SEOUL, KOREA – “For the growth of social enterprises, small investments from the public must be rejuvenated.”
Chey Tae Won, the chairman of SK group, introduced SK’s strategies and visions for boosting social enterprises at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Chey said that, “An investment platform is necessary to allow the general public to invest in social enterprises with ease." Social Enterprise is a company conducting business activity with the aim of resolving social issues such as unemployment, the environment, and poverty. As a means to this platform, he emphasized ‘Investing for Impact’, a type of ‘nice investment’ that provides a long-term investment towards companies that emphasize positive influences on diverse social issues such as the environment and welfare.
Chey continued that, “The best practices of large companies’ running social enterprises are of course necessary. However, it is more important to foster an environment where the public can invest in small and medium-sized social enterprises, even in small sums.” To this end, he suggested the idea of ‘Social Progress Credit’, which is similar to Certified Emission Reductions (CER). This will provide financial incentives for social enterprises, while subsequently offering tax cuts and financial support for investors, enabling them to trade like CERs. If this leads to the establishment of a “social stock market”, he emphasized, a virtuous circle will be created to attract capital more efficiently.
The chairman also presented the SK’s new “Global Action Hub” initiative, which is in the process in cooperation with the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). This is the IT-based social platform that was proposed by Chey at the Rio+20 – United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil last June. The concept is to generate a portal for social enterprises where social entrepreneurs, investors, and specialists are able to share information on start-ups, investment, and innovative business ideas. SK plans to unveil the beta version of the Global Action Hub this September and to complete it by the end of 2014.
Around 90 participants attended the session along with Gillian Tett, an editor-in-chief of Financial Times, the chairman of Malaysia’s government-run bank and the American founder of venture capital.
