Inclusive Business in Asia
VIEW EVENT DETAILSWhere Commercial Opportunity and Sustainability Converge
With its complexities, its opportunities and diverse make-up, Asia continues to fascinate and attract investors. However, as well as sometimes dizzying economic growth, Asia also still presents marked challenges in social and economic inequality and environmental risk.
As companies, investors and governments increasingly seek to balance these often contradictory forces, the potential of Inclusive Business is emerging as a commercial and sustainable way forward. Inclusive business – focusing on those living at the base of the economic pyramid as consumers but also considering their untapped potential as producers, suppliers, distributors and/or employees – is gaining prominence in portfolios and mainstream mindsets. What does it take to invest in this sector? Why in Asia in particular? What social and environmental impact does it genuinely achieve?
Credit Suisse and Asia Society Switzerland are delighted to invite you to learn more about this exciting new field.
Expert and author Noah Beckwith will share his experience and the findings of his publication: Inclusive Business in Asia: Where Commercial Opportunity and Sustainability Converge followed by a moderated discussion and closing comments.
An apéro riche will be served after the event.
This event is co-hosted by Credit Suisse.
Noah Beckwith has two decades’ experience in designing and structuring small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) private-equity funds with a social and environmental focus. He is the Managing Director of Aardvark Advisers Pte. Ltd (AAL), a consulting firm that provides fund-establishment, due diligence and advisory services to banks, development financial institutions, family offices and foundations. He also advises the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on structuring and mobilizing private capital for climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience strategies. Since 2011, he helped shape ADB’s approach to inlusive business financing. He has advised a broad range of clients including Compagnie Benjamin de Rothschild, Credit Suisse, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Wolfensohn Capital Group, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, ResponsAbility, Grassroots Business Fund, the Clinton Foundation and Social Finance Ltd, among others. He is also a visiting lecturer at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service. Previously, Mr. Beckwith was responsible for fund establishment and impact assessment at Aureos Capital. Whilst there, he launched the Aureos Sustainability Index, a pioneering impact measurement system in the field. Mr. Beckwith graduated from Oxford University with a master’s degree in English and modern languages, and from the London School of Economics.
Event Details
Credit Suisse Forum St. Peter
St. Peterstrasse 19
8001 Zurich
(map)