Book Review: Real Impact by Morgan Simon

For over a decade, impact investing – investments intended to generate social or environmental impact - has been a stealth trend in development.  Partners in Food Solutions is also part of this trend, having established relationships with firms like Root Capital and Grassroots Business Fund, to leverage PFS expert know-how with their financial support to their portfolio clients.

Understandably, the idea of supporting social good while earning a financial return can sound too good to be true. The feel-good goals of impact investing, which could seem impossible to measure, make it vulnerable to cynics. That ambiguity, coupled with enough esoteric-sounding financial terms, can make the concept feel inaccessible to the modern day non-millionaire.

And yet, the bandwagon keeps growing. As income inequality grows, the world is calling for a global economic readjustment, not just in millions – but billions - of dollars.

In that sense, this book comes at just the right time. Ms. Simon walks the line between activist and MBA, bridging what was once a marriage of strange bedfellows. Bringing an activist voice and an investor attitude, Ms. Simon calls for a more rounded, thoughtful approach to investing, one that takes a whole world perspective. After all, diverting cash flows to extinguish poverty only works if you aren’t also holding the matches.

Real Impact is a helpful guidebook, categorizing, critiquing and championing impact investment in a way that is entirely readable. Ms. Simon outlines the development, its definitions, its shortcomings, and her vision for how to make it work. And if you find yourself without billions of dollars, she even includes concrete steps for the everyday person on how to make your own impactful investments.

Visit Morgan Simon's website HERE.