Thursday, May 29, 2014

Admissions open for this year's INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Executive Education Programme (ISEP)







Demand for this year’s INSEAD SocialEntrepreneurship Programme is very strong. Applications are coming in quickly for the six-day programme that will bring together some of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs from all parts of the world. Space is limited.  The sessions will run in Fontainebleau (16-21 November 2014) and Singapore (30 November-5 December 2014). We have added new faculty, speakers, and cases making it one of the richest programmes ever.

If you know of participants you would like to recommendation for ISEP this year, please urge them to submit an application as soon as possible as the number of participants is limited. We rely on our existing ISEP alumni to bring top-tier leaders into our network. 

If you have questions or would like additional information we encourage you to get in touch with Hans Wahl, ISEP Programme Director.

Brazil: Annual Conference on Social Finance and Impact Business plus ISEP Reunion








INSEAD joined as a strategic partner with three dynamic Brazilian groups, the Institute of Corporate Citizenship (ICE), ARTEMISIA, and Vox Capital to organise our annual conference, this year taking place in São Paulo, Brazil. The three days of events were aimed at strengthening the ecosystem for the Social Finance and Impact Business in Brazil and across the region. With more than 550 participants attending, it was our largest conference to date and focused on advancing the understanding of the field, engaging private and public sector participants, and establishing the structures that would enable it to thrive. More than 90 speakers presented in 7 plenary sessions, 16 simultaneous workshops, and an exciting series of “innovation spots” and “pop-up” sessions.

At its conclusion, the launch of a Brazilian Social Finance Task Force was announced to be led by some of the nation’s leading business and government figures with the aim of creating mechanisms to promote the structures and flow of resources to meet the needs of this burgeoning field.

More than two dozen ISEP Network members attended the conference and the reunion (in spectacular Paraty) that followed on 8-9 May.  The reunion featured sessions on Scaling Social Enterprises and Risk Management presented by INSEAD Professor Filipe Santos and Timothy Ma Kam Wah (Hong Kong, ISEP 2009-S) in addition to numerous meals and informal discussion opportunities to become familiar with each other’s work, challenges and opportunities. Additional sessions were led by René Saloman Vargas (Bolivia, ISEP 2011-F) and Hans Wahl, and the reunion culminated with a boat excursion through some of Paraty’s beautiful islands.

Next year’s conference and reunion will be hosted by ISEP Network colleagues in Amsterdam in the spring of 2015 so make your plans now. We will make more information available as planning proceeds.

Contact hans.wahl@insead.edu with questions about the INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship annual conference and reunion.

 

Preventing Another Rana Plaza: Sustainable Supply Chains Panel, INSEAD Fontainebleau campus


DON’T MISS THIS EVENT!

PREVENTING ANOTHER RANA PLAZA:

SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAINS PANEL

Monday June 2nd at 19:15, AMPHI B, INSEAD Fontainebleau Campus, Cocktail reception to follow

It’s been a little over a year since the tragic Rana Plaza fire which killed over 1100 workers in a garment factory in Bangladesh. Since then, many major brands with operations in Bangladesh responded to the tragedy by strengthening their supply chain systems. What steps have brands taken to ensure the sustainability of their supply chains and safety of their workers? Learn from experts in the field about their experience working with and for major brands (Gap, Walmart, Decathlon, luxury brands, etc.) in creating a healthier environment for their workers.

A must attend event for anyone interested in retail, luxury, consumer goods as well as CSR and sustainability. We are honored to have the following expert speakers from around the globe.

MODERATOR

Craig Smith

The INSEAD Chaired Professor of Ethics and Social Responsibility 

PANEL:

Sean Ansett                                                    Dhruv Saxena 

Founder, At Stake Advisors                   INSEAD MBA'14J, Ex-Co-founder Bangladesh Procurement Operations and zone manager textile procurement manager-North India for Decathlon

Sujeet Sennik                                                  Tara Norton

Creative Director, Carbon Rain Inc.                  Director, Supply Chain Sustainability, BSR



Sean Ansett and Sujeet Sennik will be available for individual meetings in the afternoon of June 2nd, to book a time slot with them, please, contact Sabrine Monségur, Coordinator INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Initiative, Sabrine.monsegur@insead.edu

Contact Christine.driscoll@insead.edu with questions or for more information about the event.
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES 
N. CRAIG SMITH

Professor N. Craig Smith is the INSEAD Chair in Ethics and Social Responsibility at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.  He was previously on the faculties of London Business School, Georgetown University, and Harvard Business School.

His current research projects examine stakeholder theory and stakeholder value, ethical consumerism and sustainable consumption, strategic drivers of corporate social responsibility, deception in marketing, marketing ethics.

His recent publications appear in Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, and MIT Sloan Management Review.
 
SUJEET SENNIK

Sujeet Sennik was born in Ireland and raised in Canada. He studied at the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture Parisienne and started life as a designer at Balenciaga, Paris. His career stretches from Dior Haute Couture to Wal-Mart. He has been the owner and creative director of Carbon Rain Inc. and through this company, has designed collections that were sold from Bloomingdales to Bergdorfs and has developed product for Zadig and Voltaire to Dries Van Noten.
  
