For Social Entrepreneurs

Taking your business to the next level.

SOW Asia understands what it takes to grow businesses that successfully address socioeconomic or environmental problems in innovative and effective ways. As a social entrepreneur you need tremendous drive, motivation, strength of character, stamina and vision to keep things going. You may also need additional resources and guidance.

SOW Asia works with sophisticated early-stage to growth-stage social businesses that have demonstrated innovative, systematic and market-based approaches to alleviate poverty, addressing challenges in healthcare, education and the environment. Our goal is to help take your business to the next level and further enhance the social / environmental impact.

 

Key characteristics of social businesses we work with

Clear social / environmental impact

You have a clear understanding of your impact model, have proven the effectiveness of your solutions and developed strong business models to implement them, while remaining impact-focused throughout.

Sustainable

You have both revenue-generating models and sound operations that allow your business to become self-sustaining over time. We provide support in this regard while enabling you to continue growing your impact.

Scalable and/or replicable

You have a realistic and achievable growth strategy to expand your impact. This can be through replication and / or scale to increase the number of individuals impacted, or through systematically increasing the level and depth of your impact on the current target audience.

Entrepreneurial and innovative

You demonstrate a deep understanding of the challenges, the market opportunities and the operating environment. You are resourceful, innovative and realistic in exploring entrepreneurial solutions that can best succeed under these circumstances.

Integrity and transparency

You are committed to high ethical and legal standards in everything you do in your social business.

Growth

You demonstrate that your business is ready, able and committed to the next stage of development.

Asia-based and Asia-focused

Your business directly impacts and improves the lives of people living in Asia, particularly in China, Hong Kong and / or Southeast Asia.

 

To learn more about the different types of businesses we currently work with, click here.

 

Supporting your business, creating impact

SOW Asia provides financial and non-financial support that is tailored to the unique requirements of your social business.

Financing 

  • Our investments are typically in the range of 500,000 HKD to 2 million HKD (50,000 to 250,000 USD) depending on the needs of the business.
  • Our financial support allows for longer terms prior to repayment, preferential rates, and other beneficial terms.
  • We target the pre-impact segment, social businesses that have moved beyond the early stages of development and have demonstrated proof of their concept and effectiveness of their solution but are not yet ready for commercial impact investing.
  • Social businesses should have strong potential to achieve profits, which would enable them to repay our investment as they continue to grow and scale independently.
  • When an investment is repaid, funds are moved on and reinvested into other social businesses.

Capacity Building

  • We provide entrepreneurs with capacity-building resources to enhance the effectiveness of the social business.
  • We take an active and collaborative role in our long-term partnership, and we take a seat on the Board of Directors.
  • We provide specific, customized support through our professional team and a network of experienced Knowledge Volunteers with wide-ranging expertise in areas covering business mentoring, management improvement, and operations consulting.

Long term commitment

Running a successful social business doesn’t happen overnight. SOW Asia is committed to our social business partners for the long haul, offering the patient, multi-year assistance considered necessary to give social businesses a fair chance to succeed.

 

If you are interested in submitting a request, click here.