Good Future: Recent Episodes
John Treadgold
A podcast about the business of sustainability. John Treadgold interviews business leaders in sustainability, ESG and impact investing who are re-defining economics and building companies as a force for good.
Throughout 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 by the perfect guest to help us make sense of it all., and that’s Linda Romanovska. She helps us understand why it’s important, how we can use it, and how it compares and interacts with other global models. Linda is a global taxonomy expert, she’s contributed to the development of sustainable finance taxonomies in the EU, South Asia and right here in Australia. At the same time she’s worked as a senior sustainable finance advisor working with boutique consultancies as well as the Big4. And if that’s not enough to keep her busy, she’s also doing a PHD exploring the intersection of nature and sustainable finance. I learned so much in this episode, and I hope you do too. Linda’s insights are really practical, breaking down the nature of a taxonomy within the global context, highlighting sectors where it has the potential to make an impact, and, how it fits within the broader sustainable finance roadmap in Australia. Also, we’ve produced a One-page Taxonomy FIELD GUIDE. Outlining the key opportunities of aligning a portfolio with the Australian framework, and how it compares globally.Find it on my website at www.Johntreadgold.comWhile you’re there you can find all the show notes for the episode, and you can sign up for my newsletter where I share regular impact insights, plus, you’ll be the first to know about new podcast episodes as they drop. Enjoy!
This week on the podcast I’m excited to be joined by Hampus Jakobsson, his career to discover climate-tech has been a wild ride so far and he has a great knack for story-telling, so I’m sure you’re going to enjoy this one. Hampus is based in Sweden, and he started out as an entrepreneur, bouncing from Sony-Ericsson to Blackberry, building software in the early days of mobile phones, and as he grew to appreciate the incredible power of capital to make big changes in the world, he was slowly drawn to investing. He resisted opportunities to switch to VC for a long time, but eventually he shifted his views, and he ended up working with some of Europe’s most progressive VCs, but in 2019, when he suggested they explore climate-tech investing, they shook their heads, despite having invested in a swag of wildly innovative startups, they couldn’t get their heads around the idea of investing in climate. Since then, things have changed dramatically, and climate-tech has emerged as one of the fastest growing themes in early-stage investing. Hampus Jakobsson went on to launch his own VC fund, it’s called Pale Blue Dot, and has so far invested in some 40 startups, across a range of themes and business models. In this episode Hampus is really generous with his stories and his insights. He explains his methodology and process for identifying those outlier founders that have, not only an audacious business idea to change the world, but also, the tenacity and grit to push past the obstacles and execute on it.Hampus has had a dizzying career so far, but after listening to this one, I’m sure you’ll agree that he’s just getting started. He has energy, and a sharp intellect and a passion for climate solutions that’s infectious. So with that said, let’s get to the episode. You can find all the show notes and links on the website at Johntreadgold.com.Enjoy the show!
We’ve long heard the arguments for how and why Australia should be a leader in renewable energy and decarbonisation, and finally, in the 2024 budget, we saw the Treasurer take decisive action, and chart a course for Australia to become a clean energy superpower. Of course we’re not there yet, but on the show today I’m joined by Tim Buckley, an esteemed climate commentator who says the latest batch of government funding is a decent down-payment, on a clean-energy future for Australia. I’m excited to have Tim Buckley with us today, there’s no-one better to help us decipher the climate outcomes from the latest budget. Tim is the founder and director of Clean Energy Finance, a think-tank that’s laser-focussed on research and advocacy to accelerate the decarbonisation of the Australian economy. He’s worked in finance for more than 30 years, and was previously the Australasian Director of the global Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. Early in his career he worked at Macquarie group in equity research, and since then he’s been Head of Equity Research in Singapore at Deutsche Bank, and Managing Director, Head of Equity Research at Citigroup.You can find all the show notes and links on the website at www.Johntreadgold.comPlus, that’s where you can sign up to my newsletter, your regular feed of impact investing and climate-finance news, as well as fresh startups and investment deals. Sign up, and follow along.Enjoy the show!
Today’s guest is Clara Barby. She’s been a central player in the impact investment sector for decades. Early on she worked at Acumen, she then moved on to Bridges Fund Management, and she’s currently Partner at Just Climate which was spun-out of Generation Investment Management, the sustainable investment firm launched by none other than Al Gore. Along the way she’s also helped develop standard setting organisations like the Impact Management Project (the IMP) and the global sustainability accounting body, the ISSB. Clara’s resume really is quite staggering. There were lots of avenues and tangents that we could have gone down, so we really just scratched the surface today. We speak about the advancements in the world of ‘Climate-impact investing’ in terms of both the climate-tech companies that are creating disruptive new industrial technologies. But we also get really practical as we explore the emissions measurement models they use at JustClimate to look forward, and forecast, the ‘emissions avoidance’ potential of a company. This moves beyond the typical approach of relying on backward looking measures of scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. It represents important progress in GHG accounting, and has huge potential as a driver of returns as it unearths exciting new leaders in the new climate-led industrial revolution.You can find all the show notes and links on the website at www.Johntreadgold.comPlus, that’s where you can sign up to my newsletter, your regular feed of impact investing and climate-finance news, as well as fresh startups and investment deals. Sign up, and follow along.Enjoy!
On 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 restoration of biodiversity.GreenCollar has been a pioneer in the space for a long time now, and they’re not slowing down, developing new products and methodologies like Reef Credits, and the new Nature Plus biodiversity credits. And of course GreenCollar is the sponsor of this series. I’ve followed the progress of this company since its early days when the team earned the backing of some heavy-weight impact investors. It was a moment that shifted my perspective, showing me that environmental markets are both a vital part of the clean energy transition, but also, a potent business sector, with huge growth potential. They proved me right on both counts, and it’s great to have them on board as a partner.You can find all the show notes and links on the website at www.Johntreadgold.com. Plus, that’s where you can sign up to my newsletter, your regular feed of impact investing news, as well as fresh startups and investment deals. Sign up, and follow along!Enjoy the show!
Today 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 Odonata Foundation, an environmental charity working to save species from extinction. Now before we dive into the episode I want say a big thank you to the sponsor of this series, and that’s GreenCollar. GreenCollar is a developer and innovator of environmental market solutions, they recognise the power of putting a financial value on nature, as an incentive to drive sustainable land management, cleaning up our waterways and avoiding further loss of biodiversity and animal species.Since launching more than a decade ago, the company has become Australia’s largest developer of nature-based carbon credit projects, and they’re pushing the market forward with schemes like ‘Reef Credits’, which target improved water quality at The Great Barrier Reef.And their latest innovation is NaturePlus, a new form of biodiversity credits that aim to protect and restore ecosystems around the world. They’re measuring biodiversity outcomes on the ground, with a scientifically rigorous and verifiable methodology, that puts a value on natural capital, to enable investment in the conservation of high value ecosystems.Reach out to the team at www.GreenCollar.com.au to find out more. Plus, you can find all the show notes and links on the website at www.johntreadgold.com. And you can also sign up to the newsletter, to get the notifications on the latest podcast episodes, as well as practical insights about the evolution of impact investing.Enjoy!