The Bangladesh tragedies changed his perspective on the fashion industries’ responsibilities towards their global supply chain and since then he has been outspoken in the fight for garment workers’ rights through his writing and a documentary.
   
He now spends his time helping NGO’s and clothing companies who are providing solutions to improve the health and welfare of fashions global workforce. He believes that change can come, not only for the Bangladeshi garment worker, but also for the rest of the workers who provide cheap labour for the most successful retail brands in the world. He hopes that the words, “Living Wage,” will become fashionable in the near future.

SEAN ANSETT

Sean Ansett is a senior sustainability professional with over 15 years’ experience. Sean provides strategic advice to corporations, social enterprise start-ups, UN agencies and non-profit organisations on ethical trade, human rights and environmental sustainability globally through his company At Stake Advisors Ltd.

Additionally, he was Executive Director of the Bangladesh Safety Accord and is Chief Sustainability Officer at Fairphone, Acting Board Chair of Liberty&Justice Clothing, Senior Associate University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership and an Ethical Corporation Editorial Board Member.

Sean was the Director of Corporate Responsibility at Burberry in London. Previously, Sean was the Director of Global Partnerships at Gap Inc. where he led Gap Inc.’s social responsibility and stakeholder engagement strategy related to labor, environmental and human rights issues. He was the chief architect behind the company’s stakeholder engagement strategy significantly enhanced the company’s reputation.

He has served on several global multi-stakeholder initiatives including the Advisory Board of Social Accountability International, the Global Reporting Initiative’s G3 expert committee, the Ethical Trading Initiative, a founding member of the MFA Forum and UNCTAD’s committee for integrating CSR indicators in financial reporting.

Sean is a regular speaker and writer. He has contributed and is quoted in Bloomberg, Economist, Guardian, Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Sean is a returned United States Peace Corps and World Food Program volunteer and has a Masters degree in Sustainability Leadership, University of Cambridge, a Master’s of Science degree in Business Administration.


TARA NORTON
Drawing on more than ten years of experience, Tara works with BSR’s global members across sectors to help them evolve and improve their strategies, policies and practices to enable sustainable supply chains. In this capacity, Tara is also the Director of BSR's Center for Sustainable Procurement, and the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative.
Prior to BSR, Tara’s experience includes directing supply chain issues at 2degrees, and most notably, running Sedex, the world's largest not-for-profit sustainable supply chain membership organization and database, where she contributed to Sedex's growth to its position today as a well-respected resource for supply chain sustainability. Tara also worked in sustainable procurement at BAA in London, was project manager at the World Trade Center Association in Los Angeles, and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Kherson, Ukraine.
Tara has an M.B.A. from London Business School and a B.A. with honors in International Studies and French from Northwestern University. She is a dual citizen of the United States and the United Kingdom, has lived in five countries, and speaks fluent French.
Follow Tara on Twitter: @tnnw1, where she tweets about sustainable supply chains and sustainable lifestyles.


DHRUV SAXENA
Dhruv Saxena, graduated from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (India) and the École nationale supérieure des arts et industries textiles (France). Over the last six years he worked within the textile universe of Decathlon handling multiple portfolios in Asia and Europe. Within the industrial division of the company, he co-founded the textile procurement office of Bangladesh in 2010; an office generating a turnover in excess of Euro 45 million per year. He also developed the North Indian textile procurement zone for Decathlon and oversaw end to end supply chain and production operations for the zone. Over his career he has monitored 40+ social audits and over a 100+ corrective action plans in small and large scale factories.
He was also responsible for the development a 1000 worker+ factory in Bangladesh which resulted from a tie up of Decathlon with a local conglomerate. He was an active member of various committees that over saw responsible production initiatives in South Asia. He holds guest lecturers every year at NIFT and continues to advice organizations on sustainability related topics.



Upcoming Social Entrepreneurship Events!

There are several upcoming events in social entrepreneurship, impact investing, and social impact in the next few weeks. Here is a sample of a few we would like to highlight: 


First, the Impact Forum, From Niche to Mass, Singapore and Paris, June 12-13



The 6th annual Impact Forum, "From Niche to Mass", by Impact Forum Asia, a two-day inter-continental global conference focusing on the power of social enterprises and Impact Investing in accelerating Asia Pacific, Africa and Europe's social, environmental and financial parts of progress for the betterment of all.

Impact Forum will take place in Singapore on June 12 and 13 and in Paris on June 12. In addition to the lively discussion, parts of the forum will have a live streaming from Singapore where you will interact with other Impact Investors and Social Entrepreneurs around the globe.

Register now for our Impact Forum Paris session and get inspired by fellow change makers around the globe.



Next, the Ashoka Changemakers Week, Paris, June 12-13, 2014




Description: Social entrepreneurship has become a popular rallying point for those trying to improve the world, we are still at the beginning of the journey. Change is accelerating faster than ever and we are facing everyday new social and environmental challenges. The sector of social entrepreneurship has to adapt itself, change, and engage new stakeholders and young generations. How can we accelerate social change? What are the most efficient levers? This one-day lab will be an opportunity to debate, innovate and imagine the new boundaries of Social Entrepreneurship in France and Europe, and the roles of social  entrepreneurs, corporations, public institutions and media in this evolution.


