Impact Investing Update: What’s Working, What’s Not, and What’s Next

Episode notes

My guest today is Eric Rice - back for his second appearance on the podcast. Impact investing looks different when you revisit it after a few turbulent years in the market and the politics. My guest today is Eric Rice, back after his appearance on episode nine, to talk about impact and what’s changed since. When we first spoke, Eric was running a public equity impact fund that was accessible to everybody. That fund has since been shut down, capital returned, and Eric has moved into private equity at SEAF, an investor focused on emerging market SMEs. This conversation looks at what happened next and what it says about the state of sustainable investing today. Eric’s core thesis hasn’t changed. At Wellington and BlackRock, his theory of change focused on investing in companies already doing socially useful work and helping them grow into that identity through engagement and long holding periods. For Eric, this wasn’t ESG investing, and it was never pitched as a promise of superior returns. It was about intentionality, investing in specific impact themes, and professional portfolio construction.

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