Episode 191: Sir Ronald Cohen, "the father of social investment," discusses how to reshape capitalism to drive real change.

The Sustainability Agenda

A fascinating deep dive on impact investment with Sir Ronald Cohen, “the father of social investment.” This is a spirited discussion about Sir Ronald’s book, Impact, exploring his vision of how impact investing is reshaping capitalism to deliver a form of capitalism that can deal with the profound social and environmental challenges we are facing—issues which he is passionate about. Sir Ronald believes financial institutions are changing profoundly -and is hugely optimistic about the work being done today on measuring impact, notably the Harvard Business School IWA impact weighted accounts project—making the connection between market value and pollution explicit. This in turn brings Ronnie’s vision closer: a world where investors can measure companies impact and “help change the behaviour of companies so that they bring solutions rather than creating or aggravating environmental and social problems.” This interview was first aired at the end of 2021.

Sir Ronald Cohen is Chairman of The Portland Trust and Bridges Ventures, amongst other roles, as a philanthropist, venture capitalist, private equity investor and social innovator over many decades. Sir Ronald was a founder of Apax Ventures, has been described as “the father of British venture capital” and “the father of social investment,” his latest book, Impact, Reshaping capitalism to drive real change, explores his vision of how impact investing is reshaping capitalism.