Sustainable Finance Initiative (SFI)

Sustainable Finance Initiative (SFi) is a dedicated platform for private investors to learn, connect, and invest together as a community.

Encompass HK supports organizations which advocate for achieving sustainability in Hong Kong and APAC. This month, we are featuring Sustainable Finance Initiative (https://sustainablefinance.hk/) as our SDG partner.

Sustainable Finance Initiative (SFi) is a dedicated platform for private investors to learn, connect, and invest together as a community. The platform was incubated by RS Group (http://www.rsgroup.asia/) and launched in June 2018. Since its launch, SFi has built a community of private investors who believe in the importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in their wealth management practices and are increasingly active in the deployment of capital for impact.

This all began with a question that the principal of RS Group, Annie Chen, asked herself – “What is the purpose of wealth?”. After transitioning RS Group’s portfolio towards 100% impact, Annie recognised the need for a dedicated Hong Kong platform to help speed up other private investors’ journeys towards impact: hence the birth of SFi.


Believing that mobilizing a significant number of private investors in Hong Kong can help to strike a revolution, SFi aims to mobilize private capital for positive social and environmental impact, and to ultimately support Hong Kong to become a mature sustainable financial hub. Yet, current discussions on sustainable finance in Hong Kong is considerably quiet, especially in the Chinese-speaking community.

To realize its mission, SFi’s programme is built around three core objectives, “Learn, Connect, Invest”. Investor Circle connects ready-to-go private investors in regular meetups for peer support and active deal making in sustainable finance investment. Peer-to-Peer allows private investors share their own sustainable finance investment experience and learn from one another in casual settings. During Smart Conversations, curated debates on the hottest issues related to sustainable finance are discussed. SFi also participates in local and overseas events, conferences, interviews under its Outreach focus. 

Judging from the above programmes, we can see that SFi does not only help private investors to  learn about why their capital matters, but also how they can collectively foster the sustainable finance industry by knowing what they are investing in. Through sustainable finance, private investors can filter out investments that are harmful to society, and direct their capital to companies that are generating social or environmental benefits in addition to financial gains.

Encompass HK truly believes that SFi, by promoting sustainable economic growth through strengthening the means of implementation and collective action for sustainable finance, will strongly push forward several sustainable development goals (SDG), namely SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth and SDG 17 Partnership for the Goals. SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production is also addressed through educating individual investors on how they can make use of their capital to uphold sustainability and bring positive impact to the society. 

To borrow from Xunzi: “The water that bears a boat is the same that swallows it up”. In the sea of finance, private investors when swimming alone are droplets of separate individuals, but when joined together, they can create a wave in the financial market. Every capital matters regardless of its amount. Everyone has a voice regardless of one’s experience in the investment market. Let’s work collectively to change the current state and ensure sustainability for our future generations!

Encompass HK is a social enterprise that promotes diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the workplace by guiding employers to create a work environment.

Sustainable Finance Initiative (SFi) (Chinese)

Encompass HK一向支持在香港和亞太地區推動持續發展的機構。今次專訪的主角為我們的可持續發展伙伴- Sustainable Finance Initiative (可持續金融項目) (https://sustainablefinance.hk/).

Sustainable Finance Initiative (可持續金融項目) 是一個供個人投資者一同學習、聯繫、和投資的平台。平台是由RS Group (http://www.rsgroup.asia/) 創辦,在20186月面世。自成立以來,SFi團結了一群認同並在管理其財富時注重「環境 (Environmental)、社會(Social)和治理(Governance) (ESG)」等持續發展主題的個人投資者。他們會透過可持續金融投資,積極地為社會的持續發展帶來正面的影響力。

陳恩怡小姐(RS Group主席)創辦SFi是源於她向自己問的一個問題:「我們為甚麼要擁有財富?」。在將RS 集團的投資組合於數年間完全轉化為影響力組合後,陳小姐察覺到香港需要一個幫助個人投資者加快作可持續性投資的平台,因而創建了「可持續金融項目」。

「可持續金融項目」相信若能集合一大群個人投資者就可以帶來巨大的影響,推動個人資本投資可為香港的民生和環境帶來正面影響的金融項目,以促使香港發展成一個有成熟的可持續金融體系的金融中心。可惜的是目前在香港有關影響力投資的討論少之又少,在華人社群中更是缺乏。

為了實踐其使命,「可持續金融項目」以三個核心目標: 「學習」、「聯結」,「投資」,編制活動。Investor Circle透過定期的聚會,聯繫對可持續發展投資已有認識的個人投資者,幫助他們互相支援,研究有關可持續金融投資的決策。Peer-to-Peer讓個人投資者在休閒的環境中互相學習,分享各自對可持續金融的投資經驗。在Smart Conversation中,經驗豐富的投資者主持以辯論形式引發一些與可持續金融投資相關熱點問題的討論。在Outreach方面, SFi的團隊會主動參與在本地及海外舉辦的活動、會議、訪談等等,以推廣可持續金融的價值觀。

從以上的活動可見,「可持續金融項目」不僅幫助個人投資者理解他們的資本「為何」重要,還教育他們可「如何」通過了解自己投資於「有影響力」的項目,推動可持續金融的發展。在實踐可持續金融投資時,個人投資者既要在追求有效益的財務回報,亦要摒棄可能危害人類發展及環境的投資項目,將自己的資本放在對社會及環境帶來良好效益的企業上。

Encompass HK 相信「可持續金融項目」的理念能夠大大促進多項可持續發展目標。例如,透過集體的影響力投資以改變現時的經濟體系,達致可持續經濟,促成「可持續發展目標8 – 體面工作和經濟增長」及「可持續發展目標17 –促進目標實現的伙伴關係」。通過教育讓個人投資者認識如何善用其資本來維持可持續性,為社會帶來正面的效益,推動「可持續發展目標12- 負責任消費和生產」。

荀子說:「水能載舟,亦能覆舟。」個人投資者浮游於浩瀚的金融汪洋中,每人是一個分離的個體。但當他們聚集一起時,定能在金融市場上創造浪潮。資本不管金額多少,不管你有什麼的投資經驗,集合了的個人力量在投資市場的影響力加起來便會是舉足輕重。讓我們一起改變現狀,實踐可持續發展,確保後代有一個美好的未來!

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