News

While approaching the end of 2015, it is also the first anniversary of the second term Task Force. The Fund’s initiatives have seen good progress in the year. The Shared Value initiative was launched; engagement of intermediaries for Capacity Building and Innovative Programmes is on track; the intermediary for the food support flagship project will soon be appointed; the research project of evaluation study is at the stage of proposal assessment. The fourth meeting of the second term Task Force was held on 25 November. Upon the results of these initiatives, Task Force members deliberated on various subjects pursuant to the Fund’s vision of being a catalyst for social innovation in Hong Kong.

We are glad to announce the completion of second stage activities of our Shared Value initiative with the conclusion of three workshops. Riding on the momentum of the forum held on 9 September, three workshops, the last one being on 12 November, were conducted. A total of 50 senior executives from different companies of diverse trades took part. Through group discussions and exercises, participants got to know how to apply innovative ideas and company assets to formulate business initiatives that create shared value for the company and the community. We are working with our partner CSR Asia in taking forward third and fourth stage activities which will provide coaching and mentoring for the interested companies to develop and implement Creating Shared Value business plans. More details will be released in due course.

The invitation for proposals for conducting the Evaluation Study of the SIE Fund came to a close at 12:00 noon today.  Stay tuned for further news.

The Shared Value concept guides companies to think about social innovation that creates more value for themselves, their shareholders and the societies in which they operate. The SIE Fund, a catalyst for social innovation, encourages businesses to apply the “Creating Shared Value” (CSV) approach in their business strategies. A discussion session with the theme of “Creating Shared Value” was hosted by the SIE Fund Secretariat on 2 November at the Social Enterprise Summit. Ms Mara Chiorean, Executive Director of CSR Asia and Mr Joe Ngai, Director and Managing Partner of McKinsey HK spoke on the subject. These two consultancy firms are active players in CSV advocacy and their experience brought valuable insights to the 80 plus participants.

Following the Summit, the Secretariat held another seminar on impact investing on 3 November. The speakers were Mr Xu Yong Guang, Chairman of Narada Foundation from China; Mr Joe Ludlow, ex-Director, Impact Investments of Nesta from UK; and Ms Karen McGregor, CEO of Firstport from UK. They shared about social innovation ecosystem as well as impact investment environment in China, UK and Scotland. There were about 40 attendants, including members of the Task Force, government officials and colleagues from the Secretariat.