Jul 2, 20232 min
Updated: Jul 3, 2023
The CEO of Save the Children Global Ventures, Paul Ronalds, joins us to talk about the impact investing side of Save the Children – unlocking capital and backing truly interesting initiatives around health, education, child protection and climate.
Save the Children Global Ventures complements traditional grant-making and philanthropy with an increased use of innovative financing instruments, including loans, guarantees and blended finance funds.
They work with a wide range of start-ups and investors, and are establishing a family of impact funds to crowd-in private sector investment to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Paul Ronalds leads Save the Children Global Ventures, the in-house team at Save the Children responsible for taking innovative finance and new technologies to scale. He brings a unique mix of private sector, government and NGO experience to this initiative.
He started his career as a corporate lawyer with international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills providing advice on capital raising, M&A and private equity transactions. He co-founded wishlist.com.au, one of Australia’s first e-commerce companies, and has helped establish, fund and lead a number of international and Australian start-ups across multiple sectors.
Paul has served as a senior advisor to two Australian Prime Ministers; was Deputy CEO of World Vision Australia and, for the last nine years, served as CEO of Save the Children Australia. He led the creation of and is a founding director of Save the Children Australia’s impact investment fund.
He has degrees in economics and law with honours from Monash University, a graduate diploma in applied finance and a masters in international relations from Deakin University.
In 2016, he was awarded a Monash University Fellowship in recognition of distinguished service to civil society. In 2022, Paul was awarded the “Individual Outstanding Achievement Award” at the 2022 Australian Impact Investment Awards.