Video: ‘In the emerging market space, the case for sustainability is profound’

April 17, 2025 at 10:40 AM EDT

Asha Metta is the founder of Global Delta Capital and the author of “Power Capital.” She joined me on a recent episode of The Impact to discuss discuss her journey in impact and social investing, and break down how Global Delta Capital is specializing in international, emerging, and frontier markets.

Jeff Gitterman: You founded a emerging market investment company, and you’re doing that through impact. Talk to me about the opportunities that are there, the investment thesis that you’ve built around that.

Asha Metta: The opportunity for investments in emerging markets is really twofold. One, the opportunity for alpha, just through a traditional investment lens: is there an opportunity to generate a return? But then, the second purpose of capital is not just to generate a return but also to fund the ecosystem in which we want to live.

So, on the first point, the opportunity in emerging markets through an alpha-driven lens. I think, particularly in this moment where we live with more recessionary concerns here in the U.S., investors looking for growth put pressure on investment portfolios. As investors are thinking about how they’re going to hit their spending needs more and more, they’re looking at where the return opportunities are and how they can diversify their portfolios.

JG: Absolutely.

AM: Over the last decade, there’s been one effective strategy for investing in public markets. It’s been in one country, in one sector and a handful of stocks, But more and more investors are finding reasons for diversification. And here in early 2025, we’re starting to see those green shoots, really a lot of movement in the emerging markets and in international developed markets as well.

So I think as investors are looking for that return, we’re realizing that emerging markets represent the bulk of the globe’s footprint, the bulk of the globe’s population, increasingly the bulk of the globe’s GDP growth, and in fact the bulk of the globe’s GDP.

It’s an incredible investment landscape that trades in a very inefficient way. Again, over the last 15 years, there’s been a limited flow of capital. So it makes for a very inefficiently priced asset class and, therefore, an opportunity for investors to generate a compelling return.

JG: So I have to ask you, with all the attacks on ESG and DEI that are occurring in the country today, when you kind of talk about what your fund does, is impact or the way to discuss impact a little bit less under threat than maybe some of these other initiatives?

AM: In the emerging market space, the case for sustainability is profound. The investment case is on the growth of the middle class, the growth of the consumer class. And so much of that is enabled through financial inclusion, through bringing half of your workforce.

And speaking of women, for example, in the workplace, you can double your productivity. So those fundamental themes are real, and one can label them ESG and DEI, or one can simply see that this is where the flow of capital is heading. And these are rewarding investment-driven themes.

Watch the full interview with Asha Metta

More from Jeff Gitterman: Climate investing with a focus on decarbonization

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Video: ‘In the emerging market space, the case for sustainability is profound’

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