Mar 20, 2013 -
Singaporeans are among Asia’s Happiest People

Eden Strategy Institute has designed and launched upon Asia’s first scientifically-driven, independent and objective Happiness Index that spans multiple social media platforms across five Asian countries, to better understand the true levels of happiness on a widespread basis across entire online populations. The Asia Happiness Index is powered by a proprietary online social media intelligence tracking engine, and covers over 200 million social media accounts. This is the only regional Happiness Index that taps into people’s moods as they engage with each other in their natural states. To see how happy we are right now, visit the Asia Happiness Index

Nov 11, 2012 -
Eden Strategy Institute at Social Innovation Camp Asia

Social Innovation Camp started five years ago in the UK and has since then been run in 16 countries globally from which over 30 new technology-based social ventures have been created, with 12 receiving further funding, investment or significant in-kind support just in the UK alone.

Social Innovation Camp Asia (SI Camp Asia) was launched in Kuala Lumpur on 9 – 11 November, and some of SE Asia’s best software developers and designers worked over 48 hours to build web/mobile-based solutions to pressing social problems.

The months of preparation leading up to SI Camp Asia positioned it very differently from other events, contributing to the enthusiastic response received. Mr. Andrew Tan, the organiser of SI Camp Asia, said,”The timing was right for something like SI Camp and I also believe we were able to fill a gap that was already there. It was mind-blowing, inspiring, and exceed any expectation that I might have had.”

The event saw the following 6 ideas being selected for development from an overwhelming 140 entries from across the region:

1. All the finalists are winners, but ThatApp came out tops through the judging process.  This is a mobile application that  helps young people learn about sex, and aims to introduce a game format to sexual health education.

2. Find Art is a mobile application whose users can take photos of street art and share them with their social networks and users in the vicinity, using a creative scavenger hunt game to encourage people to find and appreciate art.

3. Rare Genomics Asia helps people with rare genetic diseases raise funding, obtain access to gene sequencing services so patients can receive a diagnosis, and gives clinician-scientists access to these rare genes for research.

4. Bookbag is a shopping platform that allows used books to be categorised and donated effectively to the needy.

5. Blood Donors Network aims to build a network of blood donors in the Philippines to help families in emergency situations where blood supply is unavailable.

6.  Civic Ticket is a location-based mobile app that lets citizens take photos of and report damaged civic infrastructure to the relevant authorities in Malaysia.

Eden Strategy Institute Partner Mr. Calvin Chu Yee Ming joined a team of fellow mentors and judges at the event, that included Mr. Glen Mehn, Managing Director at SI CAMP; Raiyo Nariman, APAC Regional Manager at Angels Den; Mr. Teddy Zmrhal, Practice Lead at IDEO; Mr. Vinnie Lauria, Partner at Golden Gate Ventures; Ms. Sue Kim, Co-founder of Libbler; and Mr. Sunit Shrestha, Managing Director at ChangeFusion.

“We are frequently asked to help out at hackathon-style events, but SI Camp Asia has really impressed us with the caliber of the teams and ideas, as well as the quality of the volunteers, sponsors, specialists, and mentors. We are so proud to be a part of this regional movement, and look forward very much to welcoming the winners to their immersion program with us in Singapore in 2013,” he said.

About Eden Strategy Institute

Eden Strategy Institute, LLP. is Asia’s leader in social innovation consulting. Eden’s distinctive approach to sustainable advantage helps multinational organizations design new growth platforms, operations, products, and services, by aligning them with market forces and developmental opportunities. Its non-profit research and training arm provides a fact base of how industries create enduring profits by addressing pressing global issues. Eden also operates a social venture capital fund that invests in social enterprises aligned with its financial, environmental, governance, and social impact criteria, and helps them grow. Learn more about our venture investing work at http://www.edenstrategyinstitute.com/ventures

Nov 2, 2012 -
Eden Strategy Institute at The SME CEO Forum 2012

The SME CEO Forum 2012 “Collaboration for Growth” is an annual event for growth enterprises across the healthcare, logistics, cleantech, education, electronics, finance, precision engineering, printing, professional services, retail and food services industries. Organized by SPRING Singapore, it focuses on developing cross-sectoral partnerships through keynote speeches, roundtable discussions, and business matching.

Mr. Radi Soemarjono, Director of Global Business Development at The Procter & Gamble Company, took the audience through P&G’s journey of embracing open innovation as a source of competitive advantage, actual case studies illustrating the P&G model for collaboration, and provided useful tips on how SMEs can be better prepared when dealing with large international firms.

