[ad_1]
Ask Piers Lindsay-Fynn how he maintains a sense of optimism in the fight against climate change, and he’ll tell you it’s simple: maintain a focus on what you can change, and don’t think too much about the big picture. The best way to think about it, he says, is as a “small cog in the machine,” fighting the good fight, one battle at a time.
His response belies something of the impact he’s delivering in the transition to a low-carbon economy. Piers is a founding investor of Gore Street Capital, a market pioneer in renewable energy investment and the manager of the UK’s first internationally diversified pure-play energy storage fund. He started the company in 2015 together with – and “at the behest of”– business partner, Alex O’Cinneide after the pair identified energy storage as a nascent, but crucial element of the low carbon energy transition.
Since its inception, Gore Street Capital has increased its assets under management ten-fold to almost 1.2 GW across five international grid systems. With Net Asset Value reaching £558.4m as of 30 June 2023, the fund launched by Gore Street Capital in May 2018 is one of the biggest players in energy storage investment.
These systems provide critical grid services across Europe and the US, balancing the supply of increasing renewable and, therefore, intermittent generation with demand from consumers. This function is helping to ensure more clean energy can be integrated into the global energy system.
Unlike Alex, Piers hasn’t always been passionate about global warming.
“To be honest, before Gore Street, I was cynical about climate change. Alex was the visionary who persuaded me that what’s happening to the planet is man-made. He laid bare the imperative to change what we’re doing as a society before it catches up with us. Almost ten years into Gore Street and, of course, the evidence is now absolutely conclusive.”
Photo: Piers Lindsay-Fynn and Miranda Linsday-Fynn
Although Piers attributes the vision to his business partner, he needn’t have looked beyond his own family for inspiration. While he and Alex were setting up Gore Street Capital, his sister Miranda was simultaneously taking the helm as Commercial Director of Sonichem at Bio Sep, a pioneering UK-based startup that has developed the technology to convert forestry biomass into biochemicals.
A scientist by training, Miranda Lindsay-Fynn, has always been drawn to problem-solving, specifically to the challenge of leveraging under-used resources. Bio Sep, she says, was a natural next step in a storied professional trajectory that includes stints in marketing, fashion and even yacht skippering.
“I love science, but I didn’t want to spend my career in the lab,” she reveals. “So, I was keen to try out different things.”
Sailing satisfied a sense of adventure and a need for personal challenge, while five years in Singapore as a chief executive in retail honed skills that she has repurposed to “sell science.”
“Working in fashion retailing was exhilarating, but I struggled a lot with the idea of high consumption driven by people needing endless things,” she says. “I came back to the UK looking for inspiration and for purpose, which I have found in selling an undervalued resource; a technology that the world actually needs.”
Connecting with purpose – fighting the good fight in sustainability and the circular economy – is a common thread that connects the professional lives of the Lindsay-Fynn siblings. But it’s not the only one.
Piers, Miranda and Alex all share an experience – “life-changing” for each in different ways – that has helped shape their careers; that has been instrumental in the creation of their businesses; and that has dove-tailed with a common desire to give back to society.
All three are graduates of London Business School.
The London connection
In 2002, Piers was a city broker, sitting on the investment committee of his family’s business and keen to understand how to manage the proceeds from the sale of the company: how to make better sense of different asset classes and investment strategies. Management consultant Alex was, meanwhile, at a career turning point.
Photo: Alex O’Cinneide
“I’d reached a moment where I wanted to make a shift from advising companies on their investments to sitting on the other side of the table,” says Alex. “At the same time, I was interested in personal growth and was looking for a tier-one school to make that growth happen.”
The two met at London Business School, having signed up for the Masters in Finance. It was a meeting of two very different perspectives and takes on life, but the start of an enduring friendship. For Piers, it was also an experience that offered important, personal affirmation.
“LBS grounded my understanding of finance, but on a more emotional level, the Masters gave me confidence,” says Piers. “I’d grappled with dyslexia at school and I’d made the wrong choices academically. LBS gave me a critical-first taste of academic success, and with that, a real shift in confidence.”
With that new confidence came a personal and professional network; access to diverse and complementary minds and skill sets that has led to extraordinary opportunities over the years – the greatest expression of these being the founding of Gore Street Capital.
For Miranda, building a network was also a major goal upon returning to the UK from her stint as a yacht captain in Singapore. In 2007, she joined the London Business School MBA, looking for the same access to diverse perspectives and “amazing minds.”
“Coming back to London, LBS gave me a privileged space as a burgeoning entrepreneur to explore my ideas with my cohort and work through processes with different teams and group work. I built the most amazing network,” she says, “People that continue to inspire and challenge me, and many of whom have become the biggest investors in our work today.”
The shared LBS experience represents an inflection point in the lives and careers of all three change leaders: a step-change in knowledge, skills, understanding and confidence; a meeting of different minds, aptitudes and synergies; and a space to forge enduring connections that continue to yield unique opportunities for collaboration and growth.
For all three, the LBS connection has remained steadfast over the years. So too has a shared desire to give something back to the school; and to future generations of fellow change leaders.
[ad_2]
Source link