"The idea of a great employer-employee relationship is like any other partnership or for example, a healthy marriage."
Binuo Erth is the Managing Partner of the Vellum Group and leads the Vellum Perpetual Collection Fund. Binuo manages a range of ongoing Australian and International projects centred around Vellum and its subsidiaries – including asset management, capital origination and corporate advisory.
Binuo is a passionate advocate for sustainable and alternative investment, exploring a range of projects with Vellum that meet the highest ESG standards and have a positive impact on people and the planet, while delivering returns for investors. Vellum is a company committed to grow and develop projects, meeting the highest standards of corporate governance both internally and externally.
Binuo has enjoyed a distinguished career over the last 15 years in the financial services industry including roles as Managing Partner, Shareholder and Managing Director in several businesses before establishing Vellum Group.
Binuo has extensive knowledge of business and finance laws, compliance frameworks and regulatory practices. She has led three financial license setups, seven fund setups and other regulated activities such as bond issuances, share placements and derivative design.
Binuo has a strong technical background in a broad range of sectors including banking, agriculture, healthcare, biochemical, infrastructure, energy, real estate, and education. She possesses a strong track record in Australia and New Zealand in areas such as mergers and acquisitions and divestment, capital raising, IPO process across multiple markets and strategic planning. She is experienced in raising funds from, and for, institutional investors including global banks and other financial institutions. She has been successful in sourcing acquisition target, negotiation, deal execution, post-acquisition integration and restructuring.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Binuo Erth: About me:
I am the Managing Partner of the Vellum Group with over fourteen years’ investment and asset management experience in Australian and global markets. My team and I manage a range of ongoing Australian and International projects and funds centred around Vellum and its subsidiaries .
My career has been successful in sourcing acquisition target, negotiation, deal execution, post-acquisition integration and restructuring. By background, I am capital specialist with a keen interest in tangible asset and ESG (as in environmental, social and governance). I am experienced in mergers, acquisitions, and divestment; capital raising; strategic planning; post-acquisition integration; corporate venturing; and all aspects of sustainable investment and asset management.
About my company Vellum Australia:
Vellum is pioneering a female-led, Australian-owned, globally focussed ESG (environmental, social, governance) advisory and asset management business that drives investors, projects, and project owners to assess, plan, measure and validate what they do, making environmental and social impact and financial returns equally achievable.
Vellum Group is licenced to offer advisory services, financial products and innovative solutions to investors, entrepreneurs, companies, and institutional clients globally. We have a big focus on measuring ESG impacts for businesses – for example establishing ESG reporting framework for all business and non-for-profit including small to medium sized entities to achieve better ESG outcomes .
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2022? What lessons have you learned?
Binuo Erth: We have always considered ESG as important risk management factor, however going through 2020 and 2021, I realised we cannot just avoid the risks, we have to actively push forward
My team both in Hong Kong and in Australia were able to enjoy the highest level of safety and flexibility during this period and received support from management and each other . I n return, our efficiency level stays high, and we have really utilised this period to do some new research and study the results, which turned out to be very fruitful.
I think everyone is trying to support local business wherever they can as have many governments around the world too. As we recover from the lockdowns, t shouldn’t take much for a good business to get back on track.
We do realise though; risk management is important even if it’s for an unlikely event. Always plan for the worst but work for the best. It is important to get involved in your community. A s much as government and charities are doing the best, they can support those in need, a healthy, sustainable community can thrive so much faster and make a difference too
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
Binuo Erth: There are five key questions to ask as a business owner.
1. Where you see yourself in 10 years?
2. Where you see your business in 10 years?
3. Where you see your city in 10 years? Where you see your country in 10 years.
4. What could happen?
5. What can you do to change that?
We are all vulnerable in the middle of a global pandemic, and we have now almost won the battle but not without scars. I encourage others to think bigger, and consider beyond financial value what they can offer their communities
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Binuo Erth: We are in primary financial markets, so travelling is essential now the world is opening up. We really need to physically see the projects we work on, and ideally meet investors in person in order to sign a deal.
