ImpactAlpha Podcasts

Bryan Goh of the Tsao Family Office joins David Bank on this Agents of Impact podcast. Goh runs the social impact arm of the family behind Singapore-based maritime company Tsao Pao Chee Group. The company itself says it is guided by a “well-being mandate” and “an awakening journey from I to We.”

The Tsao Family Office is a founding partner of Impact LP, ImpactAlpha’s  platform for asset owners for whom LP stands for “Leadership Potential.”

For more, read our writeup on Tsao.

Ashley Bell of Redemption Holding Company joins David Bank on this episode of the podcast. Redemption last year acquired Utah-based Holiday Bank & Trust, the first time Black owners had acquired a non-minority-owned bank. From a Salt Lake City suburb, Bell is building a national financial institution.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week:

• "How Anthropic’s standoff with the Pentagon is putting impact investors' AI thesis to the test in real time," by David Bank.

• “⁠Sharing wealth with workers creates value for private equity buyout firms. So why not share more?⁠” by Roodgally Senatus. (10:15).

• “⁠Six barriers keeping foundations from impact investing – and how to overcome them⁠,” by Woodcock Foundation's Stacey Faella (17:55).

Tirtha Patel and John Morris of Intentional Asset Management join David for this episode. Intentional is raising the Carib Grow Fund to provide much-needed equity financing for food systems in the Caribbean. Tirtha and John explain the fund's strategy for transforming the region’s food value chain, from production to processing to waste recovery. 

Intentional Asset Management has been an active and early user of ImpactAlpha’s premium databases and other investment tools for fund managers and other Agents of Impact.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank and producer Isaac Silk. Up this week: As the Trump administration steps back from domestic policy, how states are taking the lead on clean energy, the ownership economy, and AI regulation (09:25); Why smaller funds are leading to bigger returns in Africa (); And, the pivots of Mast Reforestation, as it seeks to sell removal credits on the voluntary carbon markets (14:15).

• ImpactAlpha's Policy Corner coverage.
• “Aruwa Capital has the data to make the case for small investment funds,” by Lucy Ngige
• “From planting trees to burying them, Mast Reforestation follows the market for carbon credits,” by Isaac Silk

The Russell Family Foundation is a regional small fry among the giant pension, insurance and sovereign wealth funds in the Net Zero Asset Owners Alliance, which represents more than $9 trillion in assets. Russell, based in Gig Harbor, Wash., near Seattle, accounts for only about $100 million of that total.  “We can move a little bit faster,” Kathleen Simpson, CEO of the foundation, tells David Bank on this Agents of Impact podcast.

Resources mentioned by Kathleen:

• Russell's latest climate report
• As You Sow
• Clarity.ai
• iconik

The status quo is stupid, expensive and unfair. 

That’s the first line of David Erickson’s book, “The Fifth Freedom,” which makes the case for good schools, well-funded libraries, safe streets and public spaces, quality health care, spiritual refuges and accessible transportation to help kids and communities thrive.

Erickson joins David Bank on this episode of Agents of Impact. His team at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York have turned such ideas into Making Missing Markets, an initiative to connect the builders of health, wealth and vibrant communities with the “buyers,” including hospitals,  insurers and corporations as well as government agencies, such as Medicaid. He says such collaborations could finance “upstream” interventions that deliver such outcomes at far lower cost than downstream remediation.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: Highlights from this week’s Agents of Impact Call on Shaping the Algorithm for good AI; how regional housing finance agencies in California are leveraging public funding to crowd private capital into affordable housing (12:20); and the emergence of local guarantee facilities for local investors in infrastructure in Africa and Asia (17:20).

Story links:

• Call roundup
• “Building regional engines for affordable housing in California,” by Andrew Fremier, Ryan Johnson and Cody Petterson
• “Local guarantees for local investors in infrastructure projects in Africa and Asia,” by Lucy Ngige

Dimitry Gershenson and Erin Davis of Enduring Planet join David Bank to discuss how their working capital loans help early-stage climate startups meet the milestones need to unlock other financing – and pay them back. They discuss the current state of climate tech, technology-enabled lending, catalytic guarantees and even corporate beekeeping.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with Jessica Pothering, Dennis Price and Roodgally Senatus. Up this week: Jessica reports from Cape Town on how Africa’s mining industry is leveraging global demand for critical minerals; Dennis shares takeaways from his panel at the Urban Institute on what’s next for place-based investing (12:15); and, Roody reports from Philadelphia on Kensington residents are fostering neighborhood revival without gentrification and displacement (20:15).

Story links:

• "Demand for critical minerals creates new opportunities to put Africa first," by Jessica Pothering
• Dennis' Urban Institute panel.
• "In Philadelphia, Kensington Corridor Trust demonstrates a neighborhood-led model of revival without displacement,” by Roodgally Senatus