In 2014, Uwe established Wealth of Nations Advisors (WONA), specializing in raising third-party institutional capital for best-in-class global alternative investment firms, which collectively manage over $300 billion in assets. Three years ago, WONA launched the Impact Investing Portfolio, a platform through which the Wealth of Nations Group of companies – Wealth of Nations Advisors (WONA), Wealth of Nations Fintech (WONFT), and Wealth of Nations Impact Asset Management (WONIAM) – aims to raise and deploy $10 billion in institutional capital over the next five years. This capital will be invested in impact opportunities that align with global investment megatrends in climate transition, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and transformative technologies.
By the end of 2022, the Wealth of Nations Group had become Australia’s largest access channel for institutional capital seeking to invest in alternative and impact investments, leveraging WONA’s third-party allocated capital platform.
Before establishing Wealth of Nations, Uwe enjoyed a 30+ year career in financial markets on both the buy and sell side. He began his career with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and subsequently worked at some of the world’s largest investment banks, including Merrill Lynch, Citibank, and Credit Agricole. Specializing in foreign exchange and derivatives trading and sales, Uwe served some of the world’s largest corporations, pension funds, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, and government agencies as his clients. Uwe is also a macro strategist with a keen interest in geopolitics and emerging markets.
have always believed in capitalism, but not for the benefit of a few at the expense of many. I see a balance between Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations’ and his ‘Theory of Moral Sentiments,’ which makes me a proponent of socially-conscious capitalism. Finance needs to adapt and evolve, and my eureka moment came when I witnessed how the humble honeybee could boost the IRR of an investment in carbon sequestration in New Zealand forestry.
To achieve true sustainable positive growth, or what I call ‘Get-Real’ GDP, we need to invest significantly in people and the planet. The long-term financial returns from such investments will far outperform the anaemic returns of standard investment products. If we can’t sustain global growth at near 0% interest rates for almost 15 years, maybe we are investing in the wrong areas, focused on the wrong outcomes, based on outdated economic principles.
I am passionate about impact investing because it is driven by the intention to deliver market or better-than-market returns while also achieving true-to-label, measurable, and verifiable positive social and environmental impact. No greenwashing or impact washing. As a kid, I wanted to change the world. Today, I still want to change the world. I’m older, my red cap seems a lot smaller, but I have found a way to live out my dream and leave a legacy for my children and their children.
My job, and that of my group, is to help impact managers, both domestic and international, gain easier access to institutional capital. By doing so, we can drive positive change for people and the planet, capitalizing on global investment megatrends in climate transition, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and transformative technologies.
