23 years ago I moved from New York to

Hong Kong to continue my Wall Street

career.

This is the Hong Kong I know.

A major global financial center that
ranks alongside New York and London.
Home to some of the wealthiest people
in the world and gateway to China.
In other words, its a great place to make
money.

But there is another Hong Kong I didnt

know.
Until 7 years ago that is when the Lehman
bankruptcy and the resulting financial crisis
force me to rethink my life.
I decided it was time to get to know the real
Hong Kong.
These are photos of people living in tong
fong or subdivided flats- many no more
than 50 sq ft because of a lack of affordable
housing.

The more I searched the more bad news

I found.
While Hong Kong is home to many
millionaires and billionaires, roughly one
out of six people live below the poverty
line.
More alarming is the fact that these
poor people have seen their income
levels reduced in the past 20 years while
the rest of Hong Kong prospered.
4

Another challenging issue Hong Kong

faces is aging.
The proportion of elderly people will rise
to 1 in 3 by 2050.
This brings up huge challenges relating
to healthcare and retirement issues.

Up to now the Government has done,

shall I say, a semi decent job in dealing
with these issues.
But my research revealed that they only
treat the symptoms and not the root
cause of these problems.
It was around this time that I discovered
something called impact investing.

I spent the first 3 years meeting people

and learning how other countries use
social innovation and entrepreneurship
to solve their social problems.
And then 2 years ago I decided to start
my own charity. Asia Community
Ventures. We do three things all
related to impact investing. 1. Research
2. Capacity Building and 3. Advisory

It has been a busy two years.

In our first year, we put together Asias
first ever conference on impact investing
that focused on the role of governments
and intermediaries.
We also provided $400,000 to four
winning intermediaries in Asia to
promote impact investing in their
respective countries.
8

Next we completed a landmark report to

map the social sector in Hong Kong
called EngageHK.
The purpose is to identify all the key
players, understand their needs and
priorities, see how everyone can work
together and propose some ways
forward for Hong Kong.

We talked to over 100 people from 80

difference organizations in these 7
subsectors.
We also conducted four group
discussion sessions.
This is important because these people
dont normally talk to one another.

10

In our final report (available on our ACV

website) we made these five key
recommendations
and they guide all of our work at ACV.

11

Our second report takes a deep dive into

Hong Kongs existing social funds and policy
environment.
Using the London Principles, we look at how
Hong Kong can use policy to promote
impact investing as a tool to address its
social issues.
By now, some of you might be wondering
what exactly is this thing called impact
investing.
Lets watch a short video.

12

13

Impact investing is a growing field, and public officials are increasingly

looking at policy tools to bring private capital to support the
achievement of social objectives.
In response to this trend, the Impact Investing Policy Collaborative has
worked with policymakers, researchers and other stakeholders to
develop The London Principles, a set of guidelines intended to assist
governments considering impact investing as a tool to address social
objectives. They do not dictate what a government should do, but
rather offer guideposts that ideally point to better strategy and policy
development.
The London Principles are drawn from a multitude of political,
economic, and cultural contexts, and have been developed to address
different places across varying stages of impact investing ecosystem
development.
The London Principles are designed to support a reflective approach to
policy that drives learning and innovation over time to achieve
important social objectives.

14

15

16

Ming

17

1 min 40 sec

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

3 min 20 sec

26

27

ACCION
Accion is a nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI) that is
dedicated to providing the tools entrepreneurs need to operate, grow or start
their businesses. It provides business loans from $200 to $1,000,000, along with
training, networking and other support services, to those who own or want to
start a business and have difficulty accessing capital from banking institutions.
Approximately 80 percent of Accion borrowers are low- to moderate-income,
minority or female individuals.
DENVER SOCIAL IMPACT BOND PROGRAM
The City of Denver recently launched its first Social Impact Bond program, a Pay
for Success(PFS) project that will provide permanent housing and supportive
services to 250 chronically homeless individuals dealing with behavioral health
and substance abuse challenges. This $25.7 million intervention, which includes
an $8.6 million round of financing from a combination of local and national
lenders, will drive resources to better, more efficient programs that serve
homeless individuals who frequently use the citys emergency services, including
police, jail, courts and emergency rooms. The savings and benefits from reduced
costs in the criminal justice and health systems will be captured by the city, and
part of the saving will be used to repay the lenders for their upfront investment
to cover the cost of the program.

28

OURS TO OWN DENVER

In an effort to leverage the collective power of individuals making small
investments to support community development, Gary Community Investments
partnered with The Calvert Foundation and other local organizations to help
launch the Ours to Own campaign in Denver. Built on the belief that residents
should be able to invest in building the future they want in their cities, Ours to
Own is a growing movement of people investing as little as $20, and earning
returns, to strengthen their communities.

28

COLORADO IMPACT FUND

The Colorado Impact Fund is a venture capital fund dedicated to supporting local
companies that generate consistent investment returns in addition to positive
community outcomes. Managed by an affiliate of Vestar Capital Partners, the
Colorado Impact Fund provides growth capital to entrepreneurs who have
developed compelling business models that drive meaningful financial returns
and community impact. Its investment strategy leverages collective experiences,
resources, and networks to help Colorado entrepreneurs create exceptional and
lasting companies.
JOYBOX
Founded in 2015, JoyBox began developing the concept for a suite of tech-based
and physical tools for parents and children, 0 to 3 years old, to share together.
Created by Baby Einstein founders Julie and Will Clark, the company developed
a research-based early childhood curriculum and accompanying materials,
including activities, music, videos, games, flash cards, books and toys, that
provide parents with a month-by-month roadmap for understanding, supporting,
and monitoring child development. JoyBox is leveraging the untapped reservoir
of parental energy and love that can be mobilized given the right mix of
guidance, convenience and tools.

29

3 min 30 sec

30

Blended Value states that value creation is not an

either/or proposition wherein one
creates either economic returns or social impact, but
rather value is wholeorganizations have both economic
and social aspects of performance; and, by extension,
capital is not simply philanthropic or market-rate, but rests
along a continuum. Across this continuum, various types of
investment offer various levels of financial, social and
environmental performance. There is no trade-off
between doing well and doing goodthere are simply
different degrees of performance in an integrated capital
market.
TP an investment approach where 100% of the owners capital philanthropic, near market and market rate
returns are invested together to advance the owners mission
In return what comes out of these investments be it financial returns (at different levels) and the simultaneous
generation of social and environmental impacts that are aligned with our mission are looked at on a blended value
basis
i.e. RS Group does not look at whether an investment is impact or financial first but rather a spectrum of impact
across the portfolio
RS group believe this is an important evolution from traditional forms of WM pool all assets together to be
managed and invested consistently avoiding contradictions + fully utilised for impact
We call this being able to good and do well at the same time

31

Evolution & Current

32

Total portfolio approach

33

Total portfolio approach

34

35

36

37

In closing, let me just say that money

and meaning go together.
Social innovation cannot happen in a
vacuum. Its partner is impact investing.
And thats why it is so important for us
to build an ecosystem to promote
impact investing in Asia.

38

39