4: Damien Lardoux of EQ Investors - Pushing The Boundaries To Make Impact Investing Available To Everyone

Damien Lardoux is the Head of Impact Investing at EQ investors. They are an award-winning chartered financial planner and one of the earliest BCorp in the UK, currently managing over £800 million of funds with £120 million in Impact Investment funds. Historically a wealth management company, they are also a fund of funds for impact investing and act as a portfolio manager. With their own technology and tech team, they are pushing the boundaries of impact reporting with in-house impact measurement frameworks and methodologies. They advise private clients on financial planning and work with financial advisors to grow their impact investment propositions.

In this episode, Damien talks about how EQ investors are leading the change in impact investment amongst institutional investors and private clients. Damien is passionate in spreading the awareness of impact investment and making it available to everyone who wants to invest anywhere from as little as hundreds of pounds a year.

Highlights in this episode:

• EQ Investors and how they differ from other companies in the sector

• How impact reporting is done and tracking 100s of impact indicators, while delivering market returns

• Stumbling blocks preventing financial advisors from recommending impact funds and Institutional Investors from investing in Funds of Funds

• How EQ Investors select and engage with the underlying impact companies and ‘Additionality’ of impact

• SDGs, Paris Climate Agreement and Blue Planet

• Impact investing inspiration: how to get involved, get investing, and create a career in the sector

• Emphasis of relationship building, long-term investing and taking clients on the impact journey

Useful Links:

EQ Investors - https://eqinvestors.co.uk/

Damian Lardoux’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/damien-lardoux-cfa-2ba94735/

John Spiers on EQ Investors https://youtu.be/CT53Mqdou_w

EQ Investors - Impact Report 2018 - Positive Impact Portfolios

https://eqinvestors.co.uk/library/impact-report-2018-eq-positive-impact-portfolios/

Muhammad Yunus - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Yunus

Chapters:

[02:09] What is impact investing? How EQ Investors operate?

[09:58] Operating as a Fund of Funds and engaging with underlying impact companies to look at ‘additionality’ of impact

[14:14] Size of fund, in-house research and ROI of impact funds

[19:00] Asset management for impact funds need transparency and clarity on the process

[24:13] Online financial health check for everyday investors

[27:55] Impact reporting from 100 indicators

[33:14] Collaboration to share impact reporting data and the impact of products

[39:00] Key turning points in impact investment history

[43:00] We need $5-7 trillion dollars to achieve UN SDGs, regulation and governments to lead the change

[54:00] Advise to impact companies looking for impact funding

[01:01:00] Who is Damien Lardoux? What it takes to be an impact leader?

Connect with JP Dallmann on Linkedin, Twitter, or Instagram.

How to incorporate SDGs into your business - Fast Forward 2030

Find talent and careers with impact - Realchangers

Impact Leaders is produced and published by Woon Tan of Podcast Publishing (See: http://podcastpublishing.help/)