Ms. Sharon Kong, General Manager of Fuji Xerox Singapore, then discussed the success factors behind the partnership of Fuji and Xerox that had billed it as one of the longest-lasting cross-border collaboration among multinational corporations.

Dr. David S. Cohen, Principal at Strategic Action Group, then shared his thoughts on how human capital due diligence is critical to enabling a winning organisational culture in collaborations.

Eden Strategy Institute led two roundtable sessions, where attendees from diverse backgrounds co-created solutions to design and manpower challenges faced in the aged care and logistics sectors. By orchestrating an appreciation of user challenges, teams were able to articulate the design challenges, prototype various solutions, and initiate discussions on taking the projects to reality.

“We were encouraged by the enthusiasm and support provided by various aged care facilities in our research phase leading up to this event, and inspired by the creativity and can-do spirit that all participants showed today,” said Eden Partner Mr. Calvin Chu.

“Eden Strategy Institute is proud to once again be a part of the SME CEO Conference this year, and look forward to helping the firms bring their ideas to market in the near future,” he said.

About Eden Strategy Institute
Eden Strategy Institute, LLP. is Asia’s leader in social innovation consulting. Eden’s distinctive approach to sustainable advantage helps multinational organizations design new growth platforms, operations, products, and services, by aligning them with market forces and developmental opportunities. Its non-profit research arm provides a fact base of how industries create enduring profits by addressing pressing global issues. Eden also operates a social venture capital fund that invests in social enterprises aligned with its financial, environmental, governance, and social impact criteria, and helps them grow. Learn more about our Design Thinking work at http://www.edenstrategyinstitute.com/academy/playbooks

Oct 29, 2012 -
Eden Strategy Institute at the Institutional Investors APAC Summit

The third annual Institutional Investors APAC Summit was held in Macao, China from October 29 – 31, 2012. Organised by Marcus Evans, this occasion that brought together institutional investors, international fund managers, and consultants from across the region for a focused discussion of new drivers shaping institutional asset allocations.

This prestigious by-invitation only event featured world-class speakers such as Mr. Cy Huang, Chairman of the Taiwan M&A Private Equity Council, Mr. David Carbon, Chief Economist of DBS Bank, Mr. Hiromi Yamaoka, Deputy Director General of the Bank of Japan, and Dr. Marc Faber, Editor of The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report.

Eden Strategy Institute’s Partner Mr. Calvin Chu Yee Ming was invited to speak in its Alternative Investments Forum on Impact Investing.

Impact Investing is a relatively recent offshoot from the negative screener methodology used in Socially-Responsible Investing; the capacity-building, high involvement management style of Venture Philanthropy; and the responsibility metric-driven approach of Social Venture Capital.

Impact investing takes a view that beneficiaries can be more than recipients of charity, but have the potential to become actual commercial customers and suppliers. Pioneered by Foundations, Development Finance Institutions, and Ultra-High Networth Individuals, impact investments seek to scale private sector solutions to social and environmental challenges.

The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs and Monitor Group report that $120 billion is held today in 200 impact investment funds. JP Morgan estimates that fuelled in particular by government financing programs in countries such as Australia, the EU, India, the UK, and the US, the global impact investment market could reach $1 trillion by 2020.

Impact investments tend to be smaller than other alternative asset classes in size, ranging from $100,000 – $1 million for companies whose market capitalisations typically fall between $10 – 50 million. An Ernst & Young study revealed that most impact investors preferred targets with two to five years in operation. Most investments are made directly, via a mix of debt and equity. Typical returns range from -15% to 15%, depending on the magnitude of social impact created and the risk profile of the investee.

The Aspen Institute reports that Asia is second only to Africa in terms of the geographic focus of impact investors, with Hong Kong and Singapore both rising as impact investment hubs for Asia.

Despite some barriers to growth such as high due diligence and management costs, a mismatch in return expectations, and a lack of strong Social Enterprises to be invested in, Eden believes in the long-term potential of this asset class in Asia.

“Several success factors remain missing in the impact investing ecosystem, such as a strong regulator, comprehensive credit ratings, and liquidity providers such as funds of funds, brokers, market makers, and stock exchanges. However, we have observed in a few short years how impact investments have already created 24,000 jobs that have generated $1.4 billion in revenue to benefit eight million constituents,” explained Mr. Chu.

“Impact investments represent a critical financial innovation that will spur innovation among social enterprises. They constitute five per cent of investor portfolios today, and we believe that this should and will double within the next decade,” he said.

Marcus Evans Executive Producer Ms. Morgane Stein commented on Eden’s participation.