That is still the case and really hasn’t changed, but we do treasure our existing relationships more than ever. At Velum our focus now become helping our existing asset management portfolio to reach and keep achieving better ESG outcomes.
Also, more than ever, we realised financial products don’t’ create value themselves but it’s the underlaying assets, especially tangible assets that do. .
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
Binuo Erth: If there was a time machine and I could travel back in time, I would tell all the front-line medical workers and scientists as much as I know about the virus.
Personally, I don’t think I needed any specific advice myself, and at Vellum we couldn’t have done better than we have as a team.
We want to keep creating environmental value and social value alone side with financial value in 2022 and beyond.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
Binuo Erth: Do you remember a time when almost every family has a fixed line telephone in Australia?
How long did that take to disappear?
My memory is less than 10 years. I’ve landed in Australia in 2006 when every family has a fixed line telephone. During my two years of MBA, the main communication with family was through telephone. In 2017, when I establish Hong Kong Office, it is rare to see a telephone at home in Australia.
I believe in remote services and technology; I believe they will keep improving.
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
Binuo Erth: Perhaps less than you think.
I can’t live without white board though, I need to write things down physically still, to present and discuss properly, that drawing process is instrumental for most of our projects.
The majority of executives use stories to persuade and communicate in the workplace. Can you share with our readers examples of how you implement that in your business to communicate effectively with your team?
Binuo Erth: I think you mean experiences, either our own experiences or someone else’s.
We often share them in the workplace to support our theories, we take scientific approach as much as we can.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Binuo Erth: It is important to combat extremism.
It is not always necessary. Change in business and life can take time as well.
Take vegan diet for example, for the purpose of being part of more efficient human energy consumption, I’d personally love to eat as much vegan food as possible in my own diet. But I should not be forced to do so or forcing anyone else to do so.
It is the same in business environment, in fact we should encourage differences, try, learn and form its own path.
In 2022, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
Binuo Erth: Many of us have heard of the “10,000-hour rule”, which was popularised by Malcolm Gladwell’s famous book Outliers published in 2008. As Gladwell tells it, the rule goes like this: it takes 10,000 hours of intensive practice to achieve mastery of complex skills and materials, like playing the violin like a professional musician or being as skilled as entrepreneur Bill Gates in what he does.
Having revisited this theory just the other day, I think it has some merit in it. In 2021, my team has spent more than 10,000 hours in total on ESG reporting methodology and frameworks, simply because we cannot find any ESG advisory firm can provides ESG reporting to our comprehensive level.
Doing your own research and study can be done as well as a team to get more experience faster.
In 2022, we are prepared for reporting non-financial performance as advanced as our financial performance for all our projects and investments.
A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September in 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. 47% of people plan to leave their job during 2022. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. Do you think leaders see the data and think “that’s not me – I’m not that boss they don’t want to work for? What changes do you think need to happen?
Binuo Erth: The idea of a great employer-employee relationship is like any other partnership or for example, a healthy marriage. They support each other in varied ways, creating value for each other, and empower and encourage each other.
It is important for the employers to reflect the value they provide to people beyond financial to their employees and having a great workplace culture is a big part of that.
In both case of marriage and employment, my opinion of success, is to always show and expect respect.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Binuo Erth: Encouraging others to see the future and what needs to happen now to make it better for more people.
We have the skill set to predict and adjust; the hard part usually is to convince others to act.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Binuo Erth: I am committee to sharing our ESG understanding and research we do at Vellum to reach more people.
At the end of the day, ESG is not just about boxes to tick, and not just limited to carbon emissions. It is important to make the most of what we measure and offer businesses in terms of environmental value and social value, which are relevant and real.
It will be deemed a personal and business success if I can get more businesses and individuals’ attention on the power of embracing more ESG actions.
Jerome Knyszewski, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Binuo Erth for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Binuo Erth or her company, you can do it through her – Linkedin Page
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