The 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 TNFD, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, an organisation that was established to try and solve this very problem. The big news is that this week Tony and his team have published the final version of the TNFD Recommendations. It’s a framework that will give companies and investors alike a clear and uniform model for putting nature on the balance sheet.Tony’s worked at the helm of the TNFD since it was founded two years ago. He’s originally from Australia, he now lives and works in Europe, and he’s had a fascinating career that spans foreign affairs with DFAT, he’s worked in global finance, he’s been a consultant, and now he’s pulling it all together to convene a mix of stakeholders across the globe and across industries. It really was a thrill to speak to Tony on such a big week for the TNFD, the recommendations have only been live for a few days, and so in this conversation I did my best to offer a broad overview of the final recommendations, and practical actions to help us integrate them. And of course this episode is part of a broader series that’s exploring how we can shift our economy to be ‘nature-positive’, so be sure to subscribe so you can follow along. And a company that’s been central to the ‘nature positive’ mission is GreenCollar, which has come on board to be the sponsor of this series. GreenCollar is a developer and innovator of environmental market solutions, they recognise the power of putting a financial value on nature, as an incentive to drive sustainable land management, cleaning up our waterways and avoiding further loss of biodiversity and animal species.Since launching more than a decade ago, the company has become Australia’s largest developer of nature-based carbon credit projects, and they’re pushing the market forward with schemes like ‘Reef Credits’, which target improved water quality at The Great Barrier Reef.And their latest innovation is NaturePlus, a new form of biodiversity credits that aim to protect and restore ecosystems around the world. They’re measuring biodiversity outcomes on the ground, with a scientifically rigorous and verifiable methodology, that puts a value on natural capital, to enable investment in the conservation of high value ecosystems.Reach out to the team at www.GreenCollar.com.au to find out more. And, you can find all the show notes and links on the website at www.johntreadgold.com. And that’s where you’ll also find the Good future newsletter. Your source of insights and updates about the world of impact investing. You’ll stay up to date on trends, you’ll get access to the latest podcast episodes, and you might just get an early lead on the most exciting and high impact companies and funds.Enjoy the episode!!
On 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 all investors can take to better align their portfolios with the goals of our economy becoming ‘Nature positive’ by the end of the decade. This is the first in a series of episodes exploring the concept of ‘natural capital’, and to get us there, we have the support of a new Good Future sponsor, GreenCollar. GreenCollar is a developer and innovator of environmental market solutions, they recognise the power of putting a financial value on nature, as an incentive to drive sustainable land management, cleaning up our waterways and avoiding further loss of biodiversity and animal species.Since launching more than a decade ago, the company has become Australia’s largest developer of nature-based carbon credit projects, and they’re pushing the market forward with schemes like ‘Reef Credits’, which target improved water quality at The Great Barrier Reef.And their latest innovation is NaturePlus, a new form of biodiversity credits that aim to protect and restore ecosystems around the world. Reach out to the team at GreenCollar.com.au to find out more. You can find all the show notes and links on the website at johntreadgold.com. And that’s where you’ll also find the Good future newsletter. Your source of insights and updates about the world of sustainable investing. You’ll stay up to date on trends, you’ll get access to the latest podcast episodes, and you might just get an early lead on the most exciting and high impact companies and funds.Enjoy the episode!
We’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 Jodi York is Chief Impact Officer, she joined the team in 2020. She’s originally from San Francisco and she found herself in Melbourne via a stint in New Zealand.These two are the ideal guests for this, the third episode in my podcast series exploring the current inflection point that’s seeing impact measurement and management frameworks harmonise and consolidate and for investors that means it’s now easier than ever to use impact principles when allocating capital.Kilara has recently published its inaugural impact report, and we’ll dig into the very progressive models they used to compare their impact performance to a global baseline. As well as the impact hurdle that commits the firm to reduce C02e emissions by 15%, with a hit to the firm’s carry if they don’t achieve it.This was a really great conversation, packed full of practical insights about leading impact practice in Australia. And to go even deeper on the topic: this episode will be part of my IMM Special Report that’s coming soon, so sign up to my mailing list at www.Johntreadgold.com, so you don’t miss it. A quick disclaimer, nothing in this podcast is financial advice. Please do seek your own professional advice before making investment decisions.Enjoy!
In 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 the world’s leading impact players, and as a consultant she gets to ‘look under the hood’ of all sorts of investors that are all at different stages of their impact journey.
She offers lots of great insights in this conversation, helping us understand how various impact frameworks fit together, the importance of being guided by a central strategy, as well as her hopes for the emergence of more reliable impact data to help us move beyond rhetoric and to drive better impact performance.
This was the second episode in my series of discussions exploring the current state of Impact Measurement and Management, and how the harmonisation of leading frameworks represents a powerful inflection point.
I’ll pull all of the key insights together into a special report that will be released in due time.
To be sure you don’t miss it, sign up to my newsletter on my website www.johntreadgold.com that's where you’ll find the show notes, as well as more details about me and my business.
Enjoy the episode!
We 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 Global Impact Investment Network), and she’s had long experience with impact reporting, both at the GIIN, which is a pivotal player in developing these impact measurement and management systems.
In this episode Dean explains both the origins and the utility of the leading frameworks that the GIIN manages. But we also explore the broader alphabet soup of frameworks, standards and principles that are out there.
And, on this important topic, I want to take the research further. So I’m going to take the insights from this episode with Dean, and from the next few episodes with other leading practitioners, and pull it all together into a special report.
It’ll have input from global leaders in the space, with case-studies highlighting leading practice in the market.
It should be out soon, but if you don’t want to miss it sign up for my newsletter, and you’ll get it in your inbox as soon as it’s released.
You can sign-up on my website at www.johntreadgold.com and of course that’s where you’ll find all the show notes from the podcast, and all my other various writings and work.
Enjoy!
If 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 Impact Taskforce, and she has her ear to the ground on the trends and innovations in this rapidly developing world of impact finance.
For all the show notes jump on to my website at www.johntreadgold.com And if you’d like to leave a review, iTunes is the best place for that, because it helps more people find the show.
Enjoy
This 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 and understand the opportunities and challenges he’s seeing to drive positive change, through business and innovation.
Now this is a different format for me, so please do let me know what you think. I’m always open to feedback, so feel free to send me an email, all the details are on my website at www.johntreadgold.com.
I’m really eager to hear from you all, you can also reach out to me on my personal LinkedIn page, as well as the Good Future Instagram account.
Enjoy!
This 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 investment decisions can have an impact.
Reece found his way to WWF as a campaigner, but he knew all too well the challenge of raising awareness as the world has grown noisier, as well as raising money when people have so many worthy causes in front of them.
Like all good startup founders, he made a pivot, and helped launch Panda Labs, WWF’s impact accelerator program. Since them they’ve seeded and grown enterprises like OpenSC, a supply chain platform that tracks food sources on the blockchain.
And more recently, the business ImpactIO, which brings people together around a central challenge, and then links project leaders, with both supporters and investors.
Their most recent Challenge is called Innovate to Regenerate and it’s a partnership with Damon Gameau who has released a new short film, all about bringing people together to Regenerate Australia. Now I’m sure you’d hear Reece talk about it, so let’s get into it.
All the links and show notes are on my website at www.johntreadgold.com, and if you’d like to leave a review, which would be greatly appreciated, you can do that over on Apple podcasts.
Alright here’s my conversation, with Reece Proudfoot, here we go!
Rachel 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 their analysis.
