315 | Capital Entrepreneurship in the Indo-Pacific Region with Cameron Neil

Our guest this week on the pod is the Co-Founder and Director of Lead for Good, a crowd lending platform to support the growth of impact enterprises and the Co-Founder & Director of Red Hat Impact, which mobilizes capital to finance impact ventures in the Asia-Pacific Region.

This episode is sponsored by the coaching company of our host, Zelizer Consulting Services.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

Transcript of Capital Entrepreneurship Interview with Cameron Neil

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You can read the full transcript of this episode here.

Key Topics & Bullet Points

1. Introduction to Cameron Neil and Capital Entrepreneurship

  • The podcast is Awarepreneurs, focused on social entrepreneurship and increasing positive impact, profitability, and quality of life.

  • The guest, Cameron Neil, is the co-founder and director of Lend For Good and Red Hat Impact, which mobilizes capital to finance impact ventures in the Asia Pacific region.

  • The conversation takes place between the host, Paul Zelizer, and Cameron, an Australian, to discuss capital entrepreneurship in the Indo Pacific region.

  • Cameron shares his background, transitioning from psychology to the world of business and finance, and his focus on supporting enterprises that do good and changing the finance and capital system to align with his values.

2. Challenges and Opportunities in the Indo Pacific Region

  • The region includes countries like Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, and Solomon Islands.

  • Climate change and its early impacts are affecting the islands in the region.

  • Industries in the region include tourism, fishing, and agriculture, with a focus on clean oceans and the economic development of volcanic islands.

  • The historical and strategic relationship between the US, Australia, and the Indo Pacific region.

3. Business, Economic Policy & Capital Entrepreneurship

  • Discussion on the impact of businesses and politicians' decisions on economics and finance.

  • The importance of capital being in service of something greater than just making money.

  • Capital entrepreneurship involves building new ways that capital is organized, deployed, understood, and experienced to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

4. Role of Red Hat Impact and Lend For Good

  • Red Hat Impact is a consultancy focused on mobilizing capital for 21st-century problems.

  • Lend For Good is a market-building initiative supporting enterprises in the Asia Pacific region and creating new capital instruments.

  • Red Hat Impact's trade finance vehicle aims to buy input materials for businesses, helping them overcome high upfront costs and expand their operations, with a focus on serving women entrepreneurs in the Indo Pacific region.

5. Impact Entrepreneurship and Access to Capital

  • The SME financing gap in emerging markets is about 5.2 trillion US dollars per year.

  • Red Hat Impact has pioneered impact lending with 60 deals and 3 million dollars deployed, aiming to build a scalable platform with 50,000 individuals and organizations deploying capital to impact entrepreneurs.

  • The Lend for Good platform facilitates crowd lending, where individuals and organizations can lend support to impact entrepreneurs, providing flexible capital tailored to the entrepreneurs' needs.

  • Examples of successful campaigns funded through Lend for Good.

6. Building a Movement via Impact Focused Capital Entrepreneurship

  • Encouraging a movement of individuals and organizations to lend support to impact entrepreneurs globally.

  • The transformative impact of capital provided through Lend for Good for entrepreneurs in emerging markets.

  • Debt preferred over equity for non-profit enterprises, allowing entrepreneurs to decide what's right for their community and problem-solving, without the pressure of an exit strategy.

7. Redefining Capital Engagement for Impact

  • Rethinking traditional finance and imagining what's possible for a better way forward.

  • Speaker B's role as an "activist for capital," designing new ways for capital to do its job.

  • The need for entrepreneurs to imagine and create a different world, dealing with ambiguity and discomfort in the unknown.

  • Addressing the missing middle of impact finance and advocating for innovative solutions to 21st-century challenges.

Paul Zelizer