This week I had the pleasure of supporting a student writing a thesis about Impact Investments. The first question made me stumble already: Does your firm accept a trade-off between impact and financial return? While it is a common question in our industry, I think it represents a fundamentally flawed approach to the subject. The right question should be: Do you tolerate neglecting sustainable social and environmental goals for the sole focus on financial returns? It is the year 2022 and we still copy mechanically the approaches of finance textbooks where we learn about financial profit maximization and the efficient use of capital. These concepts are correct and viable on their own. They are theories explaining how to optimize financial returns. But who told us that it is OK to neglect all the other goals that make life valuable and exciting? The UN did a marvelous job in 2015 to develop 17 Sustainable Development Goals. They have since become a great tool for promotion and marketing of impact investment. Companies and organizations copy the colorful boxes with fashionable icons in their annual reports and on websites to brag about being conscious. If you look at them closer, you must acknowledge that they really are just common sense: how could you even question that there is a benefit in gender equality, clean water and energy or good health. There is no doubt that balancing numerous equally important goals does not allow to maximize one. We need to be more conscious about the real values for which we strive when making our investment and capital allocation decisions. We get spoiled easily by financial returns from companies following blitz scaling, the mantra promoted by venture capital and pushed by some technology companies. They are built on the illusion for investors to become rich, fast, and almost effortless. Our investment decisions need to be calibrated towards long term sustainability. This includes the promotion of small and medium sized companies, providing employment while allowing those who take risk, are committed to their responsibilities and work hard to also benefit financially. I know it is a difficult task to pivot the mind towards a more balanced value system when investing. To achieve this, I recommend thinking less about a defensive approach of establishing impact investment as an alternative to traditional opportunities and more about making all investments more impactful.
