big potential for positive impact.
He also described daily life, and the charm of controlled chaos. It renewed my energy to get over to India.
According to Eric, India is the land of the entrepreneur, and for an investor that offers a lot of opportunity, and a huge potential for having an impact.
We dug into capital controls, the...
2020-02-2725 minGood FutureAshara Ekundayo: can art and design disrupt gentrification?Speaking with Ashara Ekundayo was such a treat that I didn’t want to miss a word. This was one of those conversations where I didn’t even glance at the list of questions I’d prepared.
Ashara is a cultural strategist, she’s a committed supporter of the arts and she’s a deep thinker about how we can better value design, creativity, artist communities and ultimately the cultural assets that make a city worth living in.
Ashara is based in Oakland in California, which is fortuitious because I’ve just returned from a trip to neighbouring San Fransisco, where gentri...
2020-02-1335 minGood FutureMichele Giddens: driving scale and speed for change and impactToday’s episode was recorded at the Impact Investment Summit in Sydney at the end of 2019, where I spoke with Michele Giddens. She’s co-founder of Bridges Capital, she’s based in the UK, and during our conversation she summed up really well how poignant and emotional it was to be here in Sydney, having these conversations about climate change and about investing in sustainability, with fires all around us.
It really did spur a sense of urgency for shifting the way we treat this big, brown country that we call home.
Michele co-founded Bridges Fund Management in 2002, alongside Philip Newbor...
2020-01-3014 minGood FutureKylie Charlton: risk and returns in impact investingKylie Charlton is well-known in the world of Impact Investing. She has lots of energy and lots of experience and so I took the opportunity to talk to her about risk.
Risk, is a key issue, for all investors. It drives decision making, and its central to how they forecast the future.
And I wanted to know… how impact investors perceive risk, both in terms of their analysis of potential opportunities, but also from the business side. And some of the key factors that fledgling, purpose-led businesses should think about when they consider taking on investment funds.
Kylie is Chief In...
2020-01-0934 minGood FutureDave Rae: a responsible investor, and a financial advisorDave Rae is a financial advisor, and he’s a Member of one of the Technical Working Groups at the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative.
Its been great to watch Dave build his financial planning business and he’s helped me understand how his clients feel about sustainable investing, and the key concerns that people come to him with. I think it’s useful to get insights from outside the ‘impact’ bubble every now and then.
Now Dave wasn’t always an advocate for investing in-line with your values. He talks us through his journey to focussing on the impact his money is hav...
2019-12-1728 minGood FutureSimon Griffiths: the future of Who-Gives-a-Crap and scaling purposeSimon Griffiths is CEO and co-founder of Who-Gives-a-Crap, they make and sell toilet paper, but they’re having an impact that goes well beyond the product we see in bathrooms all over Australia. The company has a clearly defined purpose to bring the miracle of toilets to the 2.3 billion people all over the world who don’t have access to one.
Despite the hilarious potential for puns, the toilet paper business is actually pretty perfect for the social enterprise model. Simon and his team give 50% of their profits to a range of charities that are working towards providing water and sani...
2019-12-0333 minGood FutureRosemary Addis: Australia’s place in the social impact evolutionRosemary Addis, like most of my guests, had some major career shifts in her journey towards impact. Early-on she was a partner at law firm Allens Linklaters. But She would leave the law behind to help develop the impact investing sector.
In 2013 she helped to establish the Australian Advisory Board, to the G8 Social Impact Investment Taskforce. And part of this process involved helping to build Impact Investing Australia, as the organisation that would manage it.
Australia was the only country outside the G8 invited to work with the taskforce, which has since evolved to become the Global Steering Group...
2019-11-2036 minGood FutureAntony Bugg-Levine: making capital accessible by keeping it simple, SOCAP liveAntony Bugg-Levine has had a huge influence on the modern iteration of impact investing.
He was there at the Belagio Hotel when the term was coined in 2007, he went on to write a seminal text on the subject with Jed Emerson, and he continues his work through the Nonprofit Finance Fund, where they work to make capital available to worthy causes that otherwise wouldn’t have it.
