08 May Social Impact Partners Supports Lizzie Bee Foundation
Hong Kong, 8 May 2017. Hong Kong-based Social Impact Partners (“SIP”) has committed to support Lizzie Bee Foundation (“Lizzie Bee”) and its fundraising social enterprise Bizzie Bee Ltd. (“Bizzie Bee”) to achieve greater social impact through a multi-year interest-free loan and in-kind business expertise.
Lizzie Bee is a Hong Kong registered charity that provides community art programs free of charge to the city’s underprivileged social groups. Bizzie Bee is a social venture initiative that sells educational craft boxes designed in-house and uses its proceeds to support Lizzie Bee’s charity workshops. The founders have demonstrated unwavering social conviction. After six years of continuous effort, they have established a sustainable business model with the combination of a charity with its own revenue generating social enterprise.
SIP shares Lizzie Bee’s vision that through community art projects, social inequities can be lessened in an effortless way for a more integrated and understanding Hong Kong. Lizzie Bee’s focus and commitment to disadvantaged youth, in particular, resonates with SIP.
Alvin Lam, Director of the Board of SIP and Senior Managing Director at CVC Asia Pacific, said: “Art is an elegant way to inspire people and create social inclusion. Underprivileged youth from Hong Kong can benefit from Lizzie Bee’s high-quality art workshops.”
Rigorous due diligence was carried out by SIP’s strategic partners as part of our investment decision process. ALS International conducted management appraisals. Clifford Chance was SIP’s legal due diligence partner. Besides supporting SIP in financial due diligence, PwC will also be providing ongoing advisory to Bizzie Bee in business development and Dechert is advising the organisation in the drafting of legal agreements.
Aninvestment from SIP of HKD 2 million in interest-free loans over the next two years is aimed at growing the Bizzie Bee business and enhancing the quality and quantity of Lizzie Bee’s social programs. A basket of KPIs were carefully chosen to reflect both social impact and financial sustainability.
“We are delighted to be partnering with SIP to further engage and empower the Hong Kong community,” said Liesbeth Avern-Briers, Co-Founder and Director of Bizzie Bee Ltd. “SIP’s loan will enable us to grow our craft and activity kit ranges, allowing continued commitment to support Lizzie Bee’s charitable projects. We are dedicated to provide art projects to disadvantaged members of our community with prospects of taking our business model internationally.”
About Lizzie Bee Foundation and Bizzie Bee Ltd
Bizzie Bee Craft Kits are DIY workshops in a box, to create and complete by yourself or at one of our workshops. We also sell kids activity ranges for hotels, restaurants and airlines. Our packs are educational, creative and fun. They are designed to help children develop their imagination, creativity, cognitive and fine motor skills while having the creative freedom to express their individuality.
Bizzie Bee is a fundraising and social venture initiative of Lizzie Bee Foundation, a registered Hong Kong charity. Proceeds are directed towards community arts projects for the underprivileged in our society to enable social inclusion, community-building and the learning of new skills. We carry our social responsibility into every aspect of our organisation. Therefore, we are also committed to offer valuable employment opportunities to socially disadvantaged communities.
We believe in creating a world where art can bring people together, enable social impact and enrich families and communities. We believe that art should be accessible to all; regardless of socio-economic or educational background.
About Social Impact Partners
Social Impact Partners (SIP) is a Hong Kong-based venture philanthropy firm with a mission to enable sustainable change to systemic social issues.
As a financing and strategic partner to growth-stage social purpose organisations, SIP creates tailored solutions that help develop the sustainability and scalability that social purpose organisations (SPOs) (non- profit organisations and social enterprises) need to achieve organisational maturity.
While itself is not-for-profit, SIP evaluates all potential SPO partners with the same rigour and due diligence as would a traditional investor deciding a portfolio opportunity. SIP is also distinctly equipped to drive rapid and effective organisational improvement: When SPOs partner with SIP, they are also partnering with SIP’s extensive network of world-class professional experts, long-term funding partners and global industry leaders. One dollar into SIP deploys two dollars of investment value into SIP’s SPO portfolios – an exponential return on positive social impact.