My guest today is Michele Giddens, Co-Founder and CEO of Bridges Fund Management — one of the early architects of impact investing, before the term was even coined.

Bridges now has over £2 billion in AUM invested in private equity and property, but back in 2002, it began with little more than a blank sheet of paper and a conviction that capital could — and should — be used to address some of society’s biggest challenges.

Michele and her co-founders, Sir Ronald Cohen and Philip Newborough, believed social and environmental impact didn’t have to come at the expense of returns. That belief has held firm for over two decades — and continues to shape how Bridges invests today.

After graduating with a PPE degree from Oxford, she skipped the corporate path and headed to Mexico City to teach English — the start of what became 15 years living and working abroad. From Hungary to Poland, Bangladesh to Mongolia, she followed the same instinct: a need to be close to where impact actually happens.

That drive brought her back to the UK in 2000 to advise the Treasury’s Social Investment Task Force, chaired by Sir Ronald Cohen. One of its key recommendations was to launch funds focused on underserved parts of the UK. Michele helped shape that idea — and stayed to build the first one.

Their first fund was £40 million, including £10 million in catalytic capital from the UK government, structured to take more risk and go in first. “One of the very best uses of taxpayer money,” she says — because it helped unlock over £2 billion in private sector investment since.

Today, Bridges operates across two verticals: building a more sustainable planet and a more inclusive economy. In property, that means co-living spaces, healthcare, and age-friendly housing. In private equity, it includes companies like AgilityEco, which helped 200,000 households reduce energy bills, and Talking Talent, which helps underrepresented employees rise through leadership.

Michele is clear-eyed about what impact can and can’t do. Some challenges need capital that’s more patient, more risk-bearing, or even concessionary. That’s why Bridges has built nonprofit arms to reach the edges of what the market can’t serve.

But she’s equally convinced — and backed by two decades of results — that plenty of investments deliver both meaning and double-digit returns, if you design for it.

That’s been the aim from the start — not to trade one off against the other, but to hold both to a high standard. Twenty years on, that idea hasn’t softened.

What Michele and her team have built isn’t just a firm. It’s a bridge. And over twenty years in, it still holds.

—

About the SRI 360° Podcast: The SRI 360° Podcast is focused exclusively on sustainable & responsible investing.

—

Connect with SRI360°:
Sign up for the free weekly email update
Visit the SRI360° PODCAST
Visit the SRI360° WEBSITE
Follow SRI360° on X
Follow SRI360° on FACEBOOK

—

Additional Resources:

Michele Giddens LinkedIn

Bridges Fund Management:
- Website

- LinkedIn

- X (Twitter)

- YouTube

The Bridges Spectrum of Capital - download here