Antony speaks quickly and I’m sure his mind moves even faster. I did my best to keep up with him in this conversation. He offered some rich insights, and it’s inspiring to get...
2019-11-1217 minGood FutureDeb Nelson: building communities before profits, live from SOCAPDeb Nelson looks after clients and community engagement at RSF Social Finance, she’s based in the bay Area, and I was lucky to get a chance to sit down with her during my week in San Francisco.
The SOCAP conference is all about people and relationships. And business deals are simply another form of a relationship. It’s a profound concept, because it flips the idea of a negotiation being a battle, and it turns it into a much more intimate interaction between two people, and likely between two communities.
Follow all the stories at www.johntreadgold.com
Enjoy
2019-11-1116 minGood FutureCathy Clark: the evolution of impact, and the early days of SOCAPCathy Clark has been coming to the SOCAP conference for more than a decade, and as she explains, there were no investors in the early days, it was just entrepreneurs. Since then the event’s certainly expanded, with all sorts of people coming together to share ideas and pitch their wares.
Cathy is Faculty Director at the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (know as CASE) at Duke University. We talked about her journey from business to education, and how her own career evolved in-line with the growth of impact investing and the very modern shift by big corporations to...
2019-11-0814 minGood FutureSasha Dichter: building impact data by listening, live from SOCAPSasha Dichter is co-founder of 60 Decibels, a company that was spun-out of Acumen a year ago, and which is laser focused on getting better data to inform impact outcomes.
Impact measurement has been a core topic of debate for as long as I’ve been investigating the world of impact investing. But the one thing everybody can agree on is that impact measurement is difficult, and my guest today is working hard to shorten the distance between investors, and the beneficiaries their working to help.
He explains that they wanted to flip the approach, from simply requesting data from companies, an...
2019-11-0717 minGood FutureDaniel Madhavan: our one-year anniversary, live from SOCAPI had the opportunity to head over to San Francisco for the SOCAP Conference this year. It was a hectic week of talks, and meetings, and seminars. But, I also managed to squeeze in a bunch of interviews with some leading voices in the world of social enterprise and impact investing.
First up is Daniel Madhavan. I’m sure a lot of you will know Dan as the Melbourne-based CEO of Impact Investment Group. And for my most dedicated listeners you’ll also know that Dan was one of my first guests on the show, one year ago.
And so this...
2019-11-0613 minGood FutureJules Lund, Rachel Mason Nunn, Glen James and Tommy Jacket: the impact of podcasting**SPECIAL episode**
We've done 32 episodes of the GOOD FUTURE podcast, so I’m doing something a little bit different for you this week. To say thank you for sticking with me, on this journey I wanted to shift the perspective to ask, what is the impact… of podcasting.
To do it I’ve reached out to some of Australia’s best voices.
First up I was lucky enough to get some time with Jules Lund, he’s the founder of the very successful marketing business, Tribe, and with many years in TV and radio he remains an important thought leader about all...
2019-10-1724 minGood FutureRadek Sali: Culture, purpose and the future of workRadek Sali is best known for his work at Swisse Vitamins, he was key to the company’s early growth and he would later go on to become the CEO.
A few years ago he and his colleagues sold their final stake in the company they had built, and Radek went out on his own, to build a family office that invests in all sorts of ventures, that are all focussed on wellness. And, one of his key investments was to seed an impact investment fund, called, wait for it, The Impact Fund.
Radek is a big picture thinker, and he...
2019-10-0933 minGood FutureLindsay Smalling: the SOCAP conference and real human connectionThe digital revolution has made the world a lot smaller. But, we’ve also seen live events like conferences grow more popular than ever.
Lindsay Smalling is CEO of the SOCAP conference, that stands for Social Capital Markets. It’s held every year in San Francisco, and its arguably the biggest event focussed on driving New Global Markets at the Intersection of Money + Meaning.
The SOCAP conference is being held on the 22nd to the 25th of October, and Lindsay generously gave us some time today to tell us all about it. She’s worked with the conference in a range...
