LACHLAN HALL

Lachlan Hall is an Impact Research Analyst at WONIAM, responsible for assisting the team with financial, operational and impact analysis and due diligence, as well as aiding in building out the impact frameworks.

He began at WONIAM as an intern, before taking on an analyst position. Prior to working at WONIAM, he has been involved in impact investing through university, being involved in numerous clubs and societies, such as building out his knowledge of impact at the Sydney Impact Investing Society, or pro bono social impact consulting that included impact measurement at 180 Degrees Consulting. Before this, he completed work experience at Dexus, learning some of the fundamentals of financial analysis, market research and funds management.

He is currently completing a Bachelor of Commerce/Advanced Studies (Honours) at the University of Sydney majoring in Finance and Statistics.

I was drawn to impact investing as I wanted to combine my degree with driving meaningful change. To me, impact investing is a whole new way of thinking about investing. It engages the power of capital markets to drive change, which I believe has the potential, if done right, to solve the UN SDGs targets more efficiently than governments on their own. Having gained exposure to financial markets, I was disappointed that despite being aware of social and environmental challenges, ‘Greenwashing’ and ‘Impact washing’, is more prevalent now than ever, highlighting that capital is not being deployed efficiently to directly address and close the SDG financing gap. Impact Investing does directly target the SDG financing gap and here, unlike in ‘green or impact washed’ investment products, you are able to ‘follow the money’ for the real social and environment impact that’s delivered.