The sessions are mostly in French but there are a few in English on June 13th.  Please go here for more information. 


Next, the BSR Spring Forum, Collaborate on Climate in Paris, June 11-12, 2014

 


The BSR Spring Forum—taking place in Paris in just two weeks. It will bring together the private, public, and nonprofit sectors to spur bold, ambitious action on climate change. Register today, and join forces with your peers to solve this defining issue of our time. Through inspiring plenary addresses, breakout sessions designed to spark collaboration, and exclusive networking opportunities, the BSR Spring Forum will be an important step forward in building impactful partnerships among business, government, and civil society.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Could Social Impact Bonds Be the New Form of "Business as Unusual" that is Needed? An Analysis of this New Financial Instrument



By: Sunita Grote, INSEAD MBA (13D), bio below

 Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) have received significant attention since the launch of the first SIB in Peterborough (UK) in 2010. Over the years, a significant number of SIBs have been launched, mainly in the US and the UK, aiming to address a range of social issues including recidivism, employment and childhood asthma. Though the jury is still out on the SIB’s actual effectiveness in achieving social outcomes, initial reviews of the Peterborough SIB showed promising results (formal evaluation results are expected in April 2014) and the model has received considerable political and financial support.

The SIB model’s value lies in leveraging the resources and strengths of various players to achieve social impact. Private investors provide upfront capital to finance social interventions. If the interventions achieve their desired social outcome, governments return the investment (plus interest) to private investors. Governments therefore provide financial resources only for interventions that have proven impact. In Development Impact Bond (DIBs), development agencies, rather than governments, are the ultimate outcome payers.

The world is currently busy defining the next set of goals for sustainable development for the world after 2015. The Millennium Development Goals, set in 2000 to guide the world’s political and financial support for development are approaching their deadline and have shown varied levels of success. Progress on tricky – and at times controversial – areas remains a far cry from where it should be. Financial resources are lacking in quantity, quality and focus. What is needed? We need more of the things that we know work – including foreign aid (contrary to what we were told at INSEAD, development aid and government-led efforts have worked- even Bill Gates agrees!) – but also business as unusual, new partnerships, resources from new sources, innovative approaches. Could Social Impact Bonds be business as unusual that is needed?

The answer is an unequivocal ‘maybe, it depends’. 

While SIBs have the advantage of bringing new partners to the table and mobilizing capital from new sources, the partnership does not in the long-term increase the size of the pie of overall available resources. Governments (or development partners in the case of a DIB) still have to ultimately cover the costs of the interventions, if they were proven to have achieved social outcomes. For some emerging markets the provision of upfront capital by private investors will still be of interest however, as they expect domestic resources to be more readily available in the medium-term. However, is capital through a SIB really that attractive to governments? The Peterborough SIB could ultimately cost government upto 13% in interest – a sizeable cost compared to 1% or less interest for World Bank IBRD loans available to low-income countries.

SIBs do not address questions of long-term sustainability since a one-off payment by government does not guarantee a long-term, continuous investment in any particular social issue or intervention. What happens after the end of the SIB is the question that remains, since the partnership itself does not necessarily catalyze systemic changes in policies, public budget allocations or private investment practices that will lead to sustainable responses. Providers still remain dependent on further injections of external financing after the SIB has ended.

Political, legal and social barriers rather than a sound evidence base often shape the amount and allocation of resources for social issues. HIV and women’s health are known examples of sectors in which financial investments often follow ideology rather than evidence. Since the government would ultimately still be required to pay for the outcomes, political support is still required to use SIBs to scale up a particular intervention. Private investors have concerns related to their own brand image. SIBs therefore potentially skew investments to issues that are considered less controversial and less complex, focusing on low-hanging fruit and reinforcing neglect of more complicated social outcomes.

In order to leverage the potential that SIBs could bring for sustainable development, it is critical to build in some safeguards to ensure impact. In order to achieve and sustain any outcomes achieved, the SIB must be well integrated with other ongoing efforts by the public, private and civil society sector. Social outcomes in one area (e.g. increased access to primary education) cannot be sustained without outcomes in others (e.g. improved maternal health through family planning and broader health services). Any outcomes achieved under a SIB of limited duration could therefore be lost, if the model is not tied in with other stakeholders and interventions. Engagement with the larger field of players, building partnerships beyond the SIB will be critical to leverage long-term social change. Last but not least, any attempts at designing and implementing a SIB must absolutely be conducted in close collaboration with the communities who will ultimately benefit and who will drive social progress.



Sunita Grote has ten years international experience working on HIV and health issues in developing countries. While at INSEAD (MBA ’13D), Sunita conducted an ISP assessing the potential of SIBs for the response to HIV in emerging markets. She now advises organizations in social impact on financial sustainability including the use of social finance and entrepreneurship.

Monday, May 26, 2014

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.