Key Points
- The sense of purpose from having dual objectives – investment returns and impact – anchor us in uncertain times
- From Remitly to Dexcom, FDM to Safaricom, portfolio companies continue to contribute toward a more sustainable and inclusive world
- We are inspired by companies’ ability to deliver attractive investment returns while driving real-world change
All investment strategies have the potential for profit and loss, your or your clients capital may be at risk. Past performance is not a guide to future returns
If you wanted to change the world for the better, how would you do it? And then, how would you know if you were succeeding in your aim?
Because you would have to measure your impact to be sure of the difference you were making. That’s precisely what we do in our sixth annual Positive Change Impact Report. Click here to read the full PDF.
If you are looking for the portfolio’s headline impact figures, you’ll find them on our headline impact wheel. This is a snapshot of some of our portfolio companies’ progress towards improving the world for current and future generations.
But we hope our enthusiasm for the difference that companies delivering positive change are making in addressing environmental and societal challenges will encourage you to read further.
Portfolio companies continue to harness technological progress and innovation to grow their businesses and contribute to a more sustainable and inclusive world. By drilling down to the company level, you will discover some of the remarkable changes occurring across the globe under our four impact themes.
Social Inclusion and Education
While education is said to be the great leveller, it isn’t universally so. Only two-in-three children, globally, attended either lower or upper secondary school in 2021 according to UNICEF.
That’s why the reach of portfolio companies could make such a difference to people’s prospects. Between them, Coursera, Duolingo and FDM Group have 178 million registered learners for whom they are facilitating low-cost, high-quality, accessible training.
Environment and Resource Needs
By 2030, global demand for water will exceed supply by 40 per cent. Our complex modern societies put a great deal of stress on the water, food, energy and minerals we need to sustain life and empower socioeconomic progress.
As a result, every sector of the economy will have to reimagine how it operates in the coming decades to rebalance our relationship with nature.
Ecolab and Xylem are holdings which are helping other companies to use water more efficiently and sustainably. In 2022, their products and services enabled customers to save 1.3 trillion litres of water.
Healthcare and Quality of Life
Sometimes the headline numbers do not tell the full impact story.
Alnylam’s contribution to health might seem minimal on a global scale, only providing 3,700 patients with treatment and disease management solutions. Until that is you consider that its RNA-inference-based drugs treat rare diseases that others cannot by silencing faulty genes. It also has a 60 per cent drug success rate, compared to the industry average of 9 per cent.
As Alnylam further develops its drug development technologies, it will significantly change how diseases are diagnosed and treated, increasing its impact over time.
Base of the Pyramid
It’s estimated that more than half of the world’s population lives on less than $3,000 per year when measured on purchasing power parity. These four billion people form a cohort known as the base of the pyramid.
The World Bank considers financial inclusion a key enabler for reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity. This is one of the ways in which the portfolio is addressing the challenges for the base of the pyramid.
Over 400 million people got access to financial services through portfolio companies in 2022. That includes Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telecoms provider, whose M-Pesa mobile money ecosystem allows 30 million customers to send and receive money globally. And Nubank, the Brazilian digital bank that has brought six million customers into the financial system for the first time, allowing them to build their credit history responsibly.
The report also maps out the significant contributions each company’s products and services make, and how the portfolio is performing against the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals in our Portfolio snapshots.
Risk factors
The views expressed should not be considered as advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a particular investment. They reflect opinion and should not be taken as statements of fact nor should any reliance be placed on them when making investment decisions.
This communication was produced and approved in July 2023 and has not been updated subsequently. It represents views held at the time of writing and may not reflect current thinking.
This communication contains information on investments which does not constitute independent research. Accordingly, it is not subject to the protections afforded to independent research, but is classified as advertising under Art 68 of the Financial Services Act (‘FinSA’) and Baillie Gifford and its staff may have dealt in the investments concerned.
All information is sourced from Baillie Gifford & Co and is current unless otherwise stated.
The images used in this communication are for illustrative purposes only.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| Positive Change Composite Net | 1.6 | 47.5 | 65.7 | -38.7 | 24.3 |
| MSCI ACWI | 6.3 | 2.6 | 39.9 | -15.4 | 17.1 |
| 1 year | 2 years | 5 years | Since inception* | |
| Positive Change Composite Net | 24.3 | -12.5 | 13.7 | 19.3 |
| MSCI ACWI | 17.1 | -0.4 | 8.6 | 9.9 |
Source: Baillie Gifford & Co. Changes in the investment strategies, contributions or withdrawals may materially alter the performance and results of the portfolio. *Inception date 31 January 2017.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| Positive Change Composite Net | 5.4 | 51.9 | 48.2 | -29.9 | 18.7 |
| MSCI ACWI | 10.3 | 5.7 | 25.1 | -3.7 | 11.9 |
| 1 year | 2 years | 5 years | Since inception* | |
| Positive Change Composite Net | 18.7 | -8.8 | 14.6 | 19.1 |
| MSCI ACWI | 11.9 | 3.8 | 9.5 | 9.7 |
Source: Baillie Gifford & Co. Changes in the investment strategies, contributions or withdrawals may materially alter the performance and results of the portfolio. *Inception date 31 January 2017.
Past performance is not a guide to future returns.
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