TELL US ABOUT YOUR JOURNEY TO RETURN ON DISABILITY .
“ THERE ARE 1.3BN PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD WHO IDENTIFY AS HAVING A DISABILITY . IT IS THE WORLD ’ S LARGEST EMERGING MARKET ”
RETURN ON DISABILITY SAYS : " DISABILITY [ IS ] THE # 1 GLOBAL EMERGING MARKET "
CAN YOU EXPLAIN THIS ?
There are 1.3 billion people around the world who identify as having a disability . It is the world ’ s largest emerging market . A frontier market . There is enormous value here !
The first part of my career was as a trader . That experience taught me how value was actually created . You are looking for high performing companies , and we weren ’ t looking at people with disabilities . I stuck my hand up and said : “ This is something we should do . In support of that , I started doing research on disability economics . The research astonished me ! I didn ’ t realise there was this much spending power . Thirteen years later , here we are ! The group was where the hard work comes in . You can ’ t just say , ‘ Let ’ s do it ’; you have to build . That ’ s the hard part .
WHAT IS ESG TO YOU ?
My honest answer is that it is a PR construct . Demand has shifted over the last 25 years . Our customers are demanding a different approach to environmental issues . They are trying to watch out how to accommodate that demand shift . ‘ Social ’ is the least developed and the least political .
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