SINGAPORE, July 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- AVPN, a Singapore-based funders' network committed to building a high-impact social investment community across Asia Pacific, unveiled three brand new initiatives during its 2019 Breaking Boundaries Conference, hosted at the Suntec City Convention Center this June 25-28. The Social Enterprise Development Toolkit, AVPN Climate Action Platform, and AVPN Health Platform. These initiatives have been developed in partnership with organisations like Credit Suisse, Village Capital, USAID and a Hong Kong Family Office respectively, to leverage technology and build a stronger pipeline of investable opportunities within causes that cut across the biggest global issues affecting Asia.
Social Enterprise Development Toolkit
Credit Suisse has been partnering with AVPN to develop a framework and common language to help social enterprises (SEs) build their capacity and readiness to be able to absorb follow on investment and philanthropic capital.
The idea is to provide tools to help unlock Asia's $40 trillion in private wealth to have long-term, sustainable impact. Doing this will require resources that can help SEs and investors throughout Asia identify and match needs and resources as well as speak a common language of returns and social impact.
"It has become clear to Credit Suisse that leveraging our philanthropic dollars to bring social enterprises along the continuum so that they are ready for long-term investments is a necessary ingredient to scale their impact," said Liza Green, Head of Corporate Citizenship in APAC, Credit Suisse.
AVPN Climate Action Platform
Another platform launch was ushered in on Day One of the conference by Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and renowned philanthropist, Eileen Rockefeller Growald. Asia's first multi-sector Climate Action Platform dedicated to social investors will focus on enabling action for investors to move capital towards impact to fight climate change.
Asia Pacific remains by far the region most exposed to natural disasters worldwide -- a person living in the region is five times more likely to be affected by natural disasters -- resulting in over 500,000 lives lost and 1.4 billion people affected since 2005 and USD 900 billion in economic losses.
"Collective action and collaboration amongst the public, private and people sectors are critical in the fight against climate change. The AVPN Climate Action Platform is one such initiative. By leveraging AVPN's global network, it can promote collective action by connecting investors with green businesses and projects, and ensure that resources are deployed to the most impactful solutions," said Dr. Khor.
The first phase of the project, in partnership with a Hong Kong-based Family Office, will focus on building a larger pipeline of investable opportunities for Asian investors in the region attract more capital to fight climate change.
AVPN Health Platform
In collaboration with USAID's PAHAL (Partnerships for Affordable Healthcare Access and Longevity) AVPN launched a Healthcare Platform to leverage private sector resources (both financial and non-financial) towards high-impact interventions in healthcare in India - across all areas from TB to maternal & child health, to NTD's etc.
India faces a growing need to fix its basic health concerns. India has the fourth highest infant mortality rate in the region at 39 per 1000[1].
"Asia is at a turning point where every decision, action and behaviour, has a critical impact on the future of our communities," said Naina Subberwal Batra, CEO and Chairperson of AVPN. "We are also in a time where we have more resources than ever to create unprecedented solutions to some of our region's most pressing issues. But no one organization, country or individual can solve this alone and working in silos can only bring us so far. This is where the power of networks like AVPN comes into play to bridge divides, advance agendas and bring the collective action needed for a sustainable future."
The recent Suntec City event drew 1,300 individuals -- 65% of which represented C-Suite -- from 45 countries into Singapore to learn more about the potential of social investing in the region. Of this total number, 26 Asian family offices were represented, 50 policy makers from 10 different Asian countries, and 170 large corporations and financial institutions. Organisations made more than 5,000 unique connections through the AVPN connector app, which shows how valuable the network can be to drive meaningful connections for future partnerships and collaborations in driving social change.
"Having integrated sustainability into our business and operations for over two decades, City Developments Limited believes that climate change and UN SDGs offer businesses and investors the opportunity to filter investment decisions using a different lens. Globally, there is a fast-growing trend that investment strategies should focus upon areas that create a positive impact on the environment and/or society; in addition to fulfilling their future financial risk and return requirements, thereby simultaneously creating benefits for both business and society," said Esther An, Chief Sustainability Officer at City Developments Limited, an international real estate company listed on the Singapore Exchange with a network spanning across 29 countries and regions.
About AVPN
As the only comprehensive funders' network in Asia, AVPN is a leading ecosystem builder for the social investment sector with 500+ members globally. AVPN's mission is to catalyse the movement toward a more strategic, collaborative and outcome focused approach to social investing, ensuring that resources are deployed as effectively as possible to address key social challenges facing Asia today and in the future.
www.avpn.asia
Facebook: @asianvp
Twitter: @avpn_asia
LinkedIn: @AVPN
For Media Queries, kindly get in touch with:
JJ Lee
JJLee@apcoworldwide.com
APCO Worldwide
(t) +65-6922-0559
(m) +65-8498-6630