When we dug into Rachel’s background it becomes clear why she’s a great fit for this new role. And we discussed the skills that are most useful if you’re trying to shift your career towards ESG and the new world of sustainable finance.
Have a listen, I really enjoyed this one. You can find all the links and show notes on my website at www.johntreadgold.com
Enjoy my conversation with Rachel Halpern.
Liza 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 they’re expanding their impact investment footprint.
I spoke to Liza about all these topics and more. She was generous in helping us understand her investment and analysis approach, as well as her philosophical view of using investment capital to drive change.
We also dug into how Aware Super works with outside fund managers. We discussed the criteria they look for in terms of ESG and sustainability, and their plans to bring more of it in-house.
And, a small update on some of the numbers mentioned in the conversation. When we discuss Aware’s Impact investment portfolio the current status is 14 assets, valued at $2.9 billion.
I really enjoyed this one: I hope it offers insights to both the retail crowd, who are looking for a super fund that’s aligned with their values, as well as institutional investors who are keen to understand what Aware Super looks for in their ESG mandates.
You can find all the links and show notes on my website at… www.johntreadgold.com
Enjoy
Sally 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 bringing the hugely influential Bridges Fund Management to Australia. They’re already raising their first private equity fund, and running the impact ruler over companies poised for growth.
Bridges was originally founded, in the UK, by Sir Ronald Cohen and Michelle Giddens, they’ve both been guests on the show previously, so you can wind back and hear more about their journeys and the work they do.
So let’s get into it.
You can find all the show notes on my website at www.Johntreadgold.com, and, if you enjoy this one please do jump onto Apple Music and leave me a review, because that will help more people find the show.
Enjoy!
This 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 thinker about companies and their impact on the world.
We go beyond talking about metrics and frameworks, to explore the nature of the companies that are leaders in the space. And, when it came to the prickly issue of additionality, the discussion went deep, Seb has some very clear views on the issue.
And, I’d like to introduce you to the sponsor of this series and that’s, the ACCR, the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility. The ACCR engages with companies as a shareholder, advocating for them to improve their environmental and social practices, and in the process make the company more sustainable.
You can get all the show notes at www.johntreadgold.com
Enjoy
We’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 analysis skills to measuring impact and driving positive change.
Melior certainly focus on identifying the most high impact companies in Australia, but they also appreciate the importance of leading large, well-known companies in their transition towards impact, in adopting renewable energy, and re-aligning their corporate purpose beyond the narrow metrics… of financial reports, and towards broader societal outcomes.
The sponsor of this series is ACCR, the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility. The ACCR engages with companies as a shareholder, advocating for them to improve their environmental and social practices, and in the process make the company more sustainable. It’s no easy feat, but through a modest holding of shares, and with the help of a high-performing team, they put forward shareholder resolutions that focus on positive social and environmental outcomes.
They’re a group of pragmatic lawyers and finance experts, and by utilising shareholder resolutions, they approach some of Australia’s biggest companies in a forum they can’t ignore.
Now to put a resolution forward, at least 100 shareholders in a company must come together. So, if you hold shares in ASX-listed companies and want to be involved in holding them to account on their environmental and social impacts, then let ACCR know about it. Head to www.accr.org.au/shareholders to get involved.
They’re independent, not-for-profit and they’re taking action for more sustainable businesses in Australia.
Alright, let’s get going, here’s my conversation, with Timothy King.
Enjoy
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.
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 examining the market, and indeed the complete supply chain that surrounds the problem they hope the company is working to solve.
They use the problem as the baseline, and work to find the organisations that are best positioned to solve it.
Tim is really passionate about this stuff, and I hope you get as much out of this conversation as I did.
I’d also like to introduce you to the sponsor of this series and that’s, the ACCR, the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility. The ACCR engages with companies as a shareholder, advocating for them to improve their environmental and social practices, and in the process make the company more sustainable. It’s no easy feat, but through a modest holding of shares, and with the help of a high-performing team, they put forward shareholder resolutions that focus on positive social and environmental outcomes.
They’re a group of pragmatic lawyers and finance experts, and by utilising shareholder resolutions, they approach some of Australia’s biggest companies in a forum they can’t ignore.
Head to www.accr.org.au/shareholders to get involved.
Now Tim was kind enough to go into a lot of detail about his approach, and so I do need to emphasise that, as always, nothing in this podcast is financial advice. Please do seek your own professional advice before making investment decisions.
All the show notes are at www.johntreadgold.com
Enjoy
This 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 equities management in Australia, but it’s launching his own equities fund that I feel he’s found his groove. The firm is based in Sydney and they focus solely on the Australian Stock Exchange, they’re doing pioneering work in identifying high-impact companies, while also engaging with them to do even better.
So much so that they’re the first Australian listed equity product to be certified as ‘impact’ under RIAA’s updated RI Certification, assessment framework.
But First, I’d like to introduce you to the sponsor of this series and that’s, the ACCR, the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility. The ACCR engages with companies as a shareholder, advocating for them to improve their environmental and social practices, and in the process make the company more sustainable. It’s no easy feat, but through a modest holding of shares, and with the help of a high-performing team, they put forward shareholder resolutions that focus on positive social and environmental outcomes.
They’re a group of pragmatic lawyers and finance experts, and by utilising shareholder resolutions, they approach some of Australia’s biggest companies in a forum they can’t ignore.
Now to put a resolution forward, at least 100 shareholders in a company must come together. So, if you hold shares in ASX-listed companies and want to be involved in holding them to account on their environmental and social impacts, then let ACCR know about it. Head to www.accr.org.au/shareholders to get involved.
They’re independent, not-for-profit and they’re taking action for more sustainable businesses in Australia.
I really enjoyed this conversation, and I hope you get a lot of out of it. We dive deep into Kerry’s investment approach, and so I do need to emphasise that, as always, nothing in this podcast is financial advice. Please do seek your own professional advice before making investment decisions. Catch the full disclaimer at the end of the episode.
Enjoy
Danny 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… be more human.
To share a line from a previous guest, it’s about recognising we live in an ecology, rather than an economy.
We covered a lot in this wide-ranging conversation, but most exciting was the news that Danny dropped on us, that he’s launching a new impact investment firm.
It’s called Sentient. It will sit alongside IIG, but it will be a very different beast entirely.
It’s an exciting new concept, and it follows on from the tough year that Danny had in 2020, bother personally and professionally.
You can find all the show notes on my website at www.Johntreadgold.com.
Enjoy!
My 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 into it.
You can find all the show notes on my website at www.Johntreadgold.com and, if you enjoy this one please do jump onto Apple Music and leave me a review, because that will help more people find the show.
Enjoy!
On 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 venture capital, and of course these are two asset classes that are ideally suited to an impact approach. Vicky explained some of the nuance of their strategies, as well as how they’ve managed to engage with institutional investors like super funds.
I also took the opportunity to dig a little deeper into the mindset that Vicky brings to impact investing, and there’s a really valuable section in there where Vicky maps out a key piece of advice that she offers to her CEO coaching clients to help them push past imposter syndrome and perform at their peak.
You can get all the show notes on my website at www.Johntreadgold.com
Also, you can leave me a review on Apple Podcasts, because that’s the best way to get the show out to more people.
Enjoy!
On 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 independent verification comes in. When the IFC launched the Operating Principles for Impact Management, they were well aware of this, and one of their 9 principles is actually a requirement for investors to undergo third-party verification.
