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 in the second half of 2023. 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 has invited expression of interest for implementing the VBI in January 2023. The response was encouraging and 19 returns were received from different sectors including non-government organisations, philanthropies, consultancies and investors, etc. Views/ suggestions collected were reviewed and incorporated in the service scope and requirements as appropriate.