60 second interview with Amy Clarke, Tribe Impact Capital
Amy Clarke, Chief Impact Officer at Tribe Impact Capital, on helping clients use their capital to create the change they are most passionate about.
Tell me about your role.
I’m the Chief Impact Officer for Tribe, which in a sentence means I’m responsible for overseeing the development and deployment of our impact management and reporting strategy across our business.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Time with my direct reports is a recurring daily diary entry for me. We’re a close-knit team within the broader business and given impact is the very essence of what Tribe is and does, we have a lot of work to do and discuss. Other than that, my typical day revolves around research (whether single line equity research, public policy and/or strategic market research), shareholder engagement, talking with our clients and would-be clients to ensure they’re happy with what we are creating together, discussing and agreeing our investment strategies with Fred Kooij (our Chief Investment Officer) and his team, participating in media and event opportunities, and running the business with the other partners.
Tell us about a recent client instruction.
We had a client join us who wanted their capital to be creating the change that they was most passionate about, but they were concerned about wind farms and their impact on wildlife. We helped them navigate this complex issue and demonstrated how developments in this field are reducing down the impact on wildlife such that they could be reassured about having exposure to this part of the renewables industry in their portfolio. We often spend time with our clients helping them understand the interdependency and intersectionality between the social, and environmental issues we face so that they can increase their confidence in what they’re doing but also take those messages more widely back out into their tribes.
What challenges do your clients face and how are you helping your clients to overcome them?
One of the recurring themes I unfortunately still hear too much of is from our female clients. I think I can sum it up best as ‘the not spoken to or spoken down to’ syndrome. So many of our amazing female clients have either been ignored in meetings (if turning up with partners) or spoken down to (if they’ve taken a meeting solo). We address this quite simply by speaking to our clients as people rather than “clients” and avoiding industry jargon.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
Starting Tribe.
Who do you most admire and why?
There are too many people I have huge admiration for to name just one. Needless to say, many if not most of them are the unsung heroes you don’t read or hear about – the quiet revolutionaries in the background fighting hard for what is right and creating the waves of change that stimulate others to follow. These are my Tribe.
Favourite restaurant?
I’m a picnic person. There is no greater table with a view than outside.
Best piece of advice you have ever received?
“Don’t let anyone ever tell you can’t do it because you’re a girl” – my Dad, who had 3 girls, to me from the age of 8.
If you weren’t in the wealth management industry, what else might you be doing?
I’ve always been in sustainability, so if it wasn’t in wealth it would be elsewhere helping create the change that is needed.