And so far, the large bulk of the signatories to the Impact Principles have gone to BlueMark for their impact audit.
And with this rich source of impact data, Christina and her team have aggregated the results, and they’ve begun work on a Benchmark, for what the best Impact Investment methodologies look like and where there’s area for improvement.
You can find all the show notes on my website at www.johntreadgold.com
Enjoy
My 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 meaning, and how we can better assess the long-term prospects and impacts of publicly listed companies.
We went deep into the financial models, but also the philosophy of sustainability, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
All the show notes are on my website at www.johntreadgold.com
Enjoy
On 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 strength and frailty that makes all the difference.
All the show notes are on my website at www.johntreadgold.com
And if you had any feelings about this one, leave a review on iTunes, and that might just help other people find the show.
Enjoy
It’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 deal, it’s a partnership, that will see the state-owned investment company commit half a billion dollars to be deployed as the cornerstone investment for a range of Leapfrog’s future funds.
You can find all the show notes on my website at www.johntreadgold.com
And if you’d like to leave a review, you do that in the apple podcast app, or wherever you listen.
Enjoy!
Today’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 on the Steering Committee of the Climate Action 100+ network.
I’ve invited all sorts of investors and business leaders on this show, but after speaking with Andrew I realise I’ve missed the perspective of super funds, and so I’m going to work hard to include more voices form these big, influential organisations.
So let’s dive in. Show notes are at wwwjohntreadgold.com
Plus, you can also sign up for my newsletter. It’s a round-up of the most interesting news covering sustainable investment, and the evolution of finance. And it’s a good way to stay up to date on the latest podcast episodes.
Enjoy!
Amid 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 finance sector can learn from not-for-profits, and vice versa.
As the finance sector discovers its power to make positive change, so too are charities recognising that financial stability requires a diversity of funding sources.
But I want to led Paul do the talking, so please enjoy. All the show notes are on my web site at www.johntreadgold.com Enjoy!
How 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 changes.
With a legal background, Brynn gets to the heart of how corporate democracy works, or doesn’t work, and she rallies like-minded groups who are all driven by a shared goal; whether that be reducing climate risk, improving labor standards, or demanding greater transparency. It’s shareholder advocacy, founded on solid legal footings.
You can find all the show-notes and links on my web site at www.johntreadgold.com
And if you want to leave a review, itunes is the best place, or you can do it directly through the Apple podcast app.
Enjoy!
Today 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 links are on my website at www.Johntreadgold.com
If you have any comments shoot me an email, or leave a review on itunes.
Enjoy
My 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 diplomat. He then shifted to working as an economist for the World bank. He did a PHD at Harvard, and eventually he realised that it was in the world of finance that he could drive the most change.
I hope you enjoy this conversation, it’s offers some deep insights into the cutting edge thinking around how to have impact in public markets, but also, I asked Eric about how Larry Fink’s highly influential letters have been translated into action across their range of portfolios and across their investment policies.
Please do let me know what you think. Feel free to leave a review or comment on iTunes.
Plus, you can find all the show notes on my website, at www.johntreadgold.com
Enjoy!
My 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, going back a few years now, Ben was the co-author of the seminal book titled, The Impact Investor: Lessons in Leadership and Strategy for Collaborative Capitalism. His co-authors were Jed Emerson and Cathy Clark who have both been on the podcast previously, so it was good to have Ben on the show, to add the final piece to the puzzle.
As usual all the show notes are on my website at www.Johntreadgold.com, and please send through any questions or comments.
Enjoy
Matt 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-side.
Have a listen, and let me know your thoughts.
All the show-notes are on my website at www.Johntreadgold.com, feel free to send through any comments, or leave a review on iTunes.
And I must thank Carly from the Responsible Investment Association of Australia (aka RIAA) she made the introductions for me, and the organisation continues to be a great supporter of the show.
RIAA has over 300 members managing more than $9 trillion in assets globally, they’re the largest network of people and organisations engaged in responsible, ethical and impact investing across Australia and New Zealand.
Head to www.ResponsibleInvestment.org to find out more. Enjoy the show.
My 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 rebuilding. Amit was generous with the insights about his own background, as much as he was about how he sees the future evolution of this concept of impact, in all its forms.
But enough from me, let’s dive in.
You can find all the show-notes on my website, at www.JohnTreadgold.com, and if you have any feedback or comments, don’t hesitate to send me a message. I’m always keen to hear from my listeners.
Enjoy
Jacqueline 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 enterprises across Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and the United States. These companies have leveraged an additional $611 million of invested funds, and brought basic services like affordable education, health care, clean water, energy and sanitation to more than 308 million people. Now that’s impact.
Jacqueline really is a force of nature, she has a heart of gold, but she also has a steely focus on how to get a deal across the line. And I feel I’ve found a kindred spirit in Jacqueline, we’re both translators, straddling the worlds of finance and social development, trying our best to tell the stories of hope in a world that’s looking more chaotic by the day.
I really hope you enjoy this one as much as I did. There’s so many really valuable insights here, especially towards the end when Jacqueline offers advice on how we can all shift our careers to have more purpose.
All the show notes are at www.johntreadgold.com Enjoy!
On 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 impact report, so it was useful to understand how they’re starting out, where they hope to get to, and down the track we can check-in and get an update on progress.
So let’s dive in.
For all the show-notes and links you can go to my website at www.johntreadgold.com
And, if you’d like to help spread the word about the show, please leave a review on itunes, it would be much appreciated.
And someone else who’s helping spread the message is RIAA, that’s the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia. They have over 300 members managing more than $9 trillion in assets globally. They do great work and they’ve come on board to help support a series of upcoming episodes featuring the leading names in responsible investing.
Head to www.ResponsibleInvestment.org to find out all about it.
Enjoy
Michael 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 book in the show notes, at www.Johntreadgold.com and that’s where you’ll also find the whole back catalogue of previous episodes if you want to hear from more impact leaders.
Enjoy!
My 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 this conversation for a long time. And right now, is a perfect moment to speak with Ronnie, partly because he’s published a book all about impact, but also, because of the revolutionary work he’s done in the contributing to the concept of Impact Weighted Accounts. It takes transparency to a new level and it has the potential to change the very foundations of accounting that we’ve depended on for decades.
But we didn’t just talk about impact measurement, I wanted to know about the pivotal moments of Ronnie’s life when he left Egypt as a boy, to travel to England, and how that shaped his mindset. As well as his time at Oxford, Harvard, and the many stages of his career in finance. I got so much out of this one, and I hope you do too.
Now for all the show-notes and links, jump onto my website at www.Johntreadgold.com
And, you can leave us a review on iTunes, because that helps to spread the message of the show.
And someone else who’s helping spread the message is RIAA, that’s the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia. They have over 300 members managing more than $9 trillion in assets globally, they’re the largest network of people and organisations engaged in responsible, ethical and impact investing across Australia and New Zealand. They do great work and they’ve come on board to help support a series of upcoming episodes featuring the leading names in responsible investing.
Head to www.ResponsibleInvestment.org to find out more.
Enjoy the show
Rachel 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. And today’s chat was no different. I really hope you enjoy it.
For all the show-notes and links, jump onto my website at www.Johntreadgold.com
And, you can leave us a review on iTunes, because that helps to spread the message of the show.
