“Our goal is to make a positive environmental and/or social impact in the world, while at the same time achieving an attractive financial return. That’s how we define impact investing.”
— Philipp Mueller
Philipp Mueller is Chief Executive Officer of BlueOrchard, a leading global impact investment manager and member of the Schroders Group, that connects millions of entrepreneurs in emerging and frontier markets with investors. Philipp joined BlueOrchard in 2018 from Partners Group, where he served in a number of capacities in Switzerland and in the UK, most recently as Senior Vice President of Investment Solutions. Phillipp holds an MBA from ETH Zurich and a master’s degree in Law from the University of Zurich.
During today’s discussion, we discuss Philipp’s time as an Officer in the Mountain Infantry during his time in compulsory military service in Switzerland. Philipp shares how after completing his Masters degree in law he decided to pursue a career in finance instead and he discusses the reasons behind his eventual transition from traditional finance to impact investing, shedding light on his motivations and choices.
We discuss Philipp’s role as CEO at BlueOrchard, the company mission and how they prioritize making a positive environmental and/or social impact, while still achieving market rate financial returns. Philipp explains what microfinance means, its potential to advance financial inclusion, and shares some real life examples of microfinance impact. We speak together about blended finance and how this can change the risk return profile of certain investments in order to attract more private investors, and we look at the broad range of BlueOrchard’s investor profiles and the potential benefits of investing in microfinance as an asset class. Philipp shares his views on the role of advancing technology in impact and microfinance and much more.
I really enjoyed this enlightening discussion with Philipp and I hope you do too!
Please Note: This interview was conducted on 17 May 2021 – AUM and other facts & statistics cited in this episode will have evolved.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. You can watch the interview on YouTube here.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
SELECTED LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:
- Connect with Philipp Mueller: LinkedIn
- Agritask
- BlueOrchard Finance
- Man Investments
- Partners Group
- Schroders
- Swiss Re
- This is My Story (book)
SHOW NOTES:
[00:00] Episode introduction
[01:40] Philipp tells us about the book ‘This is My Story’, which BlueOrchard published in 2021
[04:24] We hear about Philipp’s compulsory military service in Switzerland and how much he enjoyed his experience as an Officer in the Mountain Infantry
[06:04] We discuss how Philipp came to work in Finance following his law studies
[08:03] Philipp shares how he made the transition from traditional finance to impact investing, re-aligning his career with his personal values
[09:21] Philipp gives us an overview of BlueOrchard and the company mission
[11:26] We discuss what microfinance actually means
[18:49] We hear how BlueOrchard assess the institutions they work with, specifically in countries where corruption is commonplace
[21:02] Philipp shares some real-life examples of microfinance impact and how it has improved the lives of the end user
[24:12] We discuss the potential benefits and returns for investing in microfinance
[26:29] We look at BlueOrchard’s typical investor profile
[29:01] We discuss the potential risks of investing in microfinance
[30:08] Philipp explains blended finance and how it helps change the risk return profile of certain investments in order to attract more private investors
[35:31] We discuss greenwashing and how BlueOrchard protects against it
[37:30] Philipp shares his views on the role of advancing technology in impact and microfinance
[39:20] What Philipp knows now about microfinance investing that he wishes he had known when he joined BlueOrchard in 2018
[40:13] Lessons learned from an investment that didn’t go to plan
[41:01] An example of an investment that worked out better than expected
[42:11] Philipp shares his advice on how to get into the microfinance investing space
MORE PHILIPP MUELLER QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW:
“Microfinance is one of the key tools to advance financial inclusion and alleviate poverty… and financial inclusion means providing access to financial services to people who did not have the chance before, to include people who have been excluded from the financial system, who have a low income or lack sufficient funds for entrepreneurial activities. ”
— Philipp Mueller
“I wanted to align my work with my values…and from an intrinsic perspective, I’m a father of three children and often wonder what the world will be like in twenty, thirty, fifty years. From that perspective, this [impact investing] is something where I can actively contribute. If you are impact investing, you can really change things on a scale which you would’ve previously not thought possible. ”
— Philipp Mueller
“Microfinance is a very resilient and very stable asset class… it will not provide investors with double digit returns – or at least not in the current environment – but it will give them a very stable and steady return. ”
— Philipp Mueller
“We can see that there’s a generational shift of wealth owners. There’s a younger generation which cares more about what is happening with their money, how their money is being invested and what is being achieved… so there’s really a bottom up demand for impact investing products. ”
— Philipp Mueller
