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Asia’s remarkable economic growth over the past 3 decades has seen the standard of living rise across most Asian cities. However, many have also been left behind as approximately 1 billion people in Developing Asia still only have access to less than USD1.25 per day and lack adequate access to affordable housing, healthcare, education, energy and clean water and sanitation. The needs of this underserved population are increasingly being met by a new breed of organization, the Social Enterprise, which operates in the space between traditional profit-maximizing businesses and NGOs/charities. Social enterprises are mission-driven but they utilize well proven business practices and usually aim to be financially self-sustainable and generate revenue by offering goods and/or services in the market place. Capital can be raised via loans, private equity, government subvention or early support via donations. Discussion will cover the current state of social enterprises in Asia, how these activities are likely to evolve in the region, their impact and the opportunities for investors and donors.  Yvonne Li is CEO and founder of Avantage Ventures (AV), an Asian-based social investment company with offices in Beijing and Hong Kong. Its mission is to support entrepreneurship and local economic development as prime drivers of poverty alleviation in the region. We have identified a gap for a new asset class – social enterprises in need of what we call ‘missing market finance’. These are organizations that typically need investments of between USD0.5 to USD3 million and are committed to addressing social and environmental needs through innovative social businesses. AV’s approach seeks to deliver a set of returns that balances social and/ or environmental outcomes with financial performance. AV’s recent report ‘Beyond the Margin: Redirecting Asia’s Capitalism’ can be viewed at www.avantageventures.com/publications. Ms Li is a former Hong Kong finance executive who has worked in investment banking, hedge funds, and commercial banking at Asia Financial Asset Management, HSBC and Lehman Brothers
 Philo Alto is the founder of Asia Value Advisors Limited, a Hong Kong-based philanthropic and social capital advisory firm.
With over 17 years of experience, Mr. Alto has worked at firms such as Goldman Sachs (Hong Kong/New York), A.T. Kearney and Citigroup across roles ranging from investment banking, leveraged finance, debt capital markets, macroeconomic research, and firm-wide strategy. He received dual degrees at Harvard Business School (MBA) and Harvard Kennedy School (Master in Public Administration), a Masters degree in Industrial Economics at the University of Asia and the Pacific (Philippines), and bachelor degrees in physics and computer engineering at the Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines). Over the past years, he has advised and volunteered with numerous social purpose organizations, social venture intermediaries as well as philanthropic organizations, and he has also given talks on the social sector to students and social entrepreneurs. He is concurrently a Senior Advisor to Sow Asia Foundation (www.sowasia.org), a venture philanthropy firm. He also sits on the Harvard Business School Association of Hong Kong committee providing scholarship support to leaders of Hong Kong non-profits to attend the Strategic Perspectives of Non-profit Management program at Harvard Business School. Mr. Alto lives in Hong Kong and is a citizen of both the Philippines and HKSAR. He speaks fluent Mandarin, native English and Filipino.
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