And someone else who’s helping spread the message is RIAA, that’s the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia. They have over 300 members managing more than $9 trillion in assets globally, they’re the largest network of people and organisations engaged in responsible, ethical and impact investing across Australia and New Zealand. They do great work and they’ve come on board to help support a series of upcoming episodes featuring the leading names in responsible investing.
Head to www.ResponsibleInvestment.org to find out all about it.
Enjoy the show!
Michael 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 the end of 2019 and final recommendations were due to be released in the middle 0f 2020. But covid-19 put a spanner in the works, and the report’s been delayed. So, with lots of my listeners eager to hear about progress, I thought now would be a great time to invite Michael onto the show.
As usual all the show notes are on my website at www.Johntreadgold.com
Enjoy
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 explanations I’ve heard for the origins and the impacts of the debt-bomb that’s been building ever since Alan Greenspan’s infamous Put, that began pumping money into the financial system, in response to the 1987 stock market crash.
And while the debt continues to grow today, of course the big question is, when will the music stop?
We go deep on this episode. We look at the History of China, it’s missed opportunities to globalize many centuries ago, and its rapid rise in the new information age.
And, I quiz Viktor about whether our addiction to economic growth is compatible with a healthy environment. It seems clear that the financialisation of our world means we’ve pushed beyond the carrying capacity of our eco-system. So, can we step away from the brink, before it’s too late?
All the show notes are on my website at www.johntreadgold.com, plus, a long list of book recommendations from Viktor.
Enjoy!
I 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 Masters in Development, and his research is focused on social entrepreneurship.
Alex was previously CEO of the Ākina Foundation in New Zealand, and he serves on the Board of B-Lab Australia and New Zealand.
I really enjoyed this conversation, these two are clearly a great team, with complimentary skill-sets and a united vision for what they hope the Yunus Centre can achieve.
All the papers and articles are at: www.Johntreadgold.com
And if you feel the urge, please leave a review on iTunes, because it helps more people find the show.
Enjoy!
John 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 positive change.
In this episode, we discussed: • The seismic shifts occurring in 2020, and the prospects for the decade to be one of huge change, “The exponential decade”. • Why incumbent industries resist change, even when they can foresee their own demise. • The importance of government to legislate for clean-energy. • And the sad reality that government’s may need to pay big dollars to keep fossil fuels in the ground (akin to how the slave-trade was ended). • Change comes from the edge of systems, disruptors aren’t going to be found in big-multi-national companies. • Is the human brain capable of dealing with a challenge like climate change? Or should we use artificial intelligence to take-over where we have failed? • John’s early years, and how he quit economics to pursue environmental management. • His work in corporate sustainability, and his role as ‘the grit in the oyster’, to drive change in organisations, where there are incentives to stick with the status-quo. • The power of science-fiction to predict the future. And the rise of Chinese sci-fi as the most prescient looking-glass.
Enjoy, and be sure to let me know your thoughts over at www.johntreadgold.com
There’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 performance, as well as forwards, laying out expectations of the country’s most progressive investors.
Simon’s no stranger to the podcast, he’s been on before discussing his role as co-chair of the Australia Sustainable Finance Initiative. And he was very generous to jump on without much notice.
Have a listen, and then jump onto the website at www.johntreadgold.com to find a link to the report.
Enjoy!
Bronwyn 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 influencer. She speaks with confidence and conviction, she’s backed up by piles of research and she’s isn’t easily intimidated. She’s honed her pitch in board rooms, at the UN and even on the TedX stage.
Bronwyn knows well the semantic gymnastics that can be played to dodge questions about how tobacco companies can make it into ESG funds. But this is not an issue that can be dealt with through engagement, there’s no healthy dose of smoking.
And please note that this episode was recorded on the 4th of March, was well before the corona virus restrictions were in force. It would be the last time I was able to record in the studio. Hopefully, we’ll be back in there soon.
For all the show notes, go to www.johntreadgold.com
Enjoy!
I’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 $300 million today.
Phil’s the real deal. In the lead-up to the GFC he was deep in the world of finance, working in securitisation, and so he saw all too clearly the greed and excess that built into a debt bubble, that was always going to blow up.
Phil saw the light and moved over to Australian ethical in 2009 where he helped build and shape an ethical approach to finance in Australia. He weathered the GFC, but with excellent timing, he stood down last year, and so avoided being a CEO amid a global health pandemic. That’s not to say he’s not been busy. We discussed his work with Beyond Zero Emissions, as well as his work with startups. And Phil will always be a strong advocate for building an ethical path for finance, for battling climate change and empowering people to invest in line with their values.
The show notes are all on my web site at www.johntreadgold.com And if you’re keen to help spread the word, please leave a review on itunes. It’ll only take you 30 seconds, and it really does help spread the word.
Enjoy!
Remy 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 want to look at how we define sustainable companies and how they’ve fared in the market crash brought on by the corona virus.
Remy is a wealth of information and insights about the evolution of ESG investing. We don’t shy away from digging into the more technical details about sustainable investing frameworks, and both the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
I really learned a lot in this one. Remy pulled me up on a number of assumptions that I’d made. and It was really valuable to get a broader view into how we can extend the adoption of the ESG approach, and expand the breadth of metrics we use to gauge the performance of the companies we invest in.
The show notes are on my website at www.Johntreadgold.com, and be sure to head over to my LinkedIn page to continue the discussion.
Enjoy!
Roger 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, to get insights from experts who are at the coal-face, but also, to explore how sustainable investments and ESG funds have performed after a decade of strong returns.
Now Roger shared his thoughts on the corona virus and its impacts. We dug into the government’s response, as well as how small businesses and the hospitality industry can be helped through this crisis.
I also wanted to go deep on the period since the GFC of 2009 when interest rates were cut to zero. Since then interest rates and wage growth have stayed low. While asset prices have headed to record highs, and I wanted to know why. But also, where we go next, as central banks around the world have fired all their ammunition, and now have very few options to stimulate the economy.
The show notes are on my website at www.johntreadgold.com
Enjoy
Alex 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 reaction that we’ve seen from the public, the government and markets, to the corona crisis.
We talked about the impacts ETF’s have had on investing over the past decade, and also, how resilient they’ve proved to be in a major correction.
Plus the decision making process for removing companies that don’t live up to their ethical and sustainability standards.
All the show notes are at www.johntreadgold.com
Enjoy!
Today 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 have resilience and adaptability at their core.
They’re agile, because they have to be in such a competitive industry, but that works well in a health crisis, amid a pandemic, where staff can shift to work online, and the wisdom of the crowd can be distilled to solve big problems.
All the show notes are on my website at www.Johntreadgold.com
Enjoy!
Zali 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 Federal member for Warringah, she’s independent so she’s not beholden to any party.
Zali is a lawyer, but before that she was in fact an Olympic skier. In Nagano she won a bronze medal, Australia’s first individual winter Olympic medal.
She’s clearly no stranger to winning, but she may still have her biggest challenge ahead of her. You see, Zali is taking a new Bill to parliament, it’s called the Climate Change Bill.
This conversation was originally organised as part of the RIAA Conference, that’s the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia. But, like so many other events, it was postponed in the wake of the covid-19 crisis.
Zali talked a little about how her community is handling the Corona virus, as well as how frustrated she is by the conduct of some commentators.
