Asia Pacific Social Innovation Partnership Award Winners Highlight Business Initiatives That Foster Inclusivity
With the gradual increase of global risks, how can we develop innovative practices to ensure a future where sustainability will become mainstream? The Asia Pacific Social Innovation Partnership Award (APSIPA) is established to explore dynamic social innovation models in the Asia Pacific and to motivate more change-makers to contribute to social innovation, discovering and celebrating social innovation partnerships that connect diverse stakeholders and make significant social impacts. Partnership cases are required to set the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (the SDGs) as their core value.
The award sets motivating social innovation partnerships as its purpose, integrating 17 SDGs sorted into three categories, Biosphere Sustainability, Inclusive Business and Social Prosperity. Three winners were chosen from each category and there was one Special Jury Prize chosen by the judging panel.
The Inclusive Business Award values socially innovative approaches to economic activities and commerce. Innovation, in terms of economics, does not only imply increase in income or employment, but also decrease in inequality and negative impacts, as well responsible measures to forward economic growth and cycle. The highly related corresponding SDGs are SDG8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, SDG10: Reduced Inequality and SDG12: Responsible Consumption and Production.
APSIPA Inclusive Business Winners
Florence Cheng
Head of Impact Strategy, Social Ventures Hong Kong (SVhk)
Florence Cheng is the Head of Impact Strategy of Social Ventures Hong Kong (SVhk). She leads SVhk's strategy consulting projects, working closely with corporate and non-profit partners to innovate purpose-driven positioning and explore new opportunities to embed that purpose across the organisation. She also supports SVhk’s philanthropic advisory practice, as well as business development, strategic review, impact reporting and other portfolio management activities for SVhk's social start-up initiatives.
Florence graduated from the London School of Economics and worked in management consulting prior to joining SVhk.
Germ Doornbos
Founding Partner, Journey of the Senses
Germ Doornbos and his partner Vũ Anh Tú founded Journey of the Senses; a hospitality company employing People with Disabilities (PwD).
Germ believes that placing PwD at the frontline and creating guest interaction is the way to increase awareness into the blind and deaf communities. His businesses are designed around the philosophy of turning the disadvantage of PwD around into their advantage. The journey is not finished yet and Germ and his team have plans for more businesses employing PwD.
Germ is from The Netherlands and lives in Vietnam since 2004, in both Hanoi and Saigon. He has over 20 years hospitality industry experience and worked in various 5-star hotels and restaurants in The Netherlands, Italy and Vietnam. Germ graduated in International Hospitality Management at the Hotelschool The Hague in 2005.
Khuat Mai Ngan (Jollie)
Chief Strategy Officer, Multi Vietnam
Khuat Mai Ngan is a Chief Strategy Officer of Multi Vietnam, a company specialising in R&D and manufacturing useful and impactful hardware devices applied AI, IoT. Before working as the CSO at Multi Vietnam, she worked with different technology-based startups. Moreover, she has founded many social projects which support children development in Vietnam. She has vision of bringing impactful products all over the world
Highlights from the Panel
(listen to the podcast for full details)
[Tom Allen] - To kick things off, could you please share a bit about your projects, the impact they're creating, and what led to your passion in social innovation?
Florence, we might start with you.
[Florence Cheng] - Thank you Tom for the interview. Let me start by just quickly introducing SVhk and our work. SVhk has been established since 2007, and we're committed to re-imagining a purpose-driven city using a wide variety of tools from venture philanthropy, social enterprise incubation, and business consulting. Our work is primarily focused in Hong Kong and as many of you may know, we have had an unusual 12 months with the 2019 social movements and COVID-19. This really stands out as a massive challenge for both businesses and all of us as citizens. A few months ago, SVhk and our partner, The Sustainable Finance Initiative, sat together and we started the Community Resilience Fund, CRF as a project that was born out of these trying times.
We worked with 20 impact partners to kickstart this as a zero-interest loan facility and capacity building to support social enterprises, particularly those basic significant cashflow challenges in these darkest hours.
Over the past five months, we're super excited to have supported 13 different social enterprises financially and through non-financial means and I thought it might be easiest for me to share more and give you a bit of the flavour of the Community Resilience Fund through a few stories. Let me start with a story of compassion. I think needless to say social enterprises are by nature compassionate organisations. But when we spoke to a few founders and management teams of social enterprises a few months ago, what touched us the most was that while they remained active despite business challenges, they got very emotional and they teared up at the very real prospect that they would have to let some of their staff members go.
I think that really touched us, because it reminded us that whilst they have to maintain their businesses as social enterprises, most of them care deeply about their staff and particularly those from marginalised backgrounds.
