JP Morgan pitches in to help entrepreneurs launch social ventures in Hong Kong
JP Morgan teams up with philanthropic group to help budding entrepreneurs realise their dreams
A philanthropic group is teaming up with a global investment bank to train and support young entrepreneurs who want to develop social enterprises.
Social Ventures Hong Kong founder Francis Ngai said by growing the city's social ventures sector he hoped to create a third way of doing business, between a regular company and a charity.
"It's more like a business - they can get themselves self-sustainable and it's a for-profit entity, [but] it's a socially-driven business," he said.
Former drum teacher Helen Lo aims to revolutionise the education system with her social enterprise, OhMyKids, which emphasises life skills over exam results. But when she set out she was unsure how to grow her brand. "I don't come from a business background, I'm an educator," Lo said. "I really had no idea when I started three years ago and I had to learn on my own."
OhMyKids is one of 13 companies joining the partnership between Social Ventures Hong Kong and JP Morgan.
"I'm hoping we can scale up because we still have a lot of projects which we aspire to do and by joining this programme I hope we can really achieve those projects and those aspirations that we have," Lo said.