Mission and Vision
Our aim is to create a paradigm shift in our societal values and priorities so that economic growth does not jeopardize human development and environmental sustainability.
Through the management of our assets and deployment of our capital, we seek to shape a compassionate society that desires a better world for future generations while protecting “the commons” upon which all life on Earth depends.
We envision a world in which our values and actions reflect our appreciation of our interdependence and interconnectivity with the rest of humanity and the environment.
Our Guiding Principles
Total Portfolio Approach
We take a total portfolio approach to asset management and allocation. This approach bridges the not-for-profit and for-profit worlds by generating both financial and ‘extra-financial’ returns, through social and environmental benefits. It encompasses a wide range of activities across the financing spectrum: from grants, to lending to charities, to investing equity in social enterprises, to Sustainable and Responsible Investing (SRI).
Blended Value
Blended Value states that value creation is not an “either/or” proposition wherein one creates either economic returns or social impact, but rather value is whole—organizations have both economic and social aspects of performance; and, by extension, capital is not simply philanthropic or market-rate, but rests along a continuum. Across this continuum, various types of investment offer various levels of financial, social and environmental performance. There is no “trade-off” between doing well and doing good—there are simply different degrees of performance in an integrated capital market. Please go here to read more on these concepts.
Blended Finance & Catalytic Capital
Blended finance is a structuring approach that uses catalytic capital from public or philanthropic sources to de-risk and/or enhance returns in order to enable commercial investors to achieve their financial return from sustainability focused investments. It enables organisations with different objectives to invest alongside each other and achieve their own financial and impact (or both) objectives.
Catalytic capital is flexible in terms of type of instrument and financial return expectations compared to more conventional capital. It aims to take on higher amounts of risk but can accept lower financial returns in order to support the achievement of deeper and more lasting social and/or environmental impact.
Blended finance and catalytic capital are instrumental in supporting high-impact yet underfunded areas that are often perceived as high risk, or having lower returns, especially in frontier markets or nascent sectors where commercial investors usually do not or cannot invest in.
Overall, it is about mobilising the larger amount of private and commercial capital out there compared to philanthropy, into sectors and regions which need it the most. Only then can we really be able to fill the significant financing gap to meet the various global targets, like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Our Team
Annie Chen – Founder and Chair
Annie is dedicating her time and resources toward social and environmental causes with the potential for generating positive systemic change and sustainable development. Believing the potential for change through social entrepreneurship, Annie is working to enhance the development of social entrepreneurship throughout Hong Kong and Asia. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Annie obtained her BA from Brown University and her JD from Columbia Law School.
Ronie Mak – Managing Director
Ronie leads and manages the strategy, activities and operations of RS Group in HK and globally. She led the launch of the RS Group Impact Report in 2016 and the incubation of the “Sustainable Finance Initiative” (SFi) in 2018. In 2019, Ronie developed the “Natural Capital Initiative”, aimed at deploying catalytic capital to support innovative investment solutions to protect and enhance natural capital in Asia. Projects included a US$3 million blended finance funding window, and the incubation of “Terratai”, a venture builder for nature based ventures in SE Asia, launched in August 2023. Ronie is an Advisor and Member to SFi, member of the Investment Committee of Terratai, as well as Board Chair of the Global Development Incubator (Asia) Ltd. Ronie has over 15 years of banking & finance experience with past careers at HSBC, KPMG and UPS.
Christine Chan, Associate Director for Investment
Christine focuses on the private investments of the RS Group. She has close to a decade of experience in private equity. Prior to joining the RS Group, Christine was a Senior Vice President at RRJ Capital, an Asia-based private equity fund with more than US$12 billion asset under management across four funds. Before RRJ, she was an investment banking analyst with Credit Suisse. She graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science with first class honour majoring in Economics.
Justin Chang, Director for Philanthropy and Catalytic Capital
Justin focuses on RS Group’s deployment of catalytic capital, supporting climate effective and local communities-centered nature-based solutions, while aiming to attract more investment into this area. He also helps manage the philanthropic activities of the RS