“Calvin highly contributed to the success of our event by actively participating in our panel discussion, providing fresh insights on alternative investments. His inputs on sustainable solutions have been truly valuable and it has been a pleasure to work with Calvin on that project. I recommend Calvin to anyone looking at original options for supporting social businesses,” she said.

About Eden Strategy Institute

Eden Strategy Institute, LLP. is Asia’s leader in social innovation consulting. Eden’s distinctive approach to sustainable advantage helps multinational organizations design new growth platforms, operations, products, and services, by aligning them with market forces and developmental opportunities. Its non-profit research and training arm provides a fact base of how industries create enduring profits by addressing pressing global issues. Eden also operates a social venture capital fund that invests in social enterprises aligned with its financial, environmental, governance, and social impact criteria, and helps them grow. Learn more about our impact investing work at http://www.edenstrategyinstitute.com/ventures

September 20, 2012 – Originally appeared in the Business Adviser column of TODAY Paper

I’m the second-generation owner of an SME and I have a young son who I’m thinking of grooming to take over. What are the pros and cons of handing over a business to a family member?

Succession planning can be challenging as the younger generation of family members may have very different working styles, lack the management ability to take over the business, or simply have no interest in the nature of the business.

Share dilution often happens in family businesses as new family members join, reducing the incentive and emotional connection among existing members.

Even professional managers frequently find themselves at loggerheads with the owners, whose motives may lie more with their legacy or protecting the interests of family members than with “hard” business rationales of performance and profit. This can result in conflict.

Solutions do exist for these issues. For instance, family businesses may form an owners’ council, to articulate governance processes that ensure systematic, fair, and aligned decision-making. Hiring processes, career paths for all employees and promotional standards can be crystallised.

I have observed some businesses that will only hire family members into positions of responsibility if they have first managed people or businesses in other companies.

Separate business units may also be carved out for family members or professional managers to run autonomously.

Calvin Chu Yee Ming, Partner
Eden Strategy Institute

Sep 15, 2012 -
Eden Strategy Institute at Social Innovation Xperience

Social Innovation Xperience (SIX) is Singapore’s first Design Challenge for Social Good. Organised by the Singapore Management University, it gathered tertiary students, corporate professionals, and social enterprises to collaborate and create solutions for local social problems using Design Thinking.

A highlight of the event was hearing from Ms. Jane Chen, co-founder and CEO of Embrace, a social enterprise that aims to help the millions of vulnerable babies born every year in developing countries through a low-cost infant warmer. Ms. Chen brought the audience through her inspiring journey of entrepreneurial journey, and shared her experiences using Design Thinking to create a disruptive innovation that has the potential to save millions of infant lives.

Eden Strategy Institute joined an esteemed panel of speakers to define and discuss Social Innovation. The panelists shared their experiences promoting Social Innovation, the resistance they faced, and how more youths are redefining traditional notions of material success to instead dedicate their careers to social causes that they felt strongly for.

“At its core, Social Innovation simply involves creating better, cheaper, faster, and more just solutions to various challenges. We are all solving problems every day, and Social Innovation as a framework leads us to superior solutions with a wider set of considerations, explained Eden Partner Mr. Calvin Chu Yee Ming.

“You don’t need to quit your job and start up a social enterprise to be a social innovator. We all have the ability – and in fact the obligation – to create more sustainable solutions to global challenges regardless of whether we work in a corporation, a government agency, or non-profit organization,” he said.

About Eden Strategy Institute

Eden Strategy Institute, LLP. is Asia’s leader in social innovation consulting. Eden’s distinctive approach to sustainable advantage helps multinational organizations design new growth platforms, operations, products, and services, by aligning them with market forces and developmental opportunities. Its non-profit research and training arm provides a fact base of how industries create enduring profits by addressing pressing global issues. Eden also operates a social venture capital fund that invests in social enterprises aligned with its financial, environmental, governance, and social impact criteria, and helps them grow. Learn more about Social Innovation at http://www.edenstrategyinstitute.com/academy/playbooks

August 30, 2012 – Originally appeared in the Business Adviser column of TODAY Paper

We are a three-year old tech start-up looking to grow our business. What do venture capitalists look for when investing in companies and what do they expect in return?

It always helps to get a personal referral to a venture capitalist (VC) – from an advisory board member, professor or client – rather than make a cold call.

For your first meeting, prepare a 10-slide pitch deck on your team, business idea, product or service description, key revenue models, competitive advantage, funding requirements and return on investment. Standby appendices with market research, financials, milestones, exit plans, legal issues and risk analysis.

You will be able to build an attractive company valuation if you can show rapid profit growth in your past three years. In the absence of that, you should have testimonials from prospective customers stating their willingness to pay for your product or service. At the minimum, you should be able to demonstrate that you have a potentially scalable business.

Most VCs are looking for at least five to 10 times return on capital upon exit. Early stage financing can range from S$500,000 to S$10 million for a 20- to 40-per-cent stake. Selling your equity thus has a real cost, and you would benefit from ensuring the VCs you work with bring contacts and operating knowledge.

Calvin Chu Yee Ming, Partner
Eden Strategy Institute

July 19, 2012 – Originally appeared in the Business Adviser column of TODAY Paper

I’ve run a local eatery for the past decade and currently have three outlets in Singapore. I’m thinking of expanding abroad, probably in the intermediate region. How do I start to evaluate which might be the best market for me?

The best market should be the country with the largest potential market size, which can be served at the highest levels of profitability.
You can first look up statistics such as the addressable population at the income levels that you intend to price your products, to get a basic intuition about the various regions in each country.

The National Library has various reports describing the F&B markets in many countries.

IE Singapore organises regular mission trips to different countries, which will allow you to ask local players about the size and locations of the customer segments you intend to target, what appeals most to them and what are common barriers to successful market entry.

Your profits will be affected by your costs and the price levels you can command.

Most countries have investment promotion agencies that outline the costs of doing business, from incorporation to employee benefits, rent and taxes.

You should talk to potential local partners to understand if your margins will be squeezed by your suppliers, landlord or competing eateries.

Calvin Chu Yee Ming, Partner
Eden Strategy Institute

May 30, 2012 -
Pro bono engagement with The Living! Project

The Living! Project (TLP) is a Social Entreprise that applies business models to artistic forms. Founded in August 2011 by social innovators Mr. Allan Lim, CEO of Alpha Biofuels; Mr. Kenny Eng, Director of Gardenasia; and renowned sculptor, Mr Sun Yu-Li, one of the organisation’s core focus is to  increase public awareness of environmental and urban sustainability.

Earlier this year, Eden Strategy Institute was invited help TLP craft its hierarchy of goals.Through a series of interviews and workshops that revealed the success factors for TLP’s organizational resilience, the organization is able to define its vision as “A world where people are inspired to do better”. In addition, TLP members drafted and operationalized a mission to be globally recognized and rewarded as the gold standard arts events platform, whose innovative and inspirational solutions bring positive social and behavioral change to Singapore.

One TLP’s key initiatives is Luminance!, a light art festival organized at *SCAPE from Jun 23 – July 1, 2012 and created to nurture aspiring artists & encourage experimental ideas. This is an artist development program which aims to provide an engaging platform for young Singaporean artists to express their social views through the medium of Light Art. Eden conducted a pro bono Masterclass for Luminance! artists covering principles and case studies of Business Models for artists. The artists also engaged in interactive exercises where they practiced developing and pitching their personal artist statements and art installations with a view towards generating sustainable incomes for themselves.

“One area where Singapore has not been punching above its weight has been in sustaining our nascent arts scene,” observed Eden Partner Mr. Calvin Chu Yee Ming.

“Our youth have internalized the notion that artists cannot support themselves, and this has compounded a grant-seeking mentality among many artists here. We are delighted with this opportunity to lend our business experience to help the next generation of artists see that they can achieve commercial success intrinsically through their work,” he said.

TLP Co-Founder Mr. Allan Lim was glad to observe the enthusiastic response among Luminance! artists.  “I would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to Eden Strategy Institute for the work that they have so wonderfully done for Luminance! Festival. During the initial concept planning and assembling of the team for the festival, the team spent many late nights in discussion with the core team to develop a common vision and aligned goals for the festival. Through their friendly banter and their relentless enthusiasm, they helped the team find their complementary expertise and also identified gaps in the festival which would have been detrimental to the Project. It is also during these sessions that the TLP Collective developed the vision of the group and what we hope to achieve in the future.

During the Masterclass at the festival, Eden gave a class to the young first time artists on the strategic thinking and marketing of their art installation – “the business side of art”. Many of our artists, both first-timers and established, gained valuable insight to how the can pursue success in their artistic careers. The team gave a spectrum of real-life examples of artists and how they achieved success and carried out a series of interactive exercise for the artists to help them focus on their strategy to market their project in the Festival. This has resulted in a better refinement of the installations by the artist and some artists have gone on to get commission works after the festival.

Eden insisted that their involvement Luminance! Festival is pro bono because they are firm believers of ground-up change and community driven innovation. Here’s to Team Eden!” he said.

