Developments and commentary in and around the ESG investment space.

Northwestern Mutual
Northwestern Mutual has announced a $100-million impact investing fund to deliver its commitment to addressing inequality and the racial wealth gap in the US.

The fund, which will direct investments to Black and African-American communities nationally and locally in the Milwaukee area, will focus on three key opportunities: physical and social infrastructure, access to capital for individuals and businesses, and healthy sustainable neighborhoods and communities, it said in a statement.

The fund is an outcome of the company's Sustained Action for Racial Equity (SARE) task force, which was launched in 2020. 

“The Impact Investing Fund is intended to make measurable improvement in racial equity, while also generating a positive financial return for our policyowners," Ray Manista, executive vice president and chief legal and compliance officer at Northwestern Mutual, said.   

The move adds to the firm’s programs, such as a $15-billion socially responsible investing portfolio within its general account which focuses on socio-economic and green investments broadly, and a $20 million investment announced in 2020 dedicated to investing in start-up companies founded by Black entrepreneurs via its corporate venture capital fund, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures (NMFV). To date, NMFV has made investments in five companies.  

Another venture is the Northwestern Mutual Black Founder Accelerator, a partnership with gener8tor launched in 2020 to invest in and support Black entrepreneurs to help close the funding gap for Black founders. The first cohort each received $100,000 and recently graduated at the end of the 12-week program. The second application period for the second cohort for this fall closes on August 15, 2021. It also has a commitment of $2.5 million for Milwaukee schools, nonprofits and local programming supporting educational pathways to close the achievement gap among talented-yet-underrepresented students.