Mark Selwood weighs in on the
millennial wave of investors and
their unwavering focus on ESG
Millennials want to create a dialogue with managers and companies on their investments and they are asking pointed, well-researched, and challenging questions of their asset managers //
Bircroft co-founder and managing director, Mark Selwood, weighs in on the millennial wave of investors and their unwavering focus on ESG. These are investors who believe their money should yield positive financial return AND a positive impact on the world:
“Millennials want to create a dialogue with managers and companies on their investments and they are asking pointed, well-researched, and challenging questions of their asset managers… ESG portfolios respond to millennials’ concerns, sometimes by reaching out to companies through shareholder engagement and other times by the targeted divestment of funds.
Selwood of Bircroft hopes that ESG factors someday will be fundamental to all investing. He believes that the rise of impact investing will shift cultural norms, encourage the regulatory environment to evolve, and shift corporate behavior. When he gave a talk at Oxford’s Said Business School last year, 70 percent of the student body showed up, most eager to find a job in a mission-driven enterprise.
Impact investing that focuses on ESG factors, by all accounts, is a slow, sustained shift. Change will come from millennial consumer demand, millennials choosing to work for more ethically minded companies, and millennial investment.”
ESG portfolios respond to millennials’ concerns, sometimes by reaching out to companies through shareholder engagement and other times by the targeted divestment of funds. These are investors who believe their money should yield positive financial return AND a positive impact on the world.