M&G's responsAbility Appoints Nadia Nikolova as Chief Executive to Scale Impact Strategies

M&G's impact investing unit responsAbility Investments has appointed Nadia Nikolova as its new Chief Executive Officer, succeeding outgoing CEO Rochus Mommartz who plans to retire at the end of 2025. Nikolova joins from Allianz Global Investors, where she established the firm's sustainable and impact credit investment team and scaled its blended finance strategy.

Founded in 2003 and acquired by M&G in 2022, Zurich-based responsAbility is an impact asset manager specialising in private market investments across financial inclusion, climate finance and sustainable food, with approximately $5.6 billion in assets under management. The appointment of Nikolova, who previously managed AllianzGI's direct lending and sustainable credit operations, reflects M&G's goal to further scale responsAbility's impact investment strategies within its broader EUR 90 billion private markets business. Nikolova said she is honoured to join at 'such a pivotal time in the evolution of impact investing.'

The three investment themes — financial inclusion, climate finance and sustainable food — are areas of growing institutional investor interest, particularly in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the climate transition. Climate finance in emerging markets, including investments in renewable energy and climate adaptation projects in Asia and Africa, has become a priority asset class as institutional investors seek to deploy capital with measurable environmental and social impact alongside financial returns. The blended finance expertise Nikolova built at AllianzGI is directly applicable to responsAbility's mission of mobilising private capital for impact in markets where commercial finance alone is insufficient.

India represents a significant opportunity across all three of responsAbility's investment themes: the country's large financially underserved population, its rapid renewable energy buildout requiring substantial capital, and its importance as a global food production and supply chain hub all align with the firm's investment focus. Under Nikolova's leadership, responsAbility is expected to deepen its presence in South Asian markets and to develop new blended finance structures that can channel institutional capital from developed markets into high-impact opportunities in India and comparable emerging economies. M&G's Chair Emmanuel Deblanc noted that responsAbility has 'unrivalled expertise' in its three thematic areas.

Key figure — $5.6 billion assets under management at responsAbility