How can private capital turn sustainability challenges into investment opportunities in emerging markets?

Monique Mathys-Graaff, Interim Chief Markets Officer at the PRI, is joined by Lisa Genasci, Managing Director, Sustainable Finance, at ADM Capital, and Vishal Bhavsar,Senior VP & Head ESG at Multiples Alternate Asset Management. Lisa and Vishal are practitioners behind two initiatives shortlisted for the PRI Awards: ADM Capital’s  ‘Project Banyan’, shortlisted for Recognition for action: nature, and Multiples Alternate Asset Management’s ‘The Suraksha Operating Model’, shortlisted for Recognition for action: human rights. Drawing on their work in private credit and private equity, they discuss how environmental and social considerations can move beyond frameworks to become part of everyday investment decision-making.

From financing the often-overlooked SMEs at the heart of Asian agricultural supply chains to embedding human rights and worker safety into portfolio companies, Lisa and Vishal share practical examples of identifying material risks others may miss. They explore how due diligence, investment agreements, loan documents, active engagement and technical assistance can be used to manage risk, strengthen businesses and support long-term value creation. 

Detailed coverage:

Private capital as a driver of real-world change
Lisa and Vishal reflect on their unconventional routes into investment and why they came to see finance as a powerful lever for influencing how businesses operate. From environmental challenges across Asia to workplace safety in India, both discuss translating sustainability issues into investment priorities. 

Finding opportunity in Asia’s financing gap
Lisa explains how agricultural SMEs can sit at the centre of major supply chains while remaining underserved by mainstream finance. Private credit can provide the working and growth capital these businesses need while supporting improvements in traceability, land management, farmer resilience and environmental performance. 

When environmental risks become financial risks
Water stress, biodiversity loss, land degradation and climate volatility can quickly affect yields, supply, procurement costs and ultimately repayment capacity. The discussion explores why looking beyond conventional financial analysis can reveal risks – and opportunities – that might otherwise be missed. 

Making human rights and worker safety an investment priority
Vishal discusses the process of identifying human rights and safety risks across portfolio companies and their wider value chains. Rather than treating these issues as standalone policies, the focus has been on embedding them into business priorities, building internal capabilities and allocating the resources required to address them.

Change takes time, buy-in and persistence
Embedding responsible investment practices does not happen overnight. Vishal describes a three-to-four-year journey from initial conversations and internal buy-in to developing a framework that eventually expanded across upstream and downstream value chains. 

Embedding sustainability into investment terms
The conversation moves from identifying risk to operationalising it. Lisa explains how sustainability related due diligence, impact targets, action plans and landscape covenants can be incorporated directly into loan documentation, while Vishal outlines how human rights and safety commitments can become part of private equity investment agreements and portfolio action plans. 

From risk management to value creation
Responsible investment can influence more than the individual company receiving capital. Lisa shares how active engagement and technical assistance can improve practices across supply chains, while both guests emphasise the importance of connecting material sustainability issues directly to business outcomes. 

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction: private capital in emerging markets
01:59 – Lisa’s journey from environmental issues to private credit
04:29 – Vishal’s journey: human rights and workplace safety
07:47 – Finding opportunity in Asian agriculture and SMEs
11:05 – When environmental risks become financial risks
13:22 – Making human rights and worker safety a business priority
16:20 – The journey from idea to implementation
19:22 – Embedding sustainability into private credit
23:09 – Integrating human rights into investment decisions
25:33 – Lessons for the future of responsible investment

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