2019-10-0127 minGood FutureSimon Holmes à Court: the clean energy transition opportunitySimon Holmes a Court is a director at the Smart Energy Council, he’s a senior advisor to the Energy Transition Hub at Melbourne University, and he was also a director of the Hepburn Wind Farm cooperative.
It was the story that came from the Hepburn community that brought Simon to my attention. They said no, to the developers who wanted to build wind farms, and instead, they built them themselves! It was local money, building local infrastructure to make clean energy.
Simon has long experience in the battle to clean up Australia’s electricity grid and despite his furious acti...
2019-09-2436 minGood FutureBerry Liberman: building the impact economy, with loveBerry Liberman is a passionate advocate for sustainability, she’s co-founder of the Small Giants impact investment firm, she’s the editor-in-chief of Dumbo Feather and, most importantly, she tells it how it is.
Berry and her husband Danny Almagor founded Small Giants in 2007 to support a new breed of businesses, that are focussed on empathy and building strong communities. They fund and manage a portfolio of companies as tools for social and environmental impact, to shift away from blind faith in economics, and instead embrace ecology as the path to living a life of passion and purpose.
Berry pushed me t...
2019-09-1244 minGood FuturePaul Brest: From smart philanthropy to impact investingI had a very special guest on the podcast this week. Paul Brest, has come all the way from Stanford University in California. He was previously the Dean of Stanford Law School, specialising in constitutional law, he then moved over to head up the Hewlett Foundation where he focussed on philanthropy and began to explore whether investors could contribute to social impact.
After 12 years there he returned to academia, to Stanford, where he remains as Professor Emeritus.
He’s in Sydney to talk and share ideas about all things philanthropy. He’s here as a guest of Perpetual Investments, and I wa...
2019-08-2832 minGood FutureAndrew Kuper: impact investing pioneer, through empathy and inclusionAndrew Kuper is the founder and CEO of Leapfrog Investments, he’s a pioneering impact investor, and he’s long been a hero of mine.
In this episode we go deep on what made his investment approach stand-out from the crowd when so many investors are adopting the impact investing label. He talked about his record breaking fund which has raised one billion Australian dollars (that’s billion, with a B), it’s the world’s biggest impact fund by a dedicated impact investing fund, and it’s estimated to impact some 70 million emerging consumers.
Ever since I dived headlong into the wor...
2019-08-071h 11Good FutureMark Reading: the Atlassian Foundation and disrupting charityMark Reading is head of the Atlassian Foundation, he’s the bridge between Atlassian, and the charities they choose to support through their Pledge-1% model.
The Foundation is pushing back against the most restrictive norms of the Not-For-Profit sector to drive new projects and funding models in the field of educating disadvantaged youth around the world.
I was introduced to Mark by, Adam McCurdie who’s the founder of Humanitix. You see Mark and the Atlassian foundation are supporting Humanitix through an innovative model of charitable impact investing, which he discusses.
So please have a listen.
You can check out all...
2019-07-2542 minGood FuturePablo Berrutti: the future of funds management is sustainableToday’s guest is Pablo Berrutti. He’s head of Responsible investment (Asia-Pacific) at Colonial First State Global Asset Management and he’s a passionate advocate for the power of financial markets to change the world. There’s lots of optimism and there’s a really great explanation of ESG investing which is all about considering environmental, social and governance factors when making investment decisions.
Pablo’s passion for these issues comes through really clearly, I had a great time chatting with him. And was glad to help him get the word out about another venture he’s working on, it’s called Al...
2019-07-1153 minGood FutureAnna Crabb: B Corps are set to change company law in AustraliaAnna Crabb is General Manager of B Lab Australia. The team work tirelessly to manage the B Corp certification: assessing the sustainability credentials of purpose-led companies and giving them the B Corp tick if they’re up to scratch.
But, they’re also working to bring Benefit Companies to Australia. A Benefit Company is a new type of legal structure that offers Australian companies more options to permanently embed a mission and a purpose into their corporate structure.
Early on in her career Anna worked for the government, but she made the switch to consulting as she wanted a more dyna...
