Brothers-in-law Liall Medina (age 27) and Charlie French (age 30) are the co-founders of Etcho, an app dedicated to helping investors discover the impact of their investments and finding investment opportunities that match their morals. Their mission is to enable everyone to learn the true impact of their investments. Their vision is a world where no investment decision is made without it aligning with the investors’ ideals. But why?
Charlie French said: “Because the future of our planet is in a precarious position, and the way the world invests will be pivotal in securing a brighter future for the earth and everything that calls it home.”
“Our money is powerful, and so many of us want to align our money to our values,” comments Liall Medina, “but it’s hard to know how or where to invest your money for positive change. And that’s why we’re building Etcho.”
They have added ETFs onto the platform because ETFs with an ‘ESG’ label are an increasingly popular investment product. However, as French says: “Many of those labelled ‘ESG’ lack any real impact credentials and can be guilty of greenwashing.” He goes on to say: “Investors deserve to know more about the impact of an ETF rather than having to base a decision on how it’s labelled. We believe providing further clarity on investments will help investors make more conscious decisions with their money.”
Putting your money where your morals are
The Etcho app is a companion for conscious investors, designed to help people understand the impact of their investment portfolio on the things they care about. Users are prompted with relative comparisons of their investments with everyday activities, for example the carbon footprint of investment in relation to miles driven in an average UK petrol car.
Another core feature that underpins the app is the ability to personalise and filter the options based on moral drivers, making it easier to find and discover investments that have a positive impact on what matters to each user. The currently free-to-use app uses the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a guide to help people discover companies and assess how well their current investments align with each of the goals. The app covers all of the 17 UN SDGs, allowing users to find the most climate-friendly investments, those that focus on healthcare or education, or simply want to find those with no negative impact on gender equality
Medina comments: “There’s a whole generation of investors who want to align their money to their morals, and it’s currently too difficult to find relatable sustainability information on current or potential investments. For too long, the finance industry has used impact and ESG data as a tick-box exercise and what the world needs now is trusted, reliable and relatable impact data on investments. We’re putting holistic impact data at the heart of Etcho, so it can become the motivating and ultimately planet-saving tool it has the potential to be. The first iteration of our app is just the start of our mission to help every investor.”
Image and article originally from thefintechtimes.com. Read the original article here.