Heritas, DBS tackle ‘severe underfunding’ of social enterprises with new impact fund

SMALL and loss-making – these are some of the common perceptions about social enterprises. But of the over three million social enterprises in Asia, many are in fact profitable and anticipating growth, yet face “severe underfunding”, highlights venture capitalist Chik Wai Chiew.

“We have seen surveys that in South-east Asia, 50 per cent of social enterprises face great difficulties in accessing finance – grants and donations. That’s severe enough, and 90 per cent find it very difficult to get investors,” he said.

Chik, chief executive officer of Singapore-based investment firm Heritas Capital, has teamed up with DBS to plug this funding gap. On Wednesday (Mar 15), both companies announced the first close of a new fund, the Asia Impact First Fund (AIFF), with US$20 million raised.