ChangeFusion had organized sessions on Social enterprise - CSR partnership as well as social enterprise and SRI funds at CSR Asia Summit 2008. The event explored the linkages between social entrepreneurship, CSR and SRI.
I ) Pre-workshop session on Social Enterprise training at CSR Asia Summit 2008
2 Nov, 2008 at AITCC Room 202
The session explores strategic win-win relationship between social enterprise and CSR. We bring around a dozen of social entrepreneurs to meet up with CSR professionals to see how they can learn to work with each other. The key speakers at the workshop include;
1. Mr. David Boyd-Thomas, Regional Head of Corporate Social Responsibility & Community Affairs, Asia Pacific, UBS.
2. Ms. Rita Sully, Director of Corporate Responsibility, Deloitte, Australia
3. Ms. Wanna Thamromdee, General Manager of Corporate Image, Central Group, Thailand
4. Ms. Michelle Brown, Community Investment Advisor, CSR Asia.
5. Mr. Sunit Shrestha, Managing Director, ChangeFusion Group, Thailand
The session started with a brief introduction on Social Enterprises; their roles and implications in the country’s development affair as well as the corporation between the corporate sectors and social enterprises. As companies become increasingly aware of their responsibility to the society, they choose to justify their existence not only in terms of profits but also service to communities. This could lead to potentially stronger collaborations between corporate sectors, social enterprises and NGOs.
The introduction was followed by the views from the private sectors particularly on how can the social enterprises answer better to the companies’ wants and need in their CSR initiative. The shift in corporate responsibility’s focus from philanthropy work towards more corporations and engagement with the non-profit or NGOs. Their desire to promote and encourage simultaneous learning process with between the two sectors of the economy.
The speakers also suggested the right approaches for NGOs or social enterprises who are seeking their supports. These include; the appropriate way to prepare a concise yet effective business proposal to the board. The importance of recognizing traditional corporate culture and their business logics that usually differs substantially from non profits or NGOs. Besides, social enterprises should identify the company’s core CSR strategy to provide attractive deals that fit better with corporate strategy.
In addition, the fact that private sector’s existence and their survival lie in their financial performance or their profitability therefore, engaging in CSR activities will serve the firms or the shareholders best if it generates some returns to the companies themselves. For instance, increasing the values the companies offer to the consumers, helping in their operational risk management or even improving corporate image. Although seemingly ironic, it reflects rather well how the business community response to CSR.
Another issue that has been addressed extensively during the session is the measurement issues. Social enterprises or NGOs should present a measurable outcome both in term of the benefits accrued to the society or environment (Social Return on Investment) as well as the benefit for the companies themselves.
The penal discussion was then followed by an afternoon session in which more than 12 social ventures from different region of Thailand participated and joined the workshops. This afternoon session trained social entrepreneur on how to write the business proposal as well as how to effectively pitching their projects to the prospective investors/donors. In addition, the social enterprises are offered an opportunity to get a real pitching experience with Mr. David Boyd-Thomas and hear his comments on ways to improve their proposal and pitching method.
II) Creating Sustainable Solution; Social Enterprise and Socially Responsible Investment.
3 Nov, 2008 at AITCC room 202
The session highlighted the keys to nurturing social entrepreneurs and enterprises. How can a new wave of SRI help in establishing and developing the social enterprises in Asia. The key speakers are
1. Dr. Somjin Sornpaisarn, President, One Asset Management Limited.
2. Ms. Nattaya Niyamanusorn, Securities Exchange Commission (SEC)-Thailand
3. Mr. Machima Khunchorn Na Ayuthaya, Advisor, Stock Exchange of Thailand.
4. Mr. Sunit Shrestha, Mananging Director, ChangeFusion Group.
5. Mr. S. Dev Appanah, Investment Manager, ChangeFusion Group (Session moderator)
As social enterprises are in need of capital or funding, a new wave SRI can offer an alternative source of fund for the enterprises. This could provide social enterprises with a gap fund or bridging fund for hem to transit from their start up stage to their scale up stage.
The session also highlighted some of the difficulties in channeling the fund directly to the social enterprises. For instance, the size of the enterprises are rather small, and cannot be included in the investment port folio of the mutual funds or the risk return profile that do not meet the par.
Nevertheless, SRI funds set up by asset management firms or investment brokers can still offer some helps to the social enterprises not as a direct investor but rather a contributor or a promoter to the social enterprise. For example, a certain amount of the profit generated from the funds could be given to social enterprises, or the companies can offer their financial expertise to assist social enterprises handling their financials in a more professional manner.
Beside the discussion on the link between SRI and social enterprises, the debates also touch upon the issue of low responses from Thai listed companies in their disclosure effort. The SEC emphasized the fact that out of 500 listed firms in the SET, only 72 carry out their CSR initiative, 43 have been engaged in CSR for more than 5 years, while 57 of them made available to the public their responses to sustainability issues, and only 10 of them publish the sustainable reports which mostly follow the GRI guideline.
This low level of disclosure will limit the access of investor in their social or environmental screening process. Moreover, it may divert the SRI flow from Thailand to other emerging markets with a more developed SRI infrastructure such as Malaysia or Singapore whose governments already require the companies to produce their sustainability reports.
While SET and SEC wholeheartedly support the development of SRI in Thailand and see sustainable investing as the way to survive in this eminent global financial crisis,
They are undergoing a restructuring process which is worsened by a domestic political and financial turmoil. This has hampered the development and the dynamic of the whole financial market to response quickly to the new SRI that occurred globally.