They know that it may take them years or perhaps in a lucky case months to find a new job if they were let go in these crisis. We thought to ourselves, "why does it really have to be so difficult?" Then, I guess this moved on to another story of collective action, where we were super excited to be able to have the support of 20 different business and ecosystem partners from family offices, impact incubation platforms like Dream Impact and the Foundation For Shared Impact, to SME lenders and pro-bono lawyers.
This included business consultants and professional advisors who collectively poured in hours and hours of work to co-develop this fund with us and help us find new ways to really help these compassionate organisations achieve what they could have done in better times. We were again very grateful for all the support that we've received along the way, and it really shows a story of resilience where in two pilots and two cohorts after, we saw many of these social enterprises taking the extra financial support to really pivot their businesses. I'm happy to report that they're all still in business today, and most of their staff are actually capped in employment with the extra funding that we provided.
More importantly, the most exciting part is that we saw many of them taking this opportunity to really re-examine their past revenue models.
We saw one in particular that has started on writing a proposal, looking at over 10 different business leads and proposals just over the past few weeks to diversify. This is really, I think, an example and excellent illustration of resilience building. That really summarises what we try to do in the CRF.
Wonderful. You're doing some great work there, Florence. Thanks so much for sharing a little bit more about CRF and the project’s great outcomes.
We’ll cross to you now Germ. Can you please tell us a little bit more about your project and the impact that you're creating?
We have Journey Of The Senses and it is a group of premium hospitality services, and we provide the experience of interacting with staff who have a visual or hearing impairment. We employ blind and deaf staff in restaurants and flower shops. In Vietnam, there is a very high unemployment rate for the blind and the deaf communities. There's a 90% unemployment rate for those who are officially blind and visually impaired, and there is a 65% unemployment rate for those who are deaf and hearing impaired.
It's very hard for them to find proper employment, since there's very high social stigma and very low awareness and there's very limited government support. They end up being unemployed, and that's very sad because if you lack one sense, that doesn't mean that you therefore cannot work.
We often seem to forget that a person who is blind for instance, they can't see, but that doesn't mean that they can't live a life. They can still do plenty of things, and when you lose one of the senses, the other senses cover this up. There's lots of things they can actually do way better than we can, and we always seem to focus on what people can't do.
Instead, we actually see the benefits and just focus on what people still can do. That is why we turn disadvantage into an advantage, and it provides a great hospitality business project.
We have a restaurant where we serve guests in the dark by a team of blind service staff, and we have a restaurant where we ask our guests to communicate in sign language. We have a flower shop where we have a theme of hearing-impaired staff, where we make flower arrangements and then we don't do traditional handwritten cards. Instead, we make little video clips in sign language that can be scanned as a QR code, where the giver of the flowers can give a very nice personal message to the receiver, but we can make that as a sign language clip. We do a spa as well with blind massage therapists, and we are about to open at the beginning of next month a vegetarian restaurant where we have a team of hearing-impaired staff as well. That's just what we do, and it's great working with this type of project.
I can see myself in that story of Florence about this COVID time, about other socially marginalised staff and not letting them go. That's what we decided to do. All of the staff are still on board. That's actually what we do.
It sounds like you're creating some fantastic opportunities and no doubt some wonderful experiences for the different customers coming in.
Since you were talking about the SDG's also, we fit nicely in Number Eight, of decent work and economic growth. It's great to have that as a red line through the business, that it provides for something unique and it's unique for our guests, it's unique for our staff. It's very engaging what we do.
Absolutely. That’s some great work Germ, thanks for sharing.
Multi Vietnam.
Let's move to you Jollie, tell us a little bit more about Multi Vietnam, and the impact that you're creating?
Thank you. Firstly, I will introduce Multi Vietnam. Multi Vietnam is a company specialising in R&D and manufacturing hardware devices, applying AI and IOT, with a slogan of "connecting the world".
Our mission is to enable technology to support human life. Our business was motivated by a friend I first met five years ago in the community for disabled people.
He was born with no hands, and he said even his parents were disappointed when he was born, and they did not believe in him. At the time no one except his uncle thought he could get success in his life. His uncle encouraged him a lot, which made him try harder and harder. As a result of his work, the success came when he achieved his dream of being an IT teacher, and he could then devote his life to support the disabled community.
His story and the fact that disabled people account for 7% of the Vietnamese population, and most of them are not appreciated, inspired us to do something to change that, because we believe everyone should be treated equally.
We shared the opportunity of technology with my friend, so that we could bring the same opportunity to other disabled people as well. That's how our first product was born, eyeglasses that help users to use a computer through the movement of their eyes and head. Within the first three years, we brought our product to 10,000 disabled people, thanks to the support of our live and learn organisation in Vietnam. Besides that, we developed eyeglasses to prevent drowsiness while driving, so that we could reduce accidents. Also, the eyeglasses can protect your eyes from myopia when you look at your phone too close. The eyeglasses will warn you to keep a distance with your eyes. This new product we just launched this year, but I believe all of them can bring a great impact on society.
