The Social Enterprise Programme supports organisations, known as social enterprises, which employ business strategies to meet social and environmental needs and make a positive impact in their communities.
In 2013, the British Council and its partners launched the pioneering Social Investment Platform to promote social impact investment and provide training and funding opportunities to outstanding Chinese social enterprises.
During the course of the programme, the Platform has worked with 13 different investment partners to offer a total of RMB 37 million in equity investments, bond investments, and loans with no or low interest and incubation support to 117 outstanding social enterprises. The winners were selected following a multi-stage competition from a pool of applicants from both Mainland China and Hong Kong. In addition, Thomson Reuters Foundation joined the Platform in its second year, providing pro-bono legal services to all the winners who met its criteria.
The Social Investor Programme looks to develop social investment in China by linking Chinese investment organisations with those in the UK, promoting adoption of the “triple bottom line” (taking environmental and social, as well as financial, returns into account) and spreading the concept of social investment among traditional investment organisations in China.
The 13 social investment partners for the 2015-16 Social Investment Platform are:
- More Love Foundation
- Narada Foundation
- Dunhe Foundation
- Innovate99
- Yu Venture Philanthropy
- HNA Group
- Yifang Foundation
- Transist Impact Labs
- Shenzhen Innovation Corporate Social Responsibility Development Centre
- PwC
- Daohe Institute for Environment and Development
- Beijing United Charity Foundation
For more information on the five investors accepting applications from Hong Kong, please see the Social Investors page.
Our media partner for the Social Investment Platform is the China Philanthropist magazine.