Title of the session: Portfolio Management - building ecosystems beyond core business needs

Speakers:
Jenny Everett, Deputy Director, ANDE
Vishal Mehta, Co-founder and Partner, Lok Advisory Services
Asher Hasan, Founder, Naya Jeevan
Shuyin Tang, Investment Manager, LGT VP
Summary of Session Content:
It is important to tap into networks and resources to mobilize and catalyse. Apart from investors,
capacity builders, incubators, accelerators, etc., reliable local partners are necessary in order to be
an effective provider that has a thorough understanding of the legal frameworks and customer
profile.
Corporations can play a larger role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Corporate CSR has evolved
from mere surface level initiatives to aligning values and corporate citizenship. Exciting
developments include incorporating small and growing business into corporate value chains and
extending services and benefits, like insurance, that these vendors who otherwise not have access to.
The entrepreneurial ecosystem needs to evolve over time, especially since the economy and
resources are increasingly shared and not owned by individual entities. At the same time,
subjectivity is an inherent part of philanthropy and impact investment. It is therefore imperative to
have clear objectives from the outset, and to communicate these objectives to all parties involved.
Unique platforms and structures are also needed to remain relevant.
Questions and Answers:
Question 1: The ecosystem of civil society is changing, with an over representation of those
providing services and advocacy. Is there a risk of governments abdicating their responsibility,
especially where governments are agnostic?
Vishal Mehta
Governments can be threatened that they are being taken over and can use legislation to protect
their interests.
Question 2: Investors demand return of 19%. They may demand impact reports but remain fixated
on numbers. Social entrepreneurs have profit margins to maintain as well, and given the high
return to investors, it could be more advantageous to just take a bank loan. How do you manage
the tension?

Vishal Mehta
It depends on relationship with and value to the end customers. As long as you are building a longterm relationship and the end customers see value, they will make sure that you exist.
Question 3: What can disrupt the ecosystem?
Asher Hasan
Non-market players enter the market in conflict zones because it is profitable for them to disrupt the
market. One way to manage this is to be apolitical. Local politics tend to disrupt, but organisations
must maintain a balanced, apolitical approach.
Shuyin Tang
Social entrepreneurs who are also great communication and publicity agents can be disruptive
individuals, like Rags n Riches in the Philippines. They get everyone talking about social enterprise;
they are disruptive in a good way.
Jenny Everett
Ecosystems face challenges when the agents are not coordinating. Other challenges faced include
the access to talent (management staff and people who are inspired to be entrepreneurs).
Question 4: The ecosystem can be built up based on the corporate value chain. However, the
corporates only see impact from commercial returns. How can they be involved in building up the
ecosystem?
Asher Hasan
It is important to understand their underlying interests, and appeal to their interests in legal and
credible way. For Unilever, they started with the CSR/corporate affairs department, who in turn
engaged the country CEO, who spoke to the HQ. The visionary team at the HQ then came back to
the country level with directions for the marketing and sales team to look into developing markets in
these regional areas. Understanding that it is a long-term play. It is about sharing the mechanism by
which Unilever can really build and cultivate loyalty within the market, so that when they are mature,
the small and growing businesses and communities will prefer Unilever products.
Question 5: How is technology disruptive?
Asher Hasan
Naya Jeevan works with Visa in Mexico and has formed a relationship with Banamex to enrol small
businesses into a digital financial inclusion plan. Many of these vendors are in urban slums or in rural
areas and do not have access to good healthcare. Through this plan, urban-based physicians provide
telemedicine and videoconferences. Vendors are charged a fee for the service, but they prefer this
(accessible, quality, affordable healthcare) over that provided by the government.

Question 6: There are tensions between two kinds of ecosystem support - at the enterprise level
and at the industry level. What does it take to build these two types of ecosystems?
Vishal Mehta
One challenge is that each requires capital, but people are working from different horizons. It is
necessary to bring them together and show the value of the ecosystem to entrepreneurs. Policy
makers could see such organisations as competition.
Shuyin Tang
Systemic change is one of the goals in ecosystem building. In Southeast Asia, the market is so young
so there is a lot of space. For instance, working with cacao plantations, we made it a successful
industry in the Philippines.
Jenny Everett
Impact investors rarely source deals from impact accelerators. Accelerators produce cool businesses
that business investors are interested in. Investors are looking at multiple companies along the value
chain - creating a market. There is a mentality shift.