Melchior de Muralt
Co-founder of Blue Orchard
Melchior de Muralt is the Co-Founder at Blue Orchard Finance Ltd and Managing Partner at de Pury Pictet Turrettini & Cie. Blue Orchard is a leading investment funds manager specialized in advancing inclusive finance and sustainable growth, dedicated to microfinance. It was founded in 2001 and invested around USD 7 billion in over 80 emerging markets in Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa. In 2006, Melchoir and his team developed a methodology to communicate sustainability agendas with impact efficiently. De Pury Pictet Turrettini & Co is a wealth management firm pioneering in responsible and sustainable investment since 1996 aiming to speed up the financial industry’s contribution to the achievement of the SDGs. Since, de Pury Pictet Turrenttini has grown a strong reputation, and is also a forerunner in being one of the first wealth managers to receive the Finma license.
Melchoir’s determination to generate positive impact is evident in him being a member of committee at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Vice President at Pictet Foundation for Finance and Development. Furthermore, he helped launching the Humanitarian Impact Bond (HIB).
Melchoir is from Switzerland, father of five children and holds a PhD in political sciences on European Integration from the University of Lausanne. In 1988, he joined the Lombard Odier private bank, where he was responsible for the work of the Ethos Foundation for Sustainable Development (one of the markets first ESG products), a foundation created by Swiss foundation funds, leading investments aligned to sustainable development goals.
He is also chairman of the Cadmos Emerging Markets Engagement Fund (CADEMEF), a shareholder engagement fund helping big multinationals to seize the risk and opportunity of corporate social responsibility.
Linking up with Ashoka Centre Swiss Social & Business to create value for shareholders and promoting social strategy investment, Melchoir expresses the aim to be an ambassador between the big multinational and the social entrepreneur field.
He is also on the Board of Directors at R20 Regions of Climate Action, composed of green finance leaders aiming to fast-track the transition to a low-carbon green economy.
He is part of the Family Office Club, Geneva SDG Finance Collaboration, Swiss Venture Philanthropy Forum, Les Rencontres du Management Durables, UCITS and AIFMD Professionals, Les Ateliers de la Finance Responsable, and Maximpact.
On a more personal note - at the Zermatt Summit in 2014, he shares that one of the most courageous things he has done in his life was having five children, and on a more professional level, having left one of Switzerland’s largest asset managers for a nascent smaller asset company, and launching a micro-finance investment company, Blue Orchard.
In interviews Melchoir points out that governance is at the heart of it all, as he confirms: “To lead a successful business, you need passion and entrepreneurship, but you also have to remember that without governance you go nowhere.” He argues that most managers solely buy or sell companies according to their ESG rating, this however, is not enough for generating lasting and meaningful impact. “This does not actually help to make tangible improvements in terms of a company’s impact. What you sell, someone else will buy and vice versa.” The key to investing into the right companies requires a deep understanding of the company’s sustainability mission. His passion leads him to encourage young people to understand their own vision, passion and inner truth, explaining that money will then follow.
We are incredibly proud and pleased to have Melchior as a judge of the Food & Agriculture category at our Global Impact Awards.