Those are some really innovative projects Jollie, so well done on all the hard work to you and your team.
Winning the APSIPA award really highlights all of your dedication and hard work and skills to really innovate. Let's talk a little bit about your observations of the social innovation movement in your respective countries and further afield, and where you see key opportunities and the next steps? How about we start with you Florence; you're based in Hong Kong.
Yes, I am. I think in Hong Kong it's a very interesting model of social innovation [that has developed] over the past decade. I think there are three key observations and opportunities that I would like to highlight for the audience here today.
Number one, it's clear that social innovation is going mainstream. Just to give an example, Green Monday is a platform that promotes a plant-based diet. It started in Hong Kong, and now that very idea has been adopted in over 30 countries around the world and is clearly gaining mainstream support and making plant-based diets a trendy thing.
Secondly, I think we're also seeing successful cases of social innovation affecting policy. Light B is one of our portfolio companies, and it has looked at social housing starting from 10 years ago, and it has now paved the way for a transitional housing policy in Hong Kong. That really adds to the point that social innovation is no longer housed in a silo, and it's going mainstream both in terms of the business sector, the corporate sector, and the government. I think more important than that, we're also starting to see signs of social innovation breaking into businesses.
It might be taken slightly aback by COVID-19, particularly as we see that the business round table statement from last year is yet to bring about real changes in the world, at least in Hong Kong. But at least in Hong Kong specifically, we're definitely seeing more businesses trying to take the first step in the right direction. I think just from SVhk ourselves, over the past six months we've done perhaps three to four different impact strategy projects.
We have worked with businesses from start-ups, to actual listed companies to rethink what their purpose statements and their impact strategies might be, to embed a new idea of doing business with a social purpose into the work.
I think they're all very promising signs, and the next step really for us is to keep the momentum, and to see how COVID-19, having reconnected some businesses to societies, can really continue in bringing a lasting impact, even when the virus or the pandemic is over. I think intercity sharing, particularly with APSIPA, is a great start to facilitating that, and having the opportunity to speak to people both within Asia and beyond, through platforms such as yourself, would be another great start to help keep the movement going too.
Fantastic insights there Florence. Thanks for sharing those.
Germ, tell us a little bit more about Vietnam, the movement there and where you see some key opportunities?
Social innovations in Vietnam are developing very fast. There are lots of businesses owned by women. There's a lot of female ownership amongst those social impact businesses. There is still a very young population in Vietnam, so people are coming up with very innovative ideas.
Most of those innovations are very admirable, and they are wide spread, including agriculture, tech, education, keeping traditions alive from ethnic minorities, climate change, recycling, and working with victims of human trafficking. It's all very meaningful and admirable.
Very little of those companies are focusing on working with deaf and blind people and providing frontline interaction as we do, and that is where we make a difference.
We believe that letting our staff, the deaf and the blind people interact with our guests, is the best way to challenge social stigma.
I feel that there could be definitely much more opportunities for job opportunities for blind and deaf people. It would be great if that would be considered as an option as well. But overall, in Vietnam, it's great to see how many people are involved with this, and I have a feeling it's just developing faster.
That's great to hear Germ, and Jollie, you're also based in Vietnam. Tell us about your perspective on the social innovation movement over there.
I agree with Germ. However, I think the problem is the government. Social entrepreneurs are not supported by the government, but instead we have many organisations that can support social innovation, like British Council. I think it's a good thing for society when we have received support from these organisations.
Florence coming back to you from a Hong Kong perspective, you and the CRF team were also the winner this year’s Jury Special Prize for your effort in fighting the global pandemic. On that angle, what have been some of your key learnings from the implementation of that project and how does it feed into some of these bigger opportunities we've been talking about?
We're excited to have been awarded the Jury Special Prize, and it's truly an honour for what we have really just started doing. We fully understand that we may be at the very beginning of our learning pathway, but it's definitely a learning process that we would like to share with all of you.
One vision that I would like to share with you as a start is the vision of CRF, "bridge for today, light for tomorrow". I think integral to this is the sense of agility that we need to always keep our eyes and ears open and most importantly our minds open to the needs on the ground and what roles and support we can play.
Just to illustrate, I think the very idea of affordable financing for social enterprises is not a new idea. It's certainly not just a COVID-19 issue. By building a bridge today through the CRF to resolve COVID or to help relieve some of the COVID related economic challenges, we really hope that we can also build a new bridge for tomorrow, and that the impact and the spirit of CRF as a fund can go beyond COVID. It's something that we can continue to evolve, to support social enterprises for other business challenges or operational challenges to come in future times.