2019-06-2729 minGood FutureClaire Rogers: the evolution of World VisionClaire Rogers made a big shift in her career, she went from being head of digital banking at ANZ to become the CEO of Australia’s largest charity, World Vision Australia.
Claire’s move gives us a good indication of where this hugely influential charity is directing its priorities. As it recognises the evolution in how social impact is measured, in how the public want to engage, and the growing importance of partnerships.
She’s had a couple of years to find her feet at World Vision and she shared some really personal insights about the challenges she faced and the le...
2019-06-1839 minGood FutureAdam Verwey: Matching your super with your values, and investing for the futureAdam Verwey, is Founder and Director of Future Super. In our discussion he offered some great insights about the Australian superannuation system. We dug into the importance of investment managers including a focus on sustainability, climate change and environmental factors in their analysis, and it’s not just for ethical reasons. It’s also, simply good risk management, and it’s at the heart of long-term thinking. And when it comes to funding our retirement, long-term thinking is pretty damn important.
And now, more than ever, there’s lots of options, and Adam and his team are thinking deeply about how to s...
2019-06-0538 minGood FutureDamon Gameau: 2040, a vision of a greener future, todayWhat will the world look like in 2040? That’s the question Damon Gameau asks at the start of his new film called 2040. It’s a documentary that has a big impact because of its optimism. It dispenses with the dystopian future envisioned by so many sci-fi films. Instead, he takes a trip around the world looking for the sustainable technology of the future, that’s available today.
The film’s framed around Damon’s four-year-old daughter, and it jumps between the present and an imagined future, the year 2040 when his daughter will be 21. He sees a world where traditional farming techniques...
2019-05-2223 minGood FutureGeorgina Camp: Measure what matters, a new approach to impact measurementYou’ve probably heard the line before, “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” But in a world where inequality and the scarcity of resources are both increasing, perhaps a better statement is, “measure what matters”.
Georgina Camp is CEO and founder of Huber Social, a social impact consulting firm that wants to enable all organisations to measure their impact.
It’s something her background has certainly prepared her for… she started out in the army, then she studied law, before she shifted into humanitarian work with a masters in development studies.
The culmination of it all is Huber Socia...
2019-05-0941 minGood FutureElyse Sainty: Social Impact Bonds & evidenced-based fundingElyse Sainty works at the intersection of social impact and finance, which is the sweet-spot of this show. She’s director of Impact Investing at Social Ventures Australia (SVA) where she designs and manages Social Impact Bonds, and her take on this was really refreshing, from her perspective, It’s not really about investors… instead, it’s seeing capital as an enabler, it’s the means to an end.
And really, when you look at the central goal, it’s not about making money, it’s about making money make a difference.
Elyse delves into her transition from banking and finance to wor...
2019-05-0232 minGood FutureJoel Solomon: the clean-money revolution and investing with loveJoel Solomon is a passionate advocate for the power of business to do good. He was a founding partner and Senior Advisor for Renewal Funds, Canada’s largest mission venture capital firm managing some $98 million. He ran an “activist family office” for 14 years deploying more than $70M. He helped found the Social Venture Network in Canada, and RSF Social Finance’s Integrated Capital Institute. He’s a member of Canada’s Advisory Board to the G8 Social Impact Investment Taskforce. He’s a governor of University of British Columbia.
And… he’s written a book, it’s called the Clean Money Revolution. It...
2019-04-1050 minGood FutureSimon O’Connor: the intersection of sustainability and financeSimon O’Connor is CEO of the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA), they’ve got more than 240 members that collectively manage some $9 trillion of investments globally.
And if he wasn’t busy enough, he’s now also the co-chair of the Australia Sustainable Finance Initiative (ASIF, it was launched last week with the aim, in their words, to drive : “A sustainable and resilient economy – one that prioritises human well-being, social equity and protection of our environment.”
It’s made up of the most influential players in Australian finance, and it’s laser focussed on crafting effective policy that not only helps kickstart Au...
2019-04-0226 minGood FutureMatthew Weatherley-White: can capitalism evolve before it’s too late?Matthew Weatherley-White is an impact investment advisor at Caprock, but his personality and his passion for life stretch far beyond his day-job. He’s as interested in hiking in the mountains and in crafting a lifestyle, as he is to reshaping markets for the better.
