Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX)

Exciting things are happening in the Impact Investing space in Asia. My friend En Lee, is involved in IIX Asia, home of Asia's first private and public platforms for Social Enterprises (SE's) to raise capital efficiently.

Shujog, IIX's nonprofit sister organization was created to carry out the research and impact assessment work on SEs across Asia Pacific. In addition, Shujog also took on the role to do advocacy work for SEs interms of arranging monthly talks around impact investing.

I feel China is behind in the Impact Investing space. In my recent tour of HK and China, whenever I bought up the topic of Impact Investing, after extended explanations, I was always met with "that will never work in China".  I guess the underlying assumption is that the Chinese people are too busy chasing money, and there is no value system nor a trusted infrastructure to support philanthropic work other than those backed by the government.  Even home grown charities are rare in China, never mind something that tries to make money and do good at the same time.

But things are changing.  As people's wealth grow, there is an increasing need to do some good with one's pile of cash, especially amongst the super rich.  Putting the fundamental motivations of such actions aside, there need to be a system that supports the distribution and handling of this stream of money. Already, we hear of opportunities of foundations being set up by the the new generation of wealth who are no longer satisfied with donating to monasteries or government funded projects, yet desperately wanting to address social issues in China.  There are also examples of social entrepreneurs doing great work on the ground. More work needs to be done connecting these two communities, or at least let each know the other exists. This, I think is the great work carried out by organizations such as IIX. Please open an office in China!

ImpactAssets 50

ImpactAssets 50 offers a list of experienced private debt and equity impact investment fund managers that deliver social and environmental value in addition to financial returns (including leaders from microfinance, community development, fair trade, and other strategies).

Impact capital is the new venture capital - By Sir Ronald Cohen

Great article (part I and II) penned by Sir Ronald Cohen

Sir Ronald Cohen is chairman of Bridges Ventures and The Portland Trust. He chaired the UK's Social Investment Task Force and the Commission on Unclaimed Assets and he is a founder-director of Social Finance. Until 2005, he was executive chairman of Apax Partners Worldwide LLP, which he co-founded in 1972.

"Just as hi-tech business enterprise and venture capital, working in tandem, have attracted increasing numbers of talented risk-takers since the 1970s, so social enterprise and impact investment are now attracting a new generation of talented and committed innovators seeking to combine new approaches to achieving social returns. Social enterprise and impact investing, in short, look like the wave of the future."

Summer of 2011

Summer of 2011 has the potential to be a big turning point in my life.

I'm interning at Calvert special equities, learning about Impact Investing.  Impact Investing describes investment activities that seeks positive social / environment impact as well as financial return.  It is the concept of "doing good and doing well".  The tag line I came up on Saturday was "Impact Investors help social entrepreneurs to solve some of the world's biggest and hardest problems".  Impact Investing is also about investing for the future, its more than a new asset class, it is an investment philosophy and philosophy of life.

I want to record my own personal journey on discovering and exploring this industry and grappling with some of the key questions and challenges along the way.  I also want this blog to act as a forum for my friends who are working or interested in the industry, sharing resources and reflections.  Someone I was talking to today said the good thing about this industry is its strong support network. Because the industry is so new and trying to establish it self, everyone wants everyone else to succeed. Because one success story goes along way to explain the industry to outsiders and cynics. And there are a lot of cynics, myself included.

The article by Paul Hawkins is very inspirational and explains why one needs to look for and create more values in life than just financial returns.  The quote below deals with cynics like me.

"The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hope only makes sense when it doesn’t make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it."