News

You may have heard of TED which is gaining popularity worldwide as a brand of idea-exchanging events. In Hong Kong, a salon with the theme of rethinking philanthropy was held lately by TEDxWanChai. Head of Efficiency Unit Mr Kim Salkeld was one of the speakers. Mr Salkeld shared his views on how the Government can drive social innovation through sponsoring researches (which help identify priorities) and policies and regulations (which facilitate extensive participation). The SIE Fund was cited as a new approach in such effort. The Fund aims to strengthen the ecosystem and to leverage on the expertise and networks of intermediaries to identify, nurture and coach social entrepreneurs to set up businesses with social impact to tackle poverty and social exclusion.

Hurrah! Engagement agreements were signed between the SIE Fund and the four intermediaries, namely The Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS), PolyU Technology and Consultancy Company Limited (PolyU), SOW (Asia) Foundation Limited (SOW (Asia)), and The Yeh Family Philanthropy Limited (YFP).

The four intermediaries are tasked to design and administer various programmes for Capacity Building and Innovative Programmes. As reported earlier, the Good Seed programme organised by PolyU and the social entrepreneurship and venture philanthropy course held in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology by YFP are already on the go. Programmes of HKCSS and SOW (Asia) will be launched soon. Please stay tuned for more updates.

The Chinese New Year holiday is over and the SIE Fund Task Force is back to the active mode. Task Force Members gathered at the office of the Efficiency Unit on 5 March, not for celebrating the festival but a workshop.

In the workshop, Task Force Members and staff members of the Secretariat practiced the use of “Strategic Visioning”. It is a tool for structured thinking that helps an organisation to review the environment and its situation and to come up with visions and actions. This workshop is a timely warm-up for the Task Force before it engages in challenging tasks to come.