(Photo Credit: Kim Dental, an investee company of ABC World Asia)

“Impact investing can be mainstreamed to play a critical role in addressing the pressing social and environmental challenges of our time. Through impact investing, investors will be able to achieve returns with purpose, and be a part of the solution for social good,” shared Ms Cheo Hock Kuan, CEO of Temasek Trust. 

Addressing Sustainable Development Goals Financing Gap

Ms Cheo was speaking at the launch of the SDG Investor Map for Indonesia (the Map) on 16 March 2022, an event hosted by the Government of Indonesia, UNDP Indonesia and UNDP’s SDG Impact. As part of the efforts to mobilise private capital towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), Temasek Trust had partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s flagship initiative, SDG Impact, as its anchor partner for Asia. As part of this collaborative effort, a series of investor maps for the ASEAN region will be developed.

The Indonesia SDG Investor Map is the first to be launched in the region. The Map joins 18 other Maps spanning the developing markets on the SDG Investor Platform. The six SDG-enabling sectors are Education, Healthcare, Agriculture, Renewable Energy, Financials and Infrastructure. The identified investment themes and business models have already seen positive investor activity and recorded favourable exits, laying the grounds for further scale. 

In addition to using the Map, enterprises and investors are encouraged to adopt the SDG Impact Standards to embed sustainability and the SDGs into their internal management practices. The Standards can help improve impact integrity and increase the likelihood for an organisation’s activities to have positive impact on people and the planet. 

SDG Impact and CASE at Duke University collaborated to create the free Impact Measurement and Management for the SDGs course on Coursera. The course, designed for professionals, investors and business owners, provides an entry point to understanding the SDG Impact Standards. Join over 8,000 participants and enrol today  immforsdgs.com.

Pushing Boundaries in a Changing World

Our private equity impact fund, ABC World Asia, was launched in 2019 with the mission to drive positive changes through impact investing in alignment with UN SDGs. 

Congruent with SGD 3, “Good Health and Well-being”, ABC World Asia has been uplifting healthcare businesses assessed to have high quality and community impact potential. These efforts have been particularly timely in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, as healthcare systems in many Asian countries have faced significant strain. Among the cracks that showed were inadequate infrastructure, workforce shortages and supply chain disruptions—challenges that often disproportionately affect developing nations and the most vulnerable in those communities. The consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak highlighted the importance of ensuring equitable access to quality, affordable health services for all, regardless of economic power or geographical location. 

In 2021, ABC World Asia invested in Kim Dental, a leading dental system operator in Vietnam; and Healthcare At Home India, which is driving out-of-hospital care in the world’s second most populous country. These companies address vital gaps in health systems with sustainable solutions that also add to capacity and competency for their countries. ABC World Asia hopes to support their endeavours to innovate and improve their communities’ access to quality healthcare, on a collective mission to strengthen the resilience of healthcare systems in all corners of Asia.

ABC World Asia’s latest Impact Report “Inspiring Impact” covering outcomes from investments made in 2021 can be downloaded from www.abcworld.com.sg/impactreport2021. 

At Temasek Trust, we remain steadfast in our path to enable innovative ways of doing good. We hope to provide investors and businesses in Asia with clarity, insights and tools to support their efforts to generate positive social and environmental impact alongside sustainable financial returns so we can all enjoy a more resilient and prosperous future. 

To drive impact investing in the region, Temasek Trust will launch a Centre for Impact Investing and Practices. The Centre will pool our strengths and cross-leverage our resources with various partners to build capacity in leading impact measurement and management tools and practices. More details on the Centre will be announced later this year.