#91 Sam Miller: Targeting Both Investment Management and Universal Impact at Advance Global Capital
Recently CompanyRoots interviewed Sam Miller, the Head of Impact at Advance Global Capital, a global impact investment management company looking to reduce poverty through sustained economic growth. Miller is committed to helping small businesses that strive to help the world today.
Miller was in the graduating class of ‘90 from the University of Pennsylvania, where she met a new student named Wiggy. Wiggy’s parents had moved to America from the Czech Republic due to the oppression they had faced under communism. Miller heard from one of her professors that there was history being made in the Czech Republic. Wanting to be a part of it, she managed to get a job with Wiggy’s parents where she created a way to fast-track English teachers to the Czech Republic.
After working in the Czech Republic, Miller got a job in an Invisalign company in Silicon Valley, in which she was part of the marketing decision in the company and would help with consumer advertising and media byes. Miller helped launch the outreach to the general practitioner market which would help educate dentists and orthodontists to become more comfortable with Invisalign and educate them about the business aspect of working as a dentist or orthodontist. They realized that the business education of these dentists and orthodontists was largely insufficient. At this point, it became clear to her that she wanted to help small businesses.
After leaving the company, she founded Xanh Consulting, a consulting company that helps small businesses. In Xanh, 80% of income still came from medical device companies. Miller would help many socially beneficial projects such as Biomedical, a company that had injectable fillers that could help patients with facial lipoatrophy caused by HIV/AIDS.
At this point, Miller felt it was necessary to go all in. She sold her car and her only income was from an apartment that she rented out. Miller then went to Vietnam and started a sustainable business consultancy. She worked with different fairtrade companies and was the only white person in the social enterprise, Train the Trainer program in Hanoi. Her position in Vietnam was in her words, “living very simply, but really trying to put me in the place of small businesses.”
Seven years later, Sam moved back to America at Advance Global Capital (AGC). AGC is a company that helps promote impactful small businesses. In regard to what AGC looks for when helping a small business, she says, “They are registered, they are delivering products and services, they are big enough to issue an invoice, but they have to wait 60, 120, 180 days to get paid.” They came up with a system in which one of AGC’s financial partners would buy an invoice from the small business of choice. Miller explains the model they use saying, “The money we lend to these financial intermediate companies is used for specific purposes”. So far AGC has raised almost 3 billion dollars throughout 65 different countries. The companies that the money is given to cannot fund certain things like the use of fossil fuels or anything else that harms the world. AGC also tries to help women, people of a different religion, or skin color because they are often excluded from many formal systems.
When looking back on how her experience at Penn helped shape who she is today Miller recalls Professor Rubenstein. Miller loved his class because though Rubenstein was a very esteemed individual, he had a lot of humility. One of Miller’s favorite teaching methods that Rubenstein implemented was that the students were required to buy a newspaper that they would discuss in class. Miller says it was very empowering to analyze a corporate ship with someone like Rubenstein. Another professor that she thinks back to was one that did not give them an agenda or curriculum but wanted the students to make their own. Sam explains what this was like to her when she says, “it was a profound experience to develop that for yourself.” This education in the influence of social, economic, and political things going on during that time is what shaped Sam into who she is today.
When asked about how impact investing has changed in the last ten years and how it will grow, Miller tells the audience that impact investing has grown almost 15 times in the last ten years, and she does not see this stopping. Miller says it will continue to grow because there are many different interests in impact investing. However, some problems within the market exist. One of these problems is that the market is not very inclusive. An example is that you can not invest in most funds if you are an accredited investor. Instead, you have to be a qualified purchaser which can cost up to five million dollars. Miller expresses her disappointment when she tells the listeners that when she presented at the University of California Berkeley, many students were disappointed to hear that they couldn’t invest. Overall Miller sees some change needed but says that it will continue to grow and will not stop for a while.
Money in Motion and Xanh consulting are two more organizations that Miller is associated with. Money in Motion was founded by Janet Mckinley and Miller is the CEO. Money in Motion’s investment strategy is called Grants investment. Sam explains this strategy saying, “In our view, it depends on the problem and which tool you want to fix it.” This means that Money in Motion looks at the problem that the small businesses are trying to fix and how the small business wants to fix it. Some of Money in Motion’s interests are helping financial inclusion, climate change adaptation and mitigation, innovative approaches in education, and humanitarian things. They work by managing a portfolio and making grants based on what is needed to help. Miller explains the value of Money in Motion when she says, “If you are so fortunate to inherit or make a lot of money, it does no good sitting in a bank account.”
When asked about what advice she would give the next generation of entrepreneurs, Miller says to be curious and relentless about looking for different learning opportunities. This allows people to learn about many different subjects to further broaden someone’s knowledge of the world and how it works. Miller also tells people to always put themselves into a position where they can learn as much as they can. She further explains the importance of this when she says, “every year is a large percentage of your total lifespan, but a year is not that long.” This quote puts into perspective how important it is for people to make the best out of the time they have.
You can watch the full interview here.
Interviewers: Rahul Kavuru and Sourish Jasti
Author: Chinmay Korapati
Editor: Ayan Lateef
Graphic: Sraavya Penumudi
Video Editing: Chinmay Korapati