He’s inquisitive and he’s a deep thinker, and most importantly he’s not afraid of telling it how it is.
We dug into the political stalemates that both the US and Australia are facing in trying to deal with climate change. Matthew spoke passionately about the potential for capitalism to be re-oriented towards environm...
2019-03-141h 00Good FutureSeb Beloe: Impact investing in public markets, the trade-offSeb Beloe lives in the country, just outside London, he’s struck a balance between the rural and the urban, and this is echoed in his work where he combines his passion for sustainability, with making investments that earn a decent return.
He’s Head of Research at WHEB Asset Management, which is a fund manager that seeks out progressive companies that make products that are doing good in the world. They invest in public companies, listed on the stock market, and while their impact might not be as deep as their private markets forebears, they’re making conscious investment access...
2019-03-0638 minGood FutureKylie Porter: Corporate sustainability, human rights and the SDGsKylie Porter is the newly installed Executive Director of the UN Global Compact Network Australia. The organisation is founded on a set of ten principles that companies agree to abide by when they sign up.
It’s been hailed as, the world’s largest corporate social responsibility framework, and while it doesn’t enforce any rules or dole out any punishment, it operates as an important network of companies who are committed to reducing their environmental impact and becoming better corporate citizens.
I’m your host John Treadgold and I’m asking the big questions about the future of sustainable business...
2019-02-1436 minGood FutureGiles Gunesekera: Impact Investing in practiceGiles Gunesekera is CEO of the Global Impact Initiative and he’s been a valuable mentor for me in the world of impact investing; so it was about time I invited him to be a guest on Good Future.
I’m your host John Treadgold, and this is the podcast where I ask the big questions about sustainable business, the new economy and how your spending & investment decisions, no matter how big or small, can have an impact.
Giles has built a range of really innovative investment structures that have supported charities for women and girls, built hospitals and funded affo...
2019-02-0737 minGood FutureJed Emerson: the conscience of impact investing, asking what is the purpose of capital?Is Impact-investing a paradox? Is another complex financial structure really the best way to deal with the problems caused by putting too much faith in finance in the first place?
It’s a valid concern, and it leads many in the sector to be forever on their guard, forever defining and redefining what this term, impact, really means.
My guest today knows this challenge well. Jed Emerson has been at the forefront of impact investing’s evolution for many decades, and in his new book he asks us all to think far deeper than simply which fund structure will optimise gain...
2019-01-301h 02Good FutureAdam McCurdie: building Humanitix as a business and a charityEverybody hates paying booking fees when buying tickets, and for Adam McCurdie that was an opportunity. He recognised the ticketing industry’s profits were ripe for a little 'impact disruption'.
The result was Humanitix. It’s a charity, that looks a lot like a business. And it’s both, and that’s what we like here at the Good Future podcast. My name is John Treadgold, and I’m asking the big questions about the future of sustainable business, the new-economy and how your spending and investment decisions, no matter how big or small, can have an Impact.
Adam McCurdie has had a...
2019-01-2336 minGood FutureLaurie Spengler: taking impact investing to the next levelLaurie Spengler is the President and CEO of Enclude, an impact investing advisory firm that gives itself the unique title of being an impact investment bank. They work all over the world helping to build businesses that are solving some of the world’s biggest challenges
As will become clear in the conversation, Laurie isn’t phased by much. She has a high tolerance for working with uncertainty and ambiguity and that can be traced back to her years managing transactions in Czechoslovakia after the wall fell. When it was re-writing its laws and rebuilding its financial institutions.
I’ve spoken...
2019-01-0851 minGood FutureSimba Marekera: Impact investing, Brightlight, and growing up in ZimbabweHe grew up in Harare in Zimbabwe, and with grit and determination and a little bit of luck, he managed to get himself a scholarship to Yale in the US, and today, he’s helping manage one of Australia’s leading impact investment advisory firms.
His name is Simba Marekera he’s Chief Research Officer at Brightlight Impact Advisors, the firm helps investors understand how they can invest funds to earn risk adjusted returns, while also having a positive social and environmental impact.
Simba opened up about his upbringing and how he found his way to Sydney. He dealt with his fa...
2018-12-2039 minGood FutureKat Dunn: Microfinance, and why we need two banking systemsKat Dunn is at the vanguard of microfinance. She’s CEO of Grameen Australia, and she has some big lofty goals for shifting our concept of banking, to give those who don’t have the backing of hard assets, an alternative route to access loans and capital.
Kat opened up about the big move she made, leaving a role with a major fund manager, she stepped off the corporate ladder and she took a leap of faith, following her heart and her need for purpose, rather than clinging to the security of a big salary.
I‘d love to hear what y...
2018-12-1344 minGood FutureDr Sarah Pearson: Innovation, entrepreneurs and foreign policyInnovation is not often associated with government departments. But that’s changing, thanks to my guest, Dr Sarah Pearson.
She’s Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Scientist at the InnovationXchange, within Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). On Episode 6 of the Good Future podcast.
She’s disrupting government, she’s injecting her experience of scientific collaboration and commercialisation to retrofit DFAT as an entrepreneurial leader. She wants to empower the Asia-Pacific region with more than just grants, she wants to help build businesses, in the hope of driving truly sustainable development.
She’s had a remarkable career. She started as a physi...
2018-12-0648 minGood FutureTom Dawkins: the social enterprise funding gapTom Dawkins is a social entrepreneur, and he’s the co-founder of fund-raising platform, StartSomeGood.
He’s been a change-maker from the outset. His parents were big advocates for working in a job that has purpose and reflects your values. And he took it to heart, busily building not-for-profits and social enterprises as soon as he left uni.
And he was soon drawn to silicon valley, a place where there’s plenty of action, but it’s here he had a pivotal revelation, he found a place where they embrace failure. A community that recognises that failure is simply the price yo...
2018-11-2938 minGood FuturePiet Klop: pensions with a purposeHow much influence can you have as an individual investor? This was the question I asked Piet Klop, he’s senior advisor on sustainable investment at the Dutch pension fund PGGM and he’s a leading voice in pushing these big organisations to consider their impact.
While many pension funds are now using the SDGs as a framework to map their impacts, PGGM had already set themselves some key themes to tackle, well before 2015 when the SDGs started to build momentum for the private sector to make a change.
From an Australian perspective, this is even more interesting because the Dutc...
2018-11-1537 min
Good FutureAnthea Smits: Entrepreneurship in the Pacific & market-based solutionsHave you ever cried during a World Vision ad? Or, maybe you didn’t cry, and you felt guilty for it? They’re powerful feelings, we’re forced to ask questions about how we live our lives, and what impact we can have on people far away.
For the third episode of Good Future I’m speaking with Anthea Smits, she’s felt the full array of these emotions, and she acted on them.
She is CEO of The Difference Incubator, otherwise known as Tdi, an organisation that works with entrepreneurs to build social enterprises. They work here in Australia but they a...
2018-11-0740 min
Good FutureDaniel Madhavan: democratising impact investing and making finance more inclusiveLast year Daniel took on the role of CEO at the Impact Investment Group (IIG) one of Australia’s leading impact fund managers. I dug into the projects they’ve got on the go, including building the world’s tallest timber office building, which is pretty epic. As well as a new fund they’ve got in the works targeting retail investors, I was super interested in that one, but Daniel would only give us a taste, as it’s not yet officially announced.
I asked Daniel what brought him to the impact investing space. Plus, he offered some very sound advi...
2018-10-2846 min
Good FutureAbhilash Mudaliar: having an impact by asking why?Abhilash Mudaliar is well equipped to help us understand the world of impact investing. He’s the Head of Research at the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), which has an important leadership role in maintaining the integrity of the new financial paradigm that is impact investing.
While this term might not be familiar to everybody, that’s okay, because we explore the concept from all angles, and really break down this idea of investing and of making a profit, but doing it with purpose and with a positive social or environmental impact.
We talk about impact measurement, the challenges of sett...
2018-10-2534 min