Another idea that is central to our mission is the notion of action. It's about making sure we always take the first step to do something, and by action it also calls collective action where we're trying to get everyone to play their parts.
It's not just always about money, it doesn't always mean that you have to play a part by giving money to the fund or by giving money through social enterprises to help them sustain businesses. It's also about the non-financial support and more importantly how we can make sure that there's always a sense of community and support in the social enterprises and in the impact ecosystem. There was always an understanding and a belief that there will be others walking the walk with them with these struggling SE's along the way, despite the trying times out there. I think all in all my recap is be the bridge for today and the light tomorrow, and we can do it through being agile and to making sure we always take the first step on actions.
Excellent reflections there Florence, thanks for sharing that. Well done again on getting that Jury Special Prize. You all have such rich and diverse experience across different projects and businesses. What's one piece of advice that you'd give to other businesspeople who would like to use a more inclusive approach? Germ, we might start with you.
My piece of advice would be if you have already an idea of incorporating some sort of CSR or social impact into your organisation or business, go for it, just do it. I found it very rewarding.
It is so interesting and fun to see the excitement in our staff because we work with blind and deaf people. For most of them, it is the first time they have had a professional nine-to-five type of job.
Some of them worked in activities, maybe a bit of tutoring or some sort of part time job with they're parents. But to have a real job, they really take pride in that and to see the excitement on their faces is absolutely rewarding. Since we work with businesses with restaurants, we have a lot of guests and it is also again very rewarding to see the smiles of our guests we are dealing with and changing their awareness. It's exciting to see how excited everybody is! My piece of advice would be just go for it. It's great for all the shareholders, staff, our guests, and for us as business owners as well.
Great advice Germ, thanks for sharing. Jollie, what about yourself? What advice would you give?
I think first, to do social innovation, you have to set up your own mission and not be afraid to fail. Even though I know it can be the difficult part, you cannot avoid failure.
With us in the beginning, we had many ideas to support our society. However, we didn't have enough resources. The most important thing is I think you have to balance your economic interests and social justice.
Absolutely, because how can you create impact without the finance or the dollars to support that? It's a great perspective. Florence, what about yourself? What advice would you give to other businesspeople?
I fully agree what Germ and Jollie have already shared. I have just one more thing to add, which is I think it's also important for us to think big.
By thinking big, I don't necessarily mean always blue sky thinking, completely outside of the box, I also mean we need to think about how to be inclusive across all different pillars and layers of the organisation.
I think it's very important to conceive inclusiveness not just about HR policy and recruitment as important as they are.
It is also about the customers the business serves, the markets they play in, the partners engaged, and also the everyday operational choices that could shape the touch points that businesses have with their customers and the stakeholders around the clock.
I think inclusiveness should be that all-encompassing idea, and we need to go big and think beyond that.
Great perspective there Florence. Let's finish off now with some books and resources that you'd all recommend to our listeners. Florence, do you want to continue on?
Absolutely. Lately, I've been revisiting a book that I've read before called Start With Why by Simon Sinek. It's a book from about 10 years ago, but it's very centred around how to inspire others to take action, and how organisations create movements by questioning why, more than just the how’s and what’s.
I think [you need to] stand really true in this particular landscape, and I think it's also incredibly important for businesses to take note of and to build a shared belief with the stakeholders, staff, customers, communities, and find new way to engage.
That I think could be the true spirit to building inclusive businesses going forward.
Thanks Florence. Germ, tell us about your books or resources?
I would recommend See What I'm Saying by Lawrence Rosenblum. It's a fantastic book about how our brain works and how our five senses work, and how they are all interconnected. It is fascinating to understand a little bit more about that, because it's all about senses. It nicely interacts with our business and works with our theme of blind and deaf staff. I found it very fascinating to read.
Multi Vietnam.
A good read. Finally, to wrap up Jollie, tell us about a book or resource that you'd recommend?
Where Good Ideas Come From of Steven Johnson is one of the books that motivates me the most.
He has written a brilliant analysis of creativity and innovation, and I think it's a very impressive book and the single most important book for anyone looking for an accurate and comprehensive description of the creativity process.
I think Johnson not only allows the reader to become more cautious of the patterns that creativity follows, but he also provides the inspiring examples of the principle in action. Read the book if you want to know or need any kind of creative inspiration.
That sounds like a great recommendation, Jollie. I'd like to extend a huge thank you to all of you for your really generous insights and time today. Congratulations on winning the APSIPA Inclusive Business Award, and we'll certainly look forward to tracking your journeys in the future.
This content is sponsored by Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan.
Books and Resources Recommended by panelists
From Florence:
Start With Why by Simon Sinek
From Germ:
See What I’m Saying by Lawrence D. Rosenblum
From Jollie:
Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson
