The first “Social Impact Special Stock” in Taiwan, investing in social enterprises for steady growth
Impact investing is an investment made to simultaneously create positive social, environmental impact, and financial reward. Taiwan’s important impact investment unit, the “Social Welfare and Social Enterprise Revolving Trust (hereinafter referred to as SERT Fund)” founded by Song Wenqi, former chairman of Taipei 101, is not only Taiwan’s first social investment fund The corporate charitable trust has now launched the first ” Social Impact Special Stock “ in Taiwan, looking forward to helping social enterprises focus on their anchored environmental and social issues in the long-term operation process, and grow steadily and sustainably.
According to the observations of the SERT Fund since 2016, social enterprises that use commercial methods to solve environmental and social problems, in addition to the challenges from the market, face shareholders and the board of directors for the “tug of war between social mission and survival issues”. Communication costs.
In order to help social enterprises lock in and effectively manage their social missions in the long-term operation process, SERT and its long-term strategic partner KPMG Anhou Jianye United Accounting Firm (hereinafter referred to as KPMG) jointly designed the “Social Impact Special Stock” this year. “.
This investment tool utilizes the characteristics of the special stock itself to tailor a way that is suitable for the cooperation between impact investors and social enterprises. The investment conditions include: specifying the social mission in the company’s articles of association, and specifying a report on social impact in the board of directors agenda, set social impact goals, and regularly discuss with social enterprises the status of achievement, etc.; after holding shares for 3 years, social enterprises have to buy back SERT shares, and the buyback price will vary depending on the achievement of social impact goals different.
Song Wenqi, founder of SERT Fund, said : “With the investment mechanism of “Social Impact Special Shares”, impact investors can jointly set social impact goals with social enterprises before investing, and regularly track the progress of achieving the goals during the investment process. And evaluate the impact results after the investment; for social enterprises, while receiving financial support, they also received the social impact assessment guidance of the fund to help them realize their original intention (social mission).”
SERT Fund completed its first “Social Impact Special Stock” investment in July this year. The social enterprise it invested in was MEDIOT, which focuses on mental health and digital health issues and developed the “FarHugs distance hug app”.
Mingyi uses digital technology to connect people who need psychological counseling with mental health practitioners or counseling institutions, and provides online counseling, physical counseling matchmaking and online text chat services, effectively lowering the threshold for contacting counseling.
Xie Yi, the founder of Mingyi said : “There are about 2 million people in Taiwan who suffer from depression for a long time. Through the combination of digital technology and mental health services, Mingyi helps people connect with suitable psychological resources under the premise of ensuring privacy and security, and then Protect the mental health of Taiwanese and strengthen the social safety net. The investment in SERT’s “Social Impact Special Stock” is not only financial support, but also represents the affirmation of our products in terms of social impact and sustainable value.”
Accountant Yu Jilong, chairman of KPMG, said : “The COVID-19 epidemic has continued to ravage the world since 2020. It has made everyone feel how social and environmental risks have greatly affected our lives, and it also highlights the urgency to resolve these risks! Impact Investing (Impact Investing) ) as an innovative solution to social and environmental problems will play a key role and gradually attract global investors to participate.”
The launch of the “Social Impact Special Stock” by the SERT Fund will not only help social enterprises take into account fundraising, operational growth, and solve social or environmental problems, but also hope to establish a model of impact investment and guide more resources to invest in response. Investing in positive impact and financial rewards.
