Benevolent Disruptors

In this episode, Rory Mounsey-Heysham speaks with Colin le Duc, Co-Founder and Partner at Generation Investment Management,  the sustainability-focused investment firm created alongside former US Vice President Al Gore and David Blood of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Generation was founded on a bold premise: that sustainability and long-term financial performance reinforce each other rather than compete. Two decades later, the firm manages more than $40 billion and has become one of the most respected voices in mission-driven investing.

Colin shares Generation’s origin story, the serendipitous alignment that brought its founders together, and how the firm set out to integrate sustainability into every stage of investing. He reflects on building both public and private market strategies, the moments of luck and timing that accelerated their success, and what it means to stay mission-driven while scaling a global investment platform.

The pair also discuss the advantages mission-driven companies have, why founders with genuine purpose outperform, and how political headwinds shape (and fail to derail) climate and sustainability investing. Colin explains why resilient, long-term fundamentals still guide Generation’s approach and why this is an unusually compelling time to invest in sustainable solutions.

Key Takeaways

• How Generation Investment Management was founded on integrating sustainability into capital markets
• Why timing, luck, and early market conditions accelerated their first decade
• How mission and investment performance reinforce each other, not compete
• Why sustainability became a source of alpha long before the market recognised it
• How being mission-driven helps attract the best entrepreneurs, teams, and shareholders
• Why short-term political shifts don’t change long-term sustainable investing fundamentals
• How climate and sustainability cycles create opportunities for specialist investors
• Why Generation focuses on returning capital, not just raising it

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👉 Checkout more about Benevolent Disruption here https://www.benevolentdisruptors.com/

In this episode, Chris Corbishley speaks with Matt Oppenheimer, Co-Founder and CEO of Remitly - the global payments company reshaping how money moves across borders.

Matt shares how his time in Kenya sparked the idea for Remitly and how the company grew from a small startup in Seattle into a platform now trusted by millions. What began as a response to an unfair, outdated system of money transfers became a mission to make financial services more affordable, transparent, and human.

The pair talk about the highs and lows of entrepreneurship from the early “nerve-sited” days to running a listed company and what it means to stay mission-driven while scaling globally. Matt also reflects on why purpose has been Remitly’s biggest advantage, how regulation can build trust, and why AI and stablecoins could open up the next chapter of financial inclusion.

Key Takeaways

• How a frustrating personal experience in Kenya inspired Remitly’s founding idea
• The emotional rollercoaster of building a fintech from scratch
• Why being “too mission-driven” once scared investors, and why that’s now a strength
• How purpose creates resilience, attracts great teams, and builds better businesses
• What really allowed Remitly to challenge giants like Western Union
• Why regulation can be a competitive advantage, not a roadblock
• The opportunities AI and stablecoins bring to global finance
• Matt’s vision for serving the 300 million people still left out of fair financial systems

👉 Subscribe to Benevolent Disruptors for more conversations with the founders and thinkers turning big problems into better business.

To open this conversation, Rory Mounsey-Heysham sits down with Greg Jackson - founder and CEO of Octopus Energy - one of Europe’s most successful tech companies and a driving force in the energy transition. Greg shares how Octopus grew from humble beginnings into a global energy and technology leader, serving millions of customers and managing billions in renewable assets. From challenging incumbents to redefining regulation, Greg embodies the spirit of “benevolent disruption”: building big businesses that make the world better.

In this wide-ranging discussion, Greg reflects on his journey from Halifax to leading a multi-billion-dollar company, the philosophy behind Kraken (Octopus’s proprietary tech platform), the importance of capital and agility, and why he believes clean energy must be cheap, fast, and fair.

Key Takeaways

• Energy as a tech problem: Octopus was founded on the belief that modern software could transform an outdated, inefficient energy industry.
• Capital and resilience: Greg emphasizes raising funds before you need them - “no one ever went bust because they had too much cash.”
• Agility as a superpower: Proprietary technology allows Octopus to innovate faster and outpace incumbents in integrating renewables and new products.
• Purpose with pragmatism: Energy should be fairer, cheaper, cleaner but it must also deliver returns to scale impact.
• Regulation reform: Greg advocates for “refactoring” outdated regulation halving timelines and simplifying systems to unlock innovation.
• Energy transition politics: Clean energy must be reframed as a cost-reducing, prosperity-driving movement, not a cultural wedge issue.
• The benevolent disruptor mindset: “The Good Samaritan couldn’t have helped anyone if he didn’t have the cash.” Scale and success are prerequisites for meaningful good.

To open the series, Rory Mounsey-Heysham and Chris Corbishley are joined by Harley Finkelstein, President of Shopify. Shopify is often seen as an e-commerce platform, but Harley describes it as something bigger: an entrepreneurship company. By lowering the barriers to starting and scaling a business, Shopify has helped millions of people turn ambition into independence.

In this conversation, Harley reflects on Shopify’s journey, why more entrepreneurs make the world stronger and more colourful, and how technology is reshaping what’s possible for founders. From lessons learned from iconic business leaders, to the right role for government, to the promise and pitfalls of artificial intelligence - this episode is full of ideas on how “big problems” can become “big business.”

Key Takeaways

• Why Shopify thinks of itself as an entrepreneurship company, not just a tech platform
• How reducing barriers to entry has changed who gets to build businesses
• Why small businesses, not large corporations, are the true drivers of economies
• The two forces behind entrepreneurship: passion and survival
• What Harley has learned from great founders across industries
• Why government should set “guardrails, not gates” for business
• How AI is giving entrepreneurs new tools and levelling the playing field

In this short teaser, hear the vision behind Benevolent Disruptors - a new podcast from BNVT Capital exploring how solving the world’s biggest problems can also deliver the biggest financial returns.

Hosted by managing partners Rory Mounsey-Heysham and Chris Corbishley, the series features candid conversations with founders, executives, and investors from leading companies, funds, and endowments. Together, they reveal how tackling systemic global challenges with lasting technological innovation transforms big problems into big business.

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