MJ Sinha is a responsible and impact investment consultant and advisor with extensive experience volunteering and working for nonprofits, foundations and family offices throughout Canada and abroad. MJ is also the inaugural Chief Investment Officer of the Rental Protection Fund in British Columbia. We sat down with MJ recently for a conversation about his journey and his thoughts on impact and responsible investing.
MJ, you’re not just a supporter of immigrants to Canada, you’ve lived the story. Please tell us a little about your journey and your integration into Canadian life.
I moved to Canada back in 2013 to pursue my MBA. I was lucky to have a close friend from my undergrad, Anuj, who lived in Toronto, and then to have the organic opportunity to build friendships during my MBA. Since then, through my work, I’ve gotten to know many amazing people, who are like friends now. I feel at home in Canada, and the people I have in my life have played a critical role in this. I am forever grateful for all this.
How has your career taken shape?
Professionally, post MBA, I worked as a contractor in an investment fund and then a corporate role before deciding to work as a consultant as I was unable to find a full-time role in my field of choice: impact investing. It was my first client, Elizabeth Heald, who gave me my first consulting gig and has been one of my biggest supporters. After advising her and many others for a few years, I joined a Toronto-based, faith-based foundation as their head of Finance and Investment. I thought it was commendable for that hiring committee to give an immigrant, a person of color, someone with a different faith, accent and skin tone the opportunity to manage their finances and investments.
After that, I consulted once again, before joining one of North America’s largest impact investment funds as their inaugural Chief Investment Officer, which is the role that I currently hold.
What do you think is toughest or most challenging for those immigrating to Canada today, and how does that remind you of your story?
On the personal side, I think the change to one’s sense of identity is hardest. You’ve left the country you grew up in and now call another country home. Where exactly do you belong? Where is home? Also, being far from your motherland and rebuilding things from scratch is lonely sometimes, for many, including myself, even though I have a solid group in Canada.
When you think of empowering immigrants and refugees in Canada, what role do you think philanthropy and impact investing play in that future?
Immigration has been a core strategy for Canada for decades, even though the profile of immigrants has continued to change and evolve. Philanthropy and impact investing can help in a few ways...
Number one, by helping more immigrants assimilate into Canadian society and the employment market by bringing them into your personal circles, and by accepting foreign experience when hiring.
Number two, by helping to address the anti-immigrant narrative that continues to increase, within Canada and globally. This doesn’t mean shutting down genuine grievances around topics such as affordable housing, et cetera, that people may have, but rather ensuring that immigrants that come to Canada are treated fairly, equitably and with dignity, and aren’t scapegoated for bigger systematic problems that they didn’t create.
In your consulting business, you help asset owners understand the power of their capital. Tell us how you work with asset owners on their impact and responsible investment journey.
I support foundations, family offices and other investors on the complete investment lifecycle. My work includes designing investment strategy and guiding policies, asset allocation mix determination (where to invest based on risk, return, impact and other considerations), Investment Manager selection and management, and then managing all these investments. I have also led Positive and Negative Screening investing, and various shareholder engagement initiatives.
Through these I’ve had the chance to be one of the earliest investors in Windmill, support North America’s first indigenous private equity fund, run one of the largest affordable housing vehicles in North America currently, and raise issues on workers' rights, the opioid crisis, climate change and more with large corporations.
You have often said that Windmill's Community Bond is one of your favorite impact investments in Canada. Can you tell us why you feel that way?
As an immigrant, albeit a financially privileged one, I am aware of the struggles of making another country home. These challenges get greatly magnified if you lack capital that is needed (for accreditation, et cetera) to be able to be your best self. I support Windmill as it helps reduce at least one barrier for these immigrants and helps create a more equitable, fair and just society. It does also create greater prosperity for Canada through providing talent in missing fields, increased taxes and reduced underemployment.
As an investor, through my various management, Board and advisor roles, I have invested in Windmill several times. I think a product like Windmill’s Community Bond, which generates decent returns (against comparables such as government bonds and GICs for example), has very low default rates, and creates a strong impact in the community is a great investment.
