In the investment industry, greatness has long been measured by a specific set of metrics: assets under management, outperformance against benchmarks, survey table rankings and troves of awards. The lore of our profession is filled with stories of legendary investors who delivered strong returns and built empires of capital. These measures are indeed important—after all, delivering returns is our fiduciary responsibility. However, in a world facing profound environmental, social and governance challenges, perhaps we need to ask a deeper question: what does it mean to be a good investor?

This question sits at the heart of our belief system and identity at Perpetua Investment Managers. At our firm, we are not only trying to be great investors in the conventional sense, but we are also striving to be good investors—investors who recognise that capital has influence, and with that influence comes responsibility. We believe the time has come for our industry to more intentionally expand its mission. It is no longer enough to simply generate returns and amass large pools of assets to manage. We must also examine how those returns are achieved, what our capital enables, how we individually and collectively leverage our position, and what kind of future we are helping to build.

For decades, our industry has prided itself on being dispassionate. The prevailing ethos was to focus more on numbers and less on narratives. This objectivity, however, often came at a cost. It allowed investors to overlook the social and environmental consequences of capital decisions. It enabled scale and profitability to be mistaken for purpose. Such a narrow definition of success is increasingly misaligned with the world we live in.

Being a good investor starts with recognising that we do not operate in a vacuum.

The decisions we make about where and how we allocate capital have far-reaching consequences. Our portfolios intersect with every sector of the economy—energy, financial services, agriculture, healthcare, technology, manufacturing. With that reach comes influence. We have the ability to shape corporate behaviour, raise expectations, challenge short-termism, and champion long-term value creation.

Stewardship, then, is not a side activity. It is central to what it means to be a good investor. It means engaging with companies not just when things go wrong, but consistently and constructively. It means asking the difficult questions: about climate risk, labour practices, pay gaps, governance shortcomings, and unsustainable business models. It means using our voice and our votes to influence better outcomes, even when it comes at a cost to popularity or ease.

Being a good investor goes beyond how we engage externally.

It also demands that we look inward, at how we organise ourselves as firms. Are our ownership and incentive structures aligned with long-term thinking? Do our cultures reward curiosity, integrity and accountability? Do we provide the space for reflective research and thoughtful engagement, or are we driven by the tyranny of short-term reporting and news flow? If we want the companies we invest in to be sustainable and forward-looking, we must hold ourselves to the same standard.

Being a good investor requires us to work collaboratively.

Our role in shaping the broader culture of the investment industry also warrants reflection. The culture we reward and perpetuate influences how capital is deployed at scale. Cynicism and complacency must be actively guarded against. In their place, we must foster a culture of trust amongst each other and collective stewardship—where responsibility, interconnection, and purpose are not afterthoughts, but integral to how we define our role as an industry.

Becoming a good investor is a journey.

At Perpetua, we are proud of the steps we have taken over the past 12 years. Our sustainability and stewardship efforts are not separate from our core investment activities; they are woven into the way we think, act and invest. We challenge ourselves to look beyond the spreadsheet, to understand the real-world impact of our capital, and to advocate for more resilient and inclusive systems.

Perfection is not our claim. This is a journey, and we embrace it. Striving to be good investors enhances our chances of being truly great investors—the kind of investors whose success is built not only on strong returns, but also on the strength of their values.

The world is asking more of capital. It is asking more of us. Our industry must respond with integrity, with care, with courage, and with a broader vision of what investment success can mean.

Delphine Govender

Chief Investment Officer