“In Asia, exciting developments in the impact investing market are opening immense opportunities for investors to put their money behind their beliefs, helping to address some of the biggest challenges of our times.” – wrote Alfonso Garcia Mora, IFC Vice-President for Asia and Pacific in May 2022

This quote rings true for us at the newly established and growing team at The Social Investment Consultancy (TSIC) ASEAN, as we see a lot of optimism and momentum across the region.

Thanks to some of our supportive clients in the region, such as ECCA Family Foundation, we have been encouraged to explore working more actively within Southeast Asia, beyond our Hong Kong office. Speaking at the AVPN Conference in Kuala Lumpur further reinforced our excitement for that prospect – having launched the Care Economy paper for emerging Asia there with AVPN and UN Women.

We have been fortunate to find two committed colleagues – Joel Koh and Jason Yip, to establish its brand-new operation in the ASEAN region. Here are their reflections on the first 6 months, what they have done and learnt.

While the TSIC ASEAN team is fully supported by the global network of TSIC, the team still needs time to come together and integrate into TSIC – especially as so much of social impact consulting is about the individuals’ backgrounds and expertise. One of the biggest areas the team has worked on, is actually contextualising the global learnings into the ASEAN context.

• In terms of evaluation, Joel came to TSIC with a robust track record in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) for impact measurement within Singapore. In a region experiencing a burgeoning interest in impact measurement and evaluation, Joel is keenly interested in how inclusive and equitable evaluation principles can be applied to advance the sector. His focus is on leveraging principles such as those in TSIC’s USERS methodology, which acknowledges the complex systems within which programs and organizations operate. Joel is dedicated to developing new methodologies to understand and demonstrate changes in systemic equity and inclusivity. With his extensive background in conducting rigorous evaluations and TSIC’s expertise in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), he seeks to contribute pragmatic solutions that foster a more equitable evaluation landscape with various stakeholders.
• Jason, our ASEAN Director, brings decades of experience in finance and humanitarian aid. Having learned about what TSIC had done in the UK and established the Pathway Fund which is a new impact investing wholesale dedicated to catalysing opportunities for Black and Ethnic Minoritised communities, Jason believes in the potential to leverage this model and contextualise it to meet the needs in ASEAN region. The wholesaler model is particularly important for the ASEAN region, for these reasons: 1) impact investing is still at its beginning stage and 2) social enterprises have been around for a while but many still lack sustainable sources of finance to scale. Here, Jason is eager to connect the dots!

While we are excited by the prospects of applying these learnings to work on client projects to create real-world impact, we still need to develop our organisation as we go along.

Forming a new team which is scattered across locations is no easy task

Expanding the regional footprint while working remotely poses significant challenges, but Jason and Joel have maintained high engagement with the global TSIC network. Their active participation in global check-ins and learning discussions fosters the exchange of ideas and keeps them updated on the latest developments and opportunities. Additionally, face-to-face interactions during events like the TSIC Hong Kong 5th anniversary celebrations and their collaborative efforts with the Indonesia Impact Alliance in Jakarta have been invaluable. These in-person gatherings have allowed them to reconnect, strategise, and strengthen their team dynamics, enhancing their collaborative efforts across the region.

We are also grateful to start building partnerships with other mission-aligned organisations in the region, such as Wedu in Thailand, Research for Impact in Singapore, Nectary Sustainability Solutions in Indonesia, Social Value Malaysia, and Asia Centre
which has offices across Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand.

With the new footprint in the ASEAN region, we aspire to extend the work of TSIC across more countries in the region. We look forward to more collaboration with local partners, contextualising the experiences and knowledge that we have gained overseas so that we can join hands and work together to further SDG and ESG achievement across the region.