We talked about the need to address climate change after a lost decade of political inaction, and she explained that this issue has increasing support from members on both sides of the parliament, from business, land holders and greenies alike.
This is about cleaning up our environment, but it’s also about catching-up, across innovation, renewable power, productivity and efficiency. Things that are already proving to define this new decade.
All the show notes are on my website www.Johntreadgold.com Enjoy
It'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 miss, and the case studies around the businesses they’ve supported offer powerful inspiration for how much value there is in building the entrepreneurial potential within low income markets.
All the show notes and links are on the website: www.johntreadgold.com
And, please leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoy the show.
Thank you!
Eric 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 history of microfinance and we then wound back to Eric’s early days when he was working in finance in the US at Salomon Brothers, this is the Wall street firm was the subject of Michael Lewis’s first book, Liar’s Poker, and it was the prequel to the book The Big Short. Eric ended up at Salomon Brothers only a few years after Liar’s poker was published and we discussed this timeline, the evolution of finance towards the Global Financial Crisis and the new era of conscious capitalism that I’m interested in, and which this podcast is all about.
The show notes are on the website at www.johntreadgold.com. And you can continue the conversation on Twitter and Instagram. Enjoy!
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 gentrification and urban renewal is rapidly changing the face of the city and threatens to smother the cultural value that makes it so special.
Ashara is in Sydney for the Impact Investment Summit so there’s another opportunity for people to experience Ahara’s energy and wisdom.
You can check out the website at www. johntreadgold.com for all the show notes.
Today’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 Newborough and Sir Ronald Cohen, she has more than 25 years experience in sustainable and impact investing and, as she explains, she began to see the power of using capital markets to solve social problems in her formative years when she was working in development finance for the World Bank and the IFC.
I launched this podcast a little over a year ago, and I did it with the support of the Impact Summit, so it’s great to be telling some of their stories. And we’ve got a few more guests from the Summit lined-up to be on the show in coming few weeks, so do stay tuned for that.
All the show notes are over on my website at www.johntreadgold.com, and if you want to keep the conversation going, find me on Twitter @mrtreadgold
Kylie 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 Investment Officer of Australian Impact Investments. She’s also a venture partner at the Giant Leap Fund, Australia’s first venture capital fund that is 100% impact focussed.
She’s the co-founder and managing director of Unitus Capital. And she also works with Patamar Capital on their Investing in Women initiative.
We went wide but we also went deep on this one. I think we spent as much time talking outside of the recording as we did with the mics turned on. So I’ll certainly have to get Kylie back in the studio to share some more of those stories.
Dave 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 having, and how he sees the sector evolving. He also tells us about the changes that the Royal Commission is bringing to the world of financial advice with both the pros and the cons for the end consumer.
All the notes are on my website at www.Johntreadgold.com
Plus you can follow along on Facebook and Instagram.
Enjoy
Simon 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 sanitation services, infrastructure and education to millions of people all over the world.
As Simon explains, he wanted to find a way to raise money for worthwhile causes, but he wanted to find a way that was more sustainable than relying on donations and grants.
At the same time it brings awareness of the issue right into our homes. And arguably into the smallest, and most intimate of rooms in our houses. With the colourful packaging telling a story, and reminding us how lucky we are to have a loo of our own.
For all the links check out www.johntreadgold.com
Enjoy!
Rosemary 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 on Impact Investment.
She’s a senior advisor to the UNDP’s SDG Impact project. All the links are at www.johntreadgold.com
If you want to keep the conversation going please follow along on Instagram and facebook.
And if you’re an Apple user I’d love it if you would leave us a review, because that’s the best way to help other people find the show.
Enjoy!
Antony 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 his perspective on the change the sector has experienced in the past decade.
The show notes are on the website at www.johntreadgold.com
And please continue the conversation on twitter and Instagram.
Enjoy!
Deb 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
Cathy 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 consider on all of their stakeholders, not just their shareholders.
I hope you’re enjoying these bite-size conversations from the conference, please do let me know your thoughts at www.johntreadgold.com
And please do subscribe on your podcast app, so you don’t miss any of my other guests.
Sasha 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, and instead, to making a data offer to those companies.
60 Decibels uses mobile phones to speak directly to customers to find out what matters most to them.
This was another of my SOCAP chats and I hope you enjoy the insights as much as I did.
For all the stories, head to www.johntreadgold.com
I 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 episode marks the first anniversary of the Good Future podcast! I’m enjoying the ride so far, it’s taken a lot of work, but it’s all been worth it to speak to the amazing guests that have agreed to come on board and share their stories.
But I am trying to keep this short. I’ll be releasing a series of these super-short, bite-size episodes over the coming week so do hit subscribe on iTunes or your chosen podcast player to make sure you don’t miss any of the episodes.
And follow-along on the website: www.johntreadgold.com
Enjoy!
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 things digital media.
Rachel mason-Nunn is the host of the Good Will Hunters podcast and she has a special place in the heart and the origins of this show, so stay tuned for that section.
I also spoke to Glen James who is flat-out managing the success of his show, My Millennial Money. Where he helps this much-maligned generation of young-adults understand personal finance. He does it with a dose of humour and it’s clear there’s plenty of demand for financial advice without the jargon.
And Tommy Jackett. This guy is a content producing dynamo and his show, which is aptly titled The Daily Talk Show, is Australia’s only podcast that releases a show every day of the week. It’s a mammoth effort for him and his podcast, but he’s committed, and he’s learned a lot about the unique nature of podcasting and how to keep an audience engaged.
I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.
Either way, let me know by leaving a comment or a review. And you can find links to all the shows I mentioned by heading over to my website, at www.johntreadgold.com
Radek 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 knows how to manage a dynamic organisation, but as I did research for this chat, and after speaking to people who work with him, it became clear that at the core of Radek’s power is his ability to nurture the people around him, and to promote culture, above all else.
And there’s ample proof in the fact that so many of Radek’s colleagues from his previous role have moved over to help him build his next venture.
Find links and contact details at www.johntreadgold.com
Enjoy!
The 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 of roles since 2014, she’s also worked at Impact Assets helping them develop their ImpactAsset50 list of impact investors. And she talks about her journey from being an arts major to finding her feet in the world of finance.
Now, hopefully my conversation with Lindsay gets you excited for the conference, I’ll be heading over, at the end of October, and if you are too please do reach out so we can catch up.
And if not, stay tuned because I’ll be bringing back a whole swag of great interviews and there’ll be lots of coverage on Instagram and Twitter.
All the details and links are on my website at www.Johntreadgold.com
Enjoy!
Simon 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 activity on Twitter, calling our politicians to account, he doesn’t regress to complaining about burning fossil fuels, instead, he focusses on the opportunities, on the efficiencies of renewable power, and the huge market for our technology, and even for sending the power to our neighbours in Asia.
This was a great chat, we’re long overdue to have a renewable power expert on the podcast. And Simon was generous with his insights, he was slow and patient in explaining the complexities of a power grid and the challenges of running an efficient market.
All the links are over at www.johntreagold.com
Let me know what you think!
Enjoy
Berry 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 to think really deeply about the issues that are core to this podcast, and while the result was cathartic for me, I hope there’s lessons in there for you too.
As always you can find the show-notes on my website at www.Johntreadgold.com
And if you have a moment please do leave me a review on iTunes.
Enjoy!
I 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 was lucky enough to get some time to ask some questions of my own.
It was Paul’s writing in the Stanford Social Innovation Review that I first came across his work. His definitions and dissection of impact investing helped to strike a path for the sector’s development. And he continues to fuel debate with his unapologetic views on what it means to have genuine, enduring impact.
If you enjoyed it leave me a review on iTunes.
And for all the links you can head to the website at www.johntreadgold.com
You’ll also find all the links to social media over there as well.
Enjoy!
Andrew 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 world of impact investing so many years ago, I’ve been interested in Leapfrog Investments. It has all the sophistication of the major Private Equity companies, but it’s led with empathy and inclusiveness at its core.
This focus allowed Leapfrog to identify opportunities in emerging markets, where poverty was a problem, but where a fresh and agile business model has proved to be a good solution.
Have a listen, if you have some feelings please share them on iTunes by leaving a review.
Also, all the links and book recommendations are on the website, www.johntreagold.com
Enjoy!
Mark 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 the links at www.johntreadgold.com
And, to get this podcast out to as many people as possible, please leave us a review on iTunes.
Enjoy!
Today’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 Altiorem and it’s a cross between a library, a database and a search engine for all things related to sustainable investing.
You can find all the links and details from today’s show on the website at Johntreadgold.com/goodfuturepodcast
Anna 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 dynamic workplace. She worked at SVA and a number of other consulting firms, and as she began to appreciate the power of businesses to make a genuine change in Australia, she soon discovered the B Corp movement.
I really enjoyed this chat with Anna. She confident and passionate and she’s making a big impact here in Australia.
If you like what you’re hearing, please give us a review on iTunes. And for all the show notes and insights, check out the website www.johntreadgold.com/goodfuturepodcast
Enjoy!
Claire 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 lessons she learned along the way, but also about how she adapted her skills and experience earned at ANZ, to help steer the growth of World Vision.
It’s interesting to hear Claire describe World Vision as a business, and donors as investors. It shares the language we use a lot on this podcast, language of impact investing, and of impact measurement.
I was keen to hear more about the finance side of things. Claire explained there’s a World Vision Impact Bond on the way, payment systems are going decidedly digital and they’re working with DFAT to help fund entrepreneurs who are stuck, in “the missing middle”.
If you like what you’re hearing, please give us a review on iTunes.
And for all the show notes and insights, check out the website www.johntreadgold.com/goodfuturepodcast
Enjoy!
Adam 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 shake things up. I enjoyed this one, and I hope you do to.
If you want more info head over to the podcast website at www.Johntreadgold.com/goodfuturepodcast
What 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 are used to suck carbon out of the atmosphere, where fields of sea-weed are grown in the ocean to feed us, and where small scale solar power systems can help less-developed communities leapfrog the need for complex, centralised power grids and instead harvest power from the sun and sell the excess to their neighbours.
The vital point here is that this isn’t fantasy, this is technology that’s already online, and if we embrace it, then not only can we help shift towards a renewable and circular economy, but the businesses that lead the way, the pioneers, well they’re looking like pretty damn savvy long-term investments.
It was great to have Damon in the Studio at Hub Australia in Sydney. You’ll be hard pressed to find a bigger advocate for a shift towards sustainability than Damon. He’s working tirelessly to spread the message and it’s all well aligned with what we’re trying to do here at Good Future.
Final all the show-notes at www.johntreadgold.com
You’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 Social, and in my conversation today we dig into the organisation’s path towards growth, why impact measurement is more important than ever, for all organisations, and the pro’s and cons of using surveys to gather data.
I also took the opportunity to ask how I might put together a questionnaire for YOU! my listeners! That’s right I’m keen to get some insights about why you listen, what you like and dislike, and maybe even start to measure the impact that I’m having as the Good Future podcast grows and evolves.
So here it is, my survey, to give you the chance to tell me your thoughts, and let me know the impact the podcast is having on you.
Plus! One lucky survey-participant will win a book from those recommended by my guests.
https://www.mysurveygizmo.com/s3/5003934/Listener-insights-Good-Future-Podcast
You can also find it at johntreadgold.com
Enjoy!
Elyse 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 working in the social sector. And she talks about the genesis of SVA when the team saw an opportunity, in the collapse of the ABC-Learning child-care business, to refashion its assets into a social enterprise that today is doing well in the form of Goodstart Early Learning.
This is a great episode for anyone confused about Social Impact Bonds and their unique way of bringing together government funding, investors and service providers. But for those in the sector, Elyse has some really valuable philosophies about the mission and the potential for social finance going forward.
All the links and show-notes can be found at Johntreadgold.com/goodfuturepodcast
And if you feel the urge, please do leave a comment or a review on iTunes.
Joel 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 only took me a few chapters before I knew I had to have Joel on the show.
Joel is a really sensitive and genuine guy who has an almost spiritual connection with his investments and with the communities they support. We talk about his book and what he hoped to achieve with it, but also about the many voices and perspectives that it contains. For anyone out there looking for inspiration to either start or invest in a small business that wants to shake up a less-than-ethical industry, then this is the book.
There’s a bit of finance talk in this one as Joel explains what he’s working on, but of course I’m not a financial advisor, and this ain’t financial advice. So do chat to a professional if any of this inspires you. You can jump onto the website for the show notes, at www.johntreadgold.com.
Or reach out to us on Instagram www.instagram.com/goodfuturepodcast/
Simon 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 Australia’s progress towards the 2030 emissions targets that we agreed to in Paris. But also, to capitalise on the massive economic opportunity that’s emerging in clean-energy, transport and agriculture.
Simon was eager to tell us more, he jumped on the phone with very little notice and he offered a really compelling case for betting on sustainability.
(NB. I erroneously referred to the RIAA as being limited to Australia, but it's coverage is across Australasia. Sorry Simon!)
Jump on the website for all the show-notes, at www.johntreadgold.com, and you can drop me a message or a review on iTunes, which is much appreciated because it helps other people find the podcast.
Alright, please enjoy my conversation with Simon O’Connor.
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 environmental resiliency, and to move beyond its very narrow focus of profit-maximisation.
And he weighed into the debate on whether investors in public markets can influence the companies they buy, he didn’t hold back. I had a ball speaking with Matthew, we could’ve gone on for hours. I just hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
And please do stay tuned till after the credits when Matthew gives us a breakdown of two radical new policy concepts coming out of the US, those being Opportunity Zones, as well as the Green New Deal. You may’ve heard of them but Matthew’s working closely on this stuff so his breakdown is really solid.
Check out the show notes on the website at www.Johntreadgold.com
Enjoy!
Seb 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 accessible to a lot of people.
Kylie 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, the new-economy and how your investment and spending decisions can have an impact.
We talk all about the forces that are driving big corporates to change and adapt, whether that be regulations or the growing force of outcry and activism from the public. We also look at the new legislation around modern slavery which is super interesting and something we should be aware of.
All the links are in the show-notes at www.Johntreadgold.com
And if you want to leave a review on iTunes I’ll be eternally grateful.
Giles 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 affordable housing.
He digs into his upbringing and the influence of his parents, as well as the time he spent at Oxford that completely changed the way he sees finance, and led directly to him setting up his business.
In this episode we did a bare-bones breakdown of ‘impact investing’. I pushed Giles to avoid the jargon and help an audience beyond those working in finance, to understand how we can direct our money to not only make a profit, but to also have a positive social impact.
