The SIE Fund has been encouraging social entrepreneurs to make good use of resources from different sectors, such as the business and philanthropy sectors, to jointly promote the sustainable development of the social innovation ecosystem. While expanding the social innovation field to achieve greater social impact has significant appeal, it has also become clear that many social ventures, even with a sound business plan, may face a myriad of challenges in crossing the “valley of death” and scaling their businesses. They include –
(a) Weak supportive network;
(b) Lack of proper business strategy; and
(c) Problems in accessing capital.
To help social ventures tackle the problems as mentioned above, the SIE Fund plans to launch the VBI. Suitable organisation(s) will be engaged to assist social ventures in building collaborative network, particularly through introducing the rich resources and expertise from business sectors/ investors, to help social ventures grow, thereby fostering sustainable development of the social innovation ecosystem and bring about greater social impact.
The SIE Fund announced in mid-April 2023 the invitation of proposals from interested organisations to apply for the role of intermediaries for designing and administering programmes under the VBI. The submission of proposals was closed on 23 June 2023. The Fund has reviewed all the submissions and has decided to cancel the engagement exercise for the VBI intermediary. The Fund will announce in due course should there be any update regarding the next steps of the VBI.
(This page was last updated on 20 October 2023)