The younger Cousteau co-founded EarthEcho International, a nonprofit environmental educational group, and Azure Worldwide, an environmental design, development and marketing company.
Now living in the Washington, D.C. area, Cousteau says his partnership with AdvisorShares evolved over two years of discussions with various people in the financial world. "I was lamenting to a friend who's an investment guy about how difficult it is for nonprofits to raise money in a recession, and about the lack of resources available to tackle global challenges," he recalls.
His friend suggested tapping into Wall Street, and Cousteau began researching different types of funding vehicles including private equity, hedge funds and angel venture funds.
Cousteau was introduced to AdvisorShares through an investment manager he knows, and the two sides met informally. AdvisorShares told Cousteau they wanted to do something in the sustainable investing space, and Cousteau warmed to the idea of funding his project through an ETF.
"I wanted something I worked in to be accessible to everybody, and not something available just for accredited investors," Cousteau says. "It's not what the [Cousteau] legacy is all about. I liked the egalitarian nature of ETFs, and their ease of use and transparency."
Active Management
For AdvisorShares, the partnership with Cousteau jibes with its goal to not create cooke-cutter ETFs. "We don't want to bring out plain Jane, style box types of products because it's a competitive environment," Carl says.
AdvisorShares' forte is working with investment managers to bring their strategies to market in the form of ETFs.
Carl says Cousteau will play no active role in the fund's investment management, but instead will be more of an educational resource and ambassador for the fund. "He knows about environmental and sustainable ventures, as well as philanthropic efforts and social entrepreneurship," he says.
The Global Echo ETF will have four subadvisors. First Affirmative Financial Network LLC in Colorado Springs, Colo. will handle alternative long/short and hedging strategies, along with asset allocation.