View Eden’s presentation materials to the artists at http://www.edenstrategyinstitute.com/academy/playbooks

About Eden Strategy Institute

Eden Strategy Institute, LLP. is Asia’s leader in social innovation consulting. Eden’s distinctive approach to sustainable advantage helps multinational organizations design new growth platforms, operations, products, and services, by aligning them with market forces and developmental opportunities. Its non-profit research and training arm provides a fact base of how industries create enduring profits by addressing pressing global issues. Eden also operates a social venture capital fund that invests in social enterprises aligned with its financial, environmental, governance, and social impact criteria, and helps them grow.

May 11, 2012 -
Eden Strategy Institute supports SPRING Singapore’s drive for Education Innovation in Singapore

SPRING Singapore organised the inaugural Education Innovation Conference 2012, which was supported by the Council for Private Education, International Enterprise Singapore, National Institute of Education and Singapore Tourism Board. The event brought together over 150 industry experts and educational enterprises spanning early childhood learning, enrichment centres, tertiary organisations, and professional skills training firms, to share their insights on educational innovation.

UNESCO and the International Forum for Education 2020 report a global education market size of US$2.2 trillion. The Education Innovation (EI) initiative aims to help local private education firms stay relevant and competitive by strengthening core capabilities to focus on quality learning experiences, exploiting knowledge assets to accelerate market growth, and streamlining administrative functions to build innovative cultures. In the Opening Address, Mr. Lawrence Wong, Minister of State for Defence and Education, set the tone for Educational Innovation.

“It is crucial for education practices to harness advances in technology to enhance the learning experience of your students. At the same time, education should also evolve through new forms of curricula, pedagogy and assessment, by taking into account individual student needs, as well as the skill sets necessary for our young people to succeed in the future. And increasingly in an information-rich world, what you know will be far less important than what you can do with what you know. Our students must have the ability to learn on their own, to create and apply new knowledge in solving problems, and to be ready for whatever the future has in store,” he said.

At the event, SPRING Singapore committed S$10 million as an EI grant to encourage capability upgrading in up to 50 EI projects over the next three years. This was announced by Mr. Ted Tan, Deputy Chief Executive, SPRING Singapore. He said, “SPRING Singapore is heartened that the pursuit of Education Innovation by our private education players is widely supported. We look forward to working hand in hand with our valued partners and stakeholders within the industry to strengthen our SMEs’ value propositions and enhance Singapore’s thought leadership in Education Innovation. This will in turn encourage the private sector to tap innovation to deliver quality education for long-term growth.”

Mr. Greg Marchi, Global Vice President and Managing Director, Duke Corporate Education delivered the first keynote address. He elaborated on how Duke’s corporate training pedagogy included action-based learning experiences that ranged from playing basketball games to simulating court trials. He also touched on the importance of courage among leaders.

“A pioneer doing something different is just a lone nut, until the first follower gives him credibility. In this sense, the leadership of the follower is even more important,” he said.

Mr. Rob Morton, Asia Pacific Site Leader, Disney Institute (Singapore)’s keynote described how Disney uses storytelling to entertain, lead by example, inspire dreams, impact core beliefs, and educate.

He further explained Disney’s approach to innovation. “Innovation is really a continuous improvement process. At Disney we go through six-steps: Listen and learn; Measure; Act; Re-measure; Re-organize and celebrate; Document and share.”

Eden Strategy Institute was invited to lead the breakout workshop on Organizational Excellence. The session covered several case studies on how innovations in Operational Processes, Organization, Teaching Delivery, Technology Applications, and New Business Models helped drive value. Eden also worked with participants to practice a methodology that allowed them to systematically evaluate the feasibility of any new productivity initiative.

“We were encouraged to see a strong desire to understand and improve productivity in the education sector. The great challenge is to bring about a value-seeking and outcome-focused innovative culture into education. Productivity-thinking has at its core a continual improvement ethic that allows numerous opportunities for innovation,” said Eden Partner Mr. David Flynn.

For more information on the Educational Innovation Conference 2012, please visit http://www.spring.gov.sg/NewsEvents/PR/Pages/S$10-Million-Injected-into-Education-Industry-for-Capability-Upgrading-20120511.aspx

About Eden Strategy Institute

Eden Strategy Institute, LLP. is Asia’s leader in social innovation consulting. Eden’s distinctive approach to sustainable advantage helps multinational organizations design new growth platforms, operations, products, and services, by aligning them with market forces and developmental opportunities. Its non-profit research and training arm provides a fact base of how industries create enduring profits by addressing pressing global issues. Eden also operates a social venture capital fund that invests in social enterprises aligned with its financial, environmental, governance, and social impact criteria, and helps them grow. Learn more about Eden’s thinking on Educational Innovation at http://www.edenstrategyinstitute.com/academy/playbooks