The Editor's Post: Combatting ‘impact investing colonialism’ in Asia with AVPN

Greetings from Hong Kong, where the AVPN 2025 conference – the largest gathering of social investors in Asia – is coming to an end. It has been a whirlwind week – including a typhoon, vertiginous skyscrapers, dumplings, excessive air conditioning, and 1,500 people talking about impact in one venue. 

The message of the conference was clear: Asia must take the lead on impact – and the Hong Kong government couldn’t be more explicit that it was ready to spearhead that journey. 

But I was struck by the heavy presence of Western foundations and investors, not only as delegates or speakers but also as major partners. There is a simple reason: US and European foundations, development agencies, multilaterals and others are some of the largest sources of impact capital on the continent. 

Just a tiny portion of impact investors globally are headquartered in Asia – less than 10%, according to research by the GIIN, which also found that investors from North America and Europe made up about two-thirds of impact investors targeting Asia.

This creates a power imbalance and, potentially, a perception that Western funders are imposing a Western approach. “How many Western countries would welcome Asian foundations to go in, set up shop and do grant making? Not too many,” Naina Subberwal Batra, CEO of AVPN, told me on the sidelines of the event. 

“And yet, there is a huge feeling of upsetness or affront when Asian governments criticise foreign foundations for funding areas that they think are sensitive,” notably where there are cultural or religious differences: an American foundation going to an Islamic country and talking about equity and freedom of speech hasn’t understood the local context, for example, she explains. “It is colonialism,” she adds.

• Read more: ‘Asian philanthropists do things differently’: why it’s wrong for ‘global’ conversations about impact investment to focus on US and Europe

For Asian funders, that also means they are not seen as equals by their western counterparts. “A lot of times the immediate assumption is that the Asian foundation is lesser, and the Asian foundation is not strategic, is not long-term in its thinking and is not progressive,” said Batra.

I am not suggesting that North American and European impact investors willingly invest in the continent to seek influence, or that they coerce Asians to accept their funding. One delegate pointed out to me that many Western foundations and impact investors meaningfully engage with the region, building local teams and understanding local issues – but he acknowledged that the bulk of the money does come from Western sources.

Asia desperately needs impact money: the UN estimates that US$1.5tn of investment is needed each year for the continent to reach the sustainable development goals by 2030. This capital has to come from somewhere – and as it stands Asia depends on Europe and North America for it. How can the continent liberate itself from this persistent “impact investing colonialism”?

The answer is simple: mobilise Asian money for Asian impact, at scale. Many speakers highlighted the growing pool of capital available on the continent, as continued economic growth in the past decades have seen the emergence of a growing middle class – as well as an increasing number of “ultra rich”.

It is easier said than done, however. While traditional philanthropy is deeply rooted in Asian culture – be it informal giving or structured philanthropy – combining it with the idea of investing with financial returns tends to be seen as unnatural. “It’s very early days” for impact investing on the continent, explains Vikas Arora, chief impact investing and blended finance officer at AVPN. 

A lot of work is being done by AVPN and others to involve donors as providers of concessional capital in blended finance structures, but I’m told the idea is difficult to sell to people who see it as subsidising someone else’s profit. Changing the narrative will take time, but the urgency created by the US’s and Europe’s foreign aid cuts could serve as an accelerator.

In any case, mobilising Asian capital for Asian impact will be the first step to enable the continent to achieve its ambition – as was so often repeated during the conference (this year and previously): to “leapfrog” the rest of the world and become a leader in impact investing.

Top image: Naina Subberwal Batra, CEO of AVPN, opens the organisation's 2025 conference in Hong Kong