Borja Barragán founded a financial business that can be said to go against the grain, as it doesn't aim to make a profit at whatever cost.
BORJA BARRAGÁN
Founder, Altum Faithful Investing
“My business is something special. It's a financial consulting business, but has two characteristics that set it apart from other financial consulting firms in existence. First, everything we assess must comply with the Social Doctrine of the Church. Second, 100 percent of Altum Faithful Investing's earnings go to evangelization projects, specifically projects that foster prayer, mission and vocation formation.”
It's a simple, but revolutionary formula, never before applied, whose proceeds, for example, go to rebuilding the homes of persecuted Christians in Iraq, running an orphanage in Dakar, or funding religious cinema like this movie, “The best gift.”
His business comes at the same time as these Vatican recommendations on financial ethics, a document that specifically criticizes the profit-driven market of the last few decades. Borja wants to show that profits and solidarity don't have to be opposing concepts.
BORJA BARRAGÁN
Founder, Altum Faithful Investing
“What the document calls for in its final conclusions is for us to have a consistent portfolio, in the sense that our way of consuming and investing could be an opportunity to be a testament to our faith. Profit must not be the only goal of the concrete act of investing. We have to try to debunk that which always assumes investing in compliance with moral criteria automatically means sacrificing return.”
His investment fund is based on four pillars. If a potential business goes against even one of them, it's automatically rejected. They are the promotion of human dignity, of life, of the family and protecting and caring for the environment.
BORJA BARRAGÁN
Founder, Altum Faithful Investing
“We have a small problem, which is a lack of financial and economic education. It seems we cannot enclose ourselves in those worlds, and with a bit of training, everyone would have a much better understanding of what we're investing in. In the end, money is either good or bad, not only because of how you use it, but also how you obtain it.”
The idea seems to be catching on with many people who are soliciting the company's services. The initiative shows that making a profit can even be something evangelical when it focuses on the human person.
