Episode 088 — Scaling Capital Markets for Shared Ownership: Alison Lingane's Blueprint for Capital Growth

This week we sit down with Allison Lingane, founder of Ownership Capital Lab, a nonprofit singularly focused on growing investment capital for employee ownership. Allison, with nearly 15 years in the employee ownership space, including co-founding Project Equity, shares her journey from creating scalable paths to opportunity through education to realizing the critical need for a robust capital market for shared ownership.

This episode dives into how employee ownership, often considered the "best kept secret," can move beyond its current silos and into the mainstream. Allison discusses the core thesis of Project Equity—making employee ownership normal and self-generating—and how this led her to establish Ownership Capital Lab to specifically address the challenge of attracting capital. With a goal to inject an additional billion dollars of capital into the space, Allison explains the current landscape where dedicated employee ownership funds, totaling around 27-30 with $500 million in assets under management, are still largely "emerging managers".

Listeners will gain insight into:

• The innovative approach of newer funds that attract mainstream business owners with acquisition offers rather than solely employee ownership proposals, making employee ownership competitive with private equity buyouts.
• The impressive 12-15% IRR return profiles of private credit employee ownership funds, which are designed to outperform mainstream private credit with lower default rates.
• The critical need for senior debt that can match the speed of private credit to ensure employee ownership funds can compete effectively.
• The importance of the proposed American Ownership and Resilience Act, which aims to provide specialized employee ownership funds with access to matching low-cost government capital, positioning employee ownership as a vital tool for retaining American commerce.
• Ownership Capital Lab's work in developing the first-ever roadmap for employee ownership capital growth and fostering connections and education among investors and funds.
• The pervasive misconception among institutional investors, like some foundation endowment committees, that companies opting for employee ownership are "duds," highlighting the ongoing need for broad education.

Allison will be elaborating on these crucial topics for scaling employee ownership at a summit in New York on October 7th. Don't miss this insightful conversation on how to unlock the full potential of employee ownership through strategic capital investment and education. You can learn more about Allison's work at ownershipcapital.capital.

Get your ticket to the summit to see Alison speak here: https://www.ownershipeconomy.com/registration