Sir Ronald Cohen: A new economic system through Impact-Weighted Accounts

Good Future

My guest this week is Sir Ronald Cohen. Ronnie has been a venture capitalist, private equity investor, and leader of the global impact investing revolution. He was co-founder and Executive Chairman of Apax Partners, And today, he’s the Chairman of the Global Steering Group on Impact Investing (GSG) which followed the G8 Social Impact Investment Task Force. He’s Chairman and co-Founder of The Portland Trust, co-founder of Social Finance UK, US, and Israel, and co-founder of Bridges Fund Management. Plus, he’s written a book, it’s called Impact: Reshaping capitalism to drive real change. I’ve looked forward to this conversation for a long time. And right now, is a perfect moment to speak with Ronnie, partly because he’s published a book all about impact, but also, because of the revolutionary work he’s done in the contributing to the concept of Impact Weighted Accounts. It takes transparency to a new level and it has the potential to change the very foundations of accounting that we’ve depended on for decades. But we didn’t just talk about impact measurement, I wanted to know about the pivotal moments of Ronnie’s life when he left Egypt as a boy, to travel to England, and how that shaped his mindset. As well as his time at Oxford, Harvard, and the many stages of his career in finance. I got so much out of this one, and I hope you do too. Now for all the show-notes and links, jump onto my website at www.Johntreadgold.com And, you can leave us a review on iTunes, because that helps to spread the message of the show. And someone else who’s helping spread the message is RIAA, that’s the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia. They have over 300 members managing more than $9 trillion in assets globally, they’re the largest network of people and organisations engaged in responsible, ethical and impact investing across Australia and New Zealand. They do great work and they’ve come on board to help support a series of upcoming episodes featuring the leading names in responsible investing. Head to www.ResponsibleInvestment.org to find out more. Enjoy the show