There’s clearly a shift happening right now, whether it be super funds whose members are demanding they invest with long-term sustainability in mind, or with companies realising it takes more than big salaries to attract the best millennial talent, we want a sense of purpose too.
I really do hope you get as much out of this episode as I did. And I’ll be keen discuss it with you all on LinkedIn and on the Good Future Instagram page.
Drop me a review on iTunes if you liked it. And you can check out all the links and the show notes on my website, www.johntreadgold.com.
Enjoy!
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 gains, instead, he wants us to question what is the purpose of capital anyway? At the heart of it, why are we doing this. If it’s simply to alleviate our guilt for extracting profits then that’s not enough.
I’m your host John Treadgold and I’m asking the big questions about the future of sustainable business, the new-economy and how your investment decisions, no matter how big or small, can have an impact. Jed is a stalwart of the impact scene, he co-authored the first book on impact investing and he coined the concept of Blended-Value some twenty years ago. He’s lectured at Harvard, Stanford and Oxford business schools.
And I’ve always seen him as the conscience of impact investing, and perhaps even the conscience of capitalism, if his latest book is anything to go by.
I really do hope you get as much out of this episode as I did. And I’ll be keen discuss it with you all on LinkedIn and on the Good Future Instagram page.
Drop me a review on iTunes if you liked it. And you can check out all the links and the show notes on my website, www.johntreadgold.com.
Enjoy!
Everybody 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 wild ride as he’s bootstrapped Humanitix into the thriving social enterprise that it is today.
They’ve won million-dollar awards from Google, and they’ve wooed big donors like the Atlassian Foundation. But as you listen to Adam, and hear him explain the concept and their journey, it’ll all become clear why.
These guys are very good operators, they have lofty social impact goals, and while they’re using the power of technology, the real innovation is in their business model.
I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did. I pressed Adam for some more details about the 90 second pitch they crafted to win themselves the Google Impact Challenge and he offered some tips after the credits. Please leave a review or comment on iTunes so we know you're out there.
Don’t forget to check out the show notes on my website, at www.Johntreadgold.com
And you can shoot me an email with any feedback or leave me a comment on the Good Future Instagram page @goodfuturepodcast
Enjoy!
Laurie 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 about impact investing with many of my guests on this podcast, but with Laurie we go deeper. We look at the more technical financial strategies, and the vital issue of which enterprises are best suited for receiving an impact investment, and how to level the playing field between those seeking capital, and those looking to invest.
Whether you work in sustainable development, in finance or if you just want to know more about social enterprise, Laurie’s insights are super valuable. She’s a global leader in this space, a rare intellect, but she also has an uncanny ability to bring these ideas to life and make it easy to understand.
I'm your host John Treadgold, I love to hear your feedback. You can leave me a review on iTunes. Or send me an email at, john@johntreadgold.com
You can also jump onto my website at www.johntreadgold.com where you'll find short articles from each episode. Plus all the links and book recommendations.
Enjoy!
He 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 fair share of tragedy, but what stayed with him was his parents’ example in building a business and in pushing their kids to get the education they themselves missed out on.
His background of seeing his father build a business against the odds, of helping those in need in an economy where there’s no social safety nets, it all helped shape him into the leading investment advisor that he is today. It was firsthand experience of social enterprise and of microfinance, just, without the modern terminology.
In past years Simba’s been a huge help to me as I was first learning about impact investing and in this discussion I’m again really grateful for the stories and insights that he shared.
I‘d love to hear what you think, so please leave me a review on iTunes.
Or jump onto my website at www.johntreadgold.com where you'll find short articles from each episode wrapping-up the key concepts. Plus all the links and book recommendations!
Enjoy!
Kat 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 you think, so please leave me a review on iTunes. Or jump onto my website at www.johntreadgold.com where you'll find short articles from each episode wrapping-up the key concepts. Plus all the links and book recommendations!
Enjoy!
Innovation 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 physicist, it gave her a solid scientific foundation and it’s left its make on all of her work. And she spent some time as a consultant at McKinsey.
We talked about the challenges of driving change in a government department, about the huge opportunities that lie in unlocking the entrepreneurial potential of our neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region, we looked at impact investing and we dipped into how to balance family, career and productivity.
Please do enjoy this conversation with Dr Pearson, I got so much out of it.
And I’d love to hear your thoughts, please leave me a review on iTunes.
Or drop me a line on my website: johntreadgold.com
Tom 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 you have to pay to achieve truly transformational innovation. And it’s with this tool kit that he and his American co-founder launched their own platform, called StartSomeGood.
Tom explains the genesis of the company, it’s impact, and his ambitions going forward.
We talk about the struggles facing startup businesses in Australia, and the paradox that it’s far easier to get people to donate money to your business, than it is to get a loan.
This is Episode 5 of the Good Future podcast. Please leave a review or comment on iTunes so we know you're out there.
Or email me, on john@johntreadgold.com
And don't forget to subscribe!
How 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 Dutch don’t get a choice of pension fund. If you’re in the health and welfare sector, PGGM is the manager your stuck with. While in Australia, most of us have the freedom to choose our super fund, and more and more people are voting with their feet, and switching to a fund that better aligns with their social and environmental values.
Piet has a lot of energy for this stuff and it was great to dig into the challenges of measuring impact for companies who are publicly listed, as well as how much of the credit an investor should take for a company’s good work. He’s got some really valuable insights there.
Dive in, and let me know what you think.
Please consider leaving a review or comment on iTunes, so we know you're out there.
Or email your host, John Treadgold, at john@johntreadgold.com
And don't forget to subscribe!
Have 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 also do a lot of work in the Pacific; in Vanuatu, Samoa and Fiji, and that’s what our conversation focuses on today.
Anthea’s journey is diverse; she went from working for Disney, to setting up a charity in Cambodia, but that was before she decided to combine her business and branding skills with her passion for helping to build sustainable communities.
Dive in, and let me know what you think.
Please consider leaving a review or comment on iTunes, so we know you're out there.
Or email your host, John Treadgold, at john@johntreadgold.com
And don't forget to subscribe!
Last 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 advice about getting your act together and getting a little more purpose in your life. And he speaks from experience there having taken some big leaps of faith in his time.
This conversation was a really great one to have early on in the life of this podcast, Daniel is one of Australia’s leading thought leaders in this space in Australia, he’s done a huge amount to boost awareness, and this shines through in the conversation where he breaks down some complex investing concepts, making it all really accessible to those who aren’t as financially minded.
Daniel shows his skills as a story-teller and we discuss the role that story-telling has in helping people understand the power that we all have, to make a change, and to make impact.
This is Episode 2 of the Good Future podcast. We're still getting the hang of it, so we'd love some feedback.
Please leave a review or comment on iTunes so we know you're out there.
Or email your host, John Treadgold, on john@johntreadgold.com
And don't forget to subscribe!
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 setting universal principles, we dig into the different asset classes and how they’re evolving, but there’s also some really practical advice about how people who might not work in the sector, who might not even work in finance, can take a few small steps to bring more purpose to their jobs and to their lives.
This is Episode 1 of the Good Future podcast. We're still getting the hang of it, so we'd love some feedback.
Please leave a review on iTunes so we know you're out there.
Or email your host, John Treadgold, on john@johntreadgold.com
And don't forget to subscribe!