EDITOR’S COMMENT There’s a killer quote in the EG Interview this week from PfP Capital’s new chief executive Catherine Webster. It’s the kind of quote that causes you to think. That makes you wonder if this is how we need to start talking about our industry as a whole.
In the interview, Webster talks about herself as being “unashamedly capitalist, but for good reason”.
The quote follows her description of much of her 30 years in capital markets as being a time of “ashamedly making a profit”. A time of caring only about the bottom line, of making as much money as possible to line the pockets of business leaders – maybe her own too – and shareholders.
Now at PfP Capital she says her focus is on making profit to enable more social value. Finally, she gets to be unashamedly capitalist, but for good reason.
It was a perfectly juxtaposed comment too. We were speaking with Webster as part of our programme at MIPIM. Webster was the subject of an EG Interview Live on day one of our three days of content at the show. Her conversation about using capital, about using real estate for good was followed the next day by a rousing but slightly awkward keynote from the investment minister Lord Dominic Johnson.
Johnson’s speech was just what it needed to be. The Tory peer, tasked with being the UK’s concierge for investors, had to deliver something full of gusto and superlatives. His job is to use every weapon in his arsenal to showcase the UK as the very best place to invest. Backing the UK, knowing that this is a country that has such great potential, that is full of great minds, great doers, innovators and leaders, is something we can all get behind.
But the awkward bit came when he asked the audience what property was all about. “Location”, the audience answered. “People”, they yelled. He looked baffled. “No,” he retorted, “return on investment, you idiots”.
I’ve added the “you idiots”, obviously.
That moment was when the penny really dropped for me. I know I have written here many times before about government not really realising what the real estate sector is, what it does, how it can deliver for the UK. But it was that moment, that back and forth with our sector, when it became blindingly obvious that government hasn’t got a clue about the modern real estate industry.
Yes, real estate is a capitalist sector. Yes, it is about making money. It is about return on investment. It is a sector where individuals can make a lot of money. But real estate is also about creating value. It is, of course, about benefiting the bottom line. But it is also about benefiting communities, our planet and the people that live on it. It is, in the words of PfP Capital’s Webster, about being unashamedly capitalist, but for good reason.
Webster isn’t the only individual who thinks like this. And PfP isn’t the only business that operates like this. This is a growing contingent of the modern property world. Just look at the boom in real estate-related businesses that have joined the B Corp community.
This is the message that we need our government (this and the next) to hear loud and clear. And here, I promise to be unashamedly on your side and on a mission to showcase the positive impact real estate has, economically, socially and environmentally.
I will, of course, need your help, so expect a call to action soon.
For now though, let’s all commit to being unashamedly proud of what real estate can do, about the benefits it can bring and how we, together, can showcase that.
■ EG turns 165 years old next month, and while not a significant birthday (don’t worry, there will be a big bash for our 175th) we are still keen to mark the occasion. I’m on the hunt to find some of our longest-running subscribers. Has the EG been in your family since 1858? Have you been waiting with bated breath for the EG to arrive on your doormat for decades? If so, drop me a note at samantha.mcclary@eg.co.uk
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