AVPN participated in the 2013 Impact Forum on 13-14 June 2013, with our CEO, Simon Chadwick speaking on the panel on “Intermediaries Intervention”, which also featured Dr. Mari Mackay from British Council in China and Ms. Loh Chen-Ai from DBS.One of the topics that came up repeatedly throughout the forum was the need for collaboration between private investors, public equity and the governments in order to ensure the growth and success of the social investment space. Similarly, the panel also discussed the role of intermediary organisations, like AVPN, which help to cultivate the space and bring in more resources. Panels on institutional investors also talked about the importance of both grants and impact investing in this space to ensure that riskier ventures will be supported without expectation of financial returns.
The event also featured social enterprise showcases for accredited investors and witnessed the launch of Impact Exchange. The continued increase of activities in the social innovation space demonstrates the positive development of this field in Asia.Professor Mohammed Yunus, the featured speaker at the forum, opened the event by clarifying his different definitions for for-profit businesses and social businesses. To him, the former focuses on “making yourself happy”, whilst the latter’s purpose is to “make other people happy”. Hopefully there will be more players in the market who will put making others happy as a priority.
For more information: http://impactforum.asia/2013/