Parallel Breakouts on Financial Capital: Social Investment and International Development

Wednesday 14
th
May, 1115 1215 Session reporter: Marina Tan Harper

Summary of the content of the session:
Panel shared their experience and mindset on how to bring the business model to the table as a tool
for social solutions to create opportunities for global poor with a focus on scaling highly effective
organizations that help disadvantaged young people break the cycle of inter-generational poverty
They also highlight the challenges, barriers and risk tolerance of different agencies and at different
points of the development life cycle.

Objectives of the session
Market-based models for social impact outcomes in Asia with the aim for improved healthcare,
housing, education and living for the Bottom of Pyramid (BoP).

Question from Moderator Harvey Koh to the Panel:
Monitor Inclusive Markets (Harvey Koh - UK)
MIM has been successful in using business model for impact investing for low income house, safe
drinking water for the poorest in Mumbai slums. What do you do?

Oxfam GB (Amit Vatsyayan - Thailand)
Amit leads Oxfams thinking on rights to sustainable livelihoods, women economic leadership and
engaging with the private sector. He believes scaling in Asia requires system change and study shows
agriculture is best to catalyse:
- Oxfam is small so we partner, incubate and build pipeline see the funds in Oxfam website
- We go where typical investments do not, e.g. in Nepal to help build back communities
- Triple bottom line investment a lot of work to do to educate and move impact investing
into mainstream investments. Policies of government did not have enabling incentives e.g.
not linking at triple bottom line to favour social investment.
- We are involved in Knowledge platforms of AVPN, and have worked extensively on
sustainability and inclusive development: women leadership incubating multi-stakeholder
partnerships in diverse sectors of agriculture, climate change, finance, and humanitarian
response.

ANDE (Jenney Everett- USA)
ANDE is a global network of innovative organizations that propel entrepreneurship in emerging
markets. We look at the whole ecosystem that goes into small & growing business in emerging
markets--- from grants to investments so long as its life cycle. The latter has its own challenges:
access to capital, talent, markets.

ANDEs members provide critical financial, educational, and business support services to small &
growing businesses (SGBs) based on the conviction that SGBs will create jobs, stimulate long-term

economic growth, and produce environmental and social benefits. Ultimately, ANDE believes that
SGBs can help lift countries out of poverty. How can we work together for this goal?

Partnership for Change Foundation (Barbara Bauer - Thailand)
Partnership for Change (PfC) Foundation is the Myanmar leader for the PfC Social Innovation Fund,
working closely with community leaders to identify, plan and implement programs and development
models that improve economic opportunities, and that can be replicated or scaled up, increasing
benefit and community skills. In the past, she has done traditional donors funds where they partner
with locals Inle Lake on young adult entrepreneurship & vocational training, e.g. social media,
computer literacy, hospitality for inmates, capital investment and Operating grants. However, the
new social investing points towards investing towards community good and are flexible if grant, or
capital or investment. Barbara is an advocate inside Myanmar and internationally on the economic
and social benefits of sustainable tourism

OECD Development Centre (Bathylle Missika- France)
At OECD, Bathylle brings together foundations committed to optimising the impact of philanthropy
for development through the sharing of experiences, policy influencing and the development of
innovative partnerships. She ask basic questions of Foundations:
- It is not a zero sum game. Not charity of the old model. When you get to earn $100, give me
back the original $10 I gave you, so I can give that to another one who now needs the $10.
- Think partnership where we work together. We cannot do it alone best ideas must have
enabling ecosystem
- Patient capital is not so patient anymore. Long and short term starts at same time
- Not one size fits all, but there are universal lessons, learning and commodities
- Valuable to bridge the traditional philanthropy with venture philanthropy, impact investing
- Accountability, transparency, monitoring and evaluation are more important than ever

Question from Moderator Harvey: What can we do? What are funders prepared to fund?
Harvey: MIM has coined the Pioneer Gap: patient/tolerant model needed during this death valley
time for blueprint, validation, preparation, scaling which brings us to Beyond Pioneer. The latter
needs industry facilitation: the firm, value chain, public goods, government policies, taxes, subsidies.
Barbara: Vocational school in tourism in Myanmar takes 25 layers of government all the way to
President government policy is too severe.
Amit: Tragedies bring people together. Whatever the disruptive/massive changesidentify who are
the entry points to push the organization to change. Invest in validation, and how the risk will be
taken.
Jenny: Pioneer Gap was what we called the Missing Middle too. We believe there needs to be
more capital here; philanthropy needs to take the risk. Often investors feel they dont see anything
investment-ready. Keep bringing down the barriers with your investors.
Bathylle: Risk adverse, not trusting get governments around the table ask them why so difficult?
Get ample grassroots and knowledge together. Get funders educated. Have a compelling way to
articulate the intent/desire.

Amit: Influencing is the key word, whether it is the government, investor, or intermediaries.




Major conclusions of the session:

Question from Audience: How to work beyond venture for international development?
Government, citizens, NPOs, multi-lateral agencies must come together for disruptive change, e.g.
post 2015 agenda.

Question from Audience: Crowd-funding is another source (dollars and in-kind).
E.g. DKT Population control to manufacture and market condoms

Question from Audience: Venture Philanthropy should also look at barriers that obstruct change for
people to come out of poverty.
Government provides the policy, funding and Venture Philanthropy provides the labour to
mobilize
Traditional aid did not work, so diaspora or a friend comes in. Sometimes you need new donors
to come in.
How to break down silos of old programs
Post 2015? OECD? How do Foundations fit into this? Government, multi-lateral, bi-lateral
No matter what the model, development investing needs pioneers (government) funding.
Government is big in who/which part of govt is willing to take the first step.
Cultural problem: it is changing around venture philanthropy
It is not just about money: money needs to know that other elements make the equation too:
e.g. funding the right people; making the best connections


Feedback/Take-Aways:
1) Connections need to be made between silo-ed entities in the ecosystem. Partner and
collaborate as no one player can fix the whole problem.

2) Pioneer Gap (also coined as the Mission Middle) and Beyond Pioneer Gap: funders tend to
be very risk adverse. Help them break down the barriers and be more daring to fail, take
more risk and trust. There is no Silver Bullet

3) Disruptive Changes need new mindset to fund the barriers think crowd funding, mix and
match. Or else there is the 2015 OEDC Agenda.