From 'Can’t' to 'Can' With Urgency – Social Investing Debates at the AVPN Conference 2014

By: Martina Mettgenberg Lemière. PhD; Lead Researcher Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) – INSEAD, Singapore (bio below)

Asia is often assumed to be the engine of global economic growth. Yet, a rising tide doesn’t lift all boats. New business models are needed to provide inclusive markets. This year’s AVPN conference (http://www.avpn2014.com/) provided an on- and offline platform for the 390 participants from 29 countries and 244 organisations to connect, exchange knowledge, create partnerships in alternative investments and push the boundaries of the possible.

Online, the in-house AVPN connector platform featured participants’ profiles – by the end of the conference, 250 users had logged on and sent 500 messages. Offline, participants honed in on what had worked for the emerging sector to date, drilled down into financial, human and intellectual capital practices, watched carefully curated pitches in the investment showcases and built new partnerships in the networking sessions.

Overarching themes of the conference were impact assessment, deals and social enterprises and how to navigate the precarious balance between trust and proof, global interests and local concerns, personal motivation and partnerships with governments, other funders or businesses.

Embracing the ‘can’t’ with urgency and moving towards systemic change were the key messages of the brief welcome by AVPN Chairman Doug Miller and Lien Centre for Social Innovation’s (LCSI) Chairman Dr Chi Chiu Tan. The keynote by Amit Chandra (Bain Capital) conveyed his personal commitment and urged changemakers to use resources similar to for-profit businesses in social purpose organisations (SPO) and foster collaboration.

The first interactive panel moderated by Crystal Hayling from LCSI focused on the transformative personal stories of panel participants Annie Chen (RS Group), Kavita Ramdas (Ford Foundation) and Sadeesh Raghavan (Acumen Fund) and teased out aspects of their impact investing. Good philanthropy is about people; people’s passion and efficiency are the best indicators for predicting success. The panel was optimistic about the sector’s growth due to the promise of technology and the influx of bright, young people with excellent skills. The audience enquired into toolboxes for connectivity and impact assessment, to which one panel member answered that less can be better, alignment is key and the size of effort needs to reflect initial investment and projected return.

The large part of Day 1 was split into parallel breakouts on financial, human and intellectual capital. In the Financial Capital sessions, one provided a platform for foundations. Two others focused on co-investing and social investment’s influence on international development. In the session on blended social, economic and environmental value the panel, lead by Scott Lawson (SOW Asia) and comprising of Annie Chen (RS Group), Maurice Machenbaum (WISE) and Watanan Petersik (Asia Capital Advisory), outlined the need for multi-linguality between investors and social enterprises and for consistency in generating value along the entire supply chain.

Following lunch, two further breakouts focused on Human Capital and Intellectual Capital. In Human Capital, sessions explored team building, best practices in giving time and money and leveraging senior volunteers. Given the need for multi-linguality of different actors in the sector, the session on intermediaries - moderated by Patsian Low (NVPC) with panelists Peter Yang (Empact), Sadeesh Raghavan (Acumen Fund), Tomimo Shimizu (NPO Kamonohashi Project) and Namita Vikas (Yes Bank) – shared how intermediaries and SPOs achieved translating between different stakeholders. One panelist representing a SPO found that the experience of intermediaries is key to delivering relevant services. An intermediary shared how his organisation first has to understand problems and make them actionable before deploying volunteers. It remained debatable who was supposed to and can afford to pay. While ‘demand pays’ in some organisations and third-party subsidies remain common, other participants were less clear on payment structures and size for intermediary services.

The Intellectual Capital breakouts focused on fundraising techniques, impact assessment, dealflow, incubating SPOs and effective due diligence. The impact assessment session moderated by Jeremy Nicholls (SROI Network) with Toshihiro Nakamura (Kopernik), Jane Newman (Social Finance) and Mihyun Cho (The Happiness Foundation) described different organizational usage of impact assessment. One organization went through phases to assess impact and is using the results to implementing improvements. Another organization used impact assessment to trigger payments, thus seeing it as a performance measurement with feedback loops and structured phases for improvement. A debate reflecting the current debate in Europe was the need for generalization versus individual project outcomes.

The day closed with an interactive panel on engaging governments moderated by Jonathan Jenkins (Social Investment Business) and a panel comprising of Benedict Cheong (Temasek Foundation), Amitav Virmani (ARK India) and Dr Mairi Mackay (British Council) and a brief introduction to the latest of AVPNs reports on ‘Getting started in Venture Philanthropy in Asia’: http://www.avpn.asia/startvpo/startvpo/

Day 2 was marked by thematic networking, the investment showcases and sessions on impact measurement by B Lab and the SROI network, a workshop on social franchising and a seminar on VP funds in Asia.

The morning plenary moderated by Dr Chris West (Shell Foundation) teased out insights from Markus Hipp (BMW Stiftung Herbert Quandt) and Ruby Shang (Clinton Foundation) on global efforts in engaged philanthropy. Partnerships in the sector can take long to mature; up to 7 years from inception to actual partnership. Joint effort usually started small and gradually widened the scope with partners. Making global efforts locally relevant, paramount to success, involves careful listening to local partners and addressing their needs.

The breakouts on social impact by B Lab moderated by Phoebe Leung brought together representatives from various investment funds such as Sow Asia, LeapFrog Investments, Caspian Advisors, RS Group, Quadria Capital and Developing World Markets. Following the outline of different organisations’ usage of impact assessment, a vibrant panel and audience discussion ensued. One audience questions explored how much reporting is sufficient and funds shared that it depends on the investor. Another questioned the connection between  outcomes and impact and searched for ways of validating the connection. The audience also raised questions on what is being measured and to what purpose; an organization may start measuring what investors want rather than what stakeholders need, thus drifting from its social purpose.

Parallel to these sessions, lively social enterprise sessions, moderated by En Lee (LGT VP), featured the social enterprises Empact, Ecosoftt, Thriive, Kolkata Sanved, Playeum, Conjunct Consulting, Magic Bus and Engage. The “Pitch of the Day” was won by Thriive.

This year’s AVPN conference achieved presenting the different approaches to enabling social investing in Asia work. It also highlighted what has not worked and provided a platform for knowledge exchange. Through the breadth of the participants, the quality of the debates and the hands-on approach to fostering connections the AVPN 2014 has mapped this emerging sector and is pushing the boundaries of the ‘can’.

Martina Mettgenberg Lemière. PhD; Lead Researcher Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) – INSEAD, Singapore.

Martina is passionate about emerging markets, impact investing and entrepreneurship. She built her expertise in human capital/talent, financial services and anthropology and her wide analytical skillset (including ethnography, case studies, composite indicators, impact assessment) over 7+ years work experience in business research in the UK, India and Singapore and a PhD from Manchester Business School. Currently, she is leading the research and team for the Global Talent Competitiveness Index at INSEAD in Singapore.