Social Impact Exchange lists 11 new high impact projects

KUALA LUMPUR: Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM) today announced the listing of 11 new high-impact projects on the Social Impact Exchange (SIX), the country’s first pay-for-impact exchange to channel untapped corporate resources to high-performing social-purpose organisations (SPOs).
“We hope to list another five to six high-impact SPOs by end of this year. By 2020, we are hoping to list at least 100 high-impact projects on SIX,” AIM CEO Naser Jaafar told reporters after announcing the new listings today.
SIX, which was launched by then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak during the Global Entrepreneurship Community Summit in December last year, is designed to parallel a traditional stock exchange, and pave the way for more innovative financing model for SPOs.
Prior to listing on the SIX, SPOs including non-governmental organisations and social enterprises are evaluated based on their capacity, track record, intended social impact and financial sustainability.
To date, there are 19 high-impact SPOs listed on SIX.
Since the establishment of the platform, Naser said, AIM has taken the role of a facilitator between the public, private and social sectors in constructing new ways to develop a social financing model for social services delivery.
Through SIX, AIM has received funding worth RM200,000 from Eco World Foundation to fund SUKA Society to execute Empowered 2 Teach, a project which empowers Orang Asli youth to start their own community pre-school education classes in Gua Musang, Kelantan, and Rompin, Pahang.
AIM also received funding from YTL Power International Bhd amounting to RM184,600 for Global Peace Foundation to roll out Communities Unite for Purewater Project, a provision of clean water to uplift the welfare of the rural and undeserved communities in Kuching, Sarawak.
Also held at the event was a dialogue titled “The Role of Public, Private, People and Professionals (4Ps) in Malaysia’s Social Economy,” which aimed at fostering a greater collaboration and building stronger ties between the government and the private sector.
Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd corporate social responsibility director Puan Sri Maimon Arif Patail, one of the panellists, said social entrepreneurs need to find the right corporate before delivering pitch for their social intervention projects in order to get access to the right funding. “Always understand who you are pitching to and what are their agendas.”
The event was attended by organisations representing funders, corporations, government agencies and regulators.