Some see first-time and diverse fund managers as “emerging.” Include Ventures’ Taj Eldridge sees fresh perspectives with unique lived experience, able to spot overlooked opportunities for innovation and impact.
On the last Plugged In call of the year, the omnipresent investor said the key to delivering impact alpha in the Trump era is to lean in, not out, with investments in historically underrepresenting managers and founders, sectors and geographies, and embracing talent at all education levels.
“It’s time to separate the wheat from the chaff,” Eldrige told host Sherrell Dorsey. “Those companies that are going to be true to the idea of diversity, those companies that are going to be true to the idea of sustainability and climate: My hope is that they will be more competitive than others and show the real value of that.”
At Include Ventures, a fund of funds, Eldridge has seeded more than a dozen emerging fund managers, such as Melanin Kapital in Germany, Unconventional Ventures in Denmark and Azolla Ventures in the US.
In climate and impact tech, “when you start talking about ideas of innovation, that’s when you need to have these different, differentiated new ideas,” he said.
Climate economics
Eldridge also talked about how job creation and economic opportunity are key to selling the climate transition to the public.
With a different hat, he leads Climate-Resilient Employees for a Sustainable Tomorrow, or CREST, an Ares Foundation-backed initiative at Jobs for the Future to upskill and diversify the climate workforce.
Under CREST, Eldridge has supported climate workforce programs at University of Tennessee, Greater New Orleans Foundation, Portland General Electric, University of Buffalo and the Industrial Commons in North Carolina.
“These regions got selected because of the diversity of the type of needs that they were seeing, from battery technology to the circular economy,” said Eldrige, who stressed the need to sharpen the narrative and storytelling. CREST, he says, is focused on “how we make it relevant for the region and the people that are there.”
Eldridge’s conversation with Dorsey provides a roadmap for impact investors in 2025. By supporting emerging managers, investing in green job creation, and remaining steadfast in their commitment to impact, investors can navigate the challenges and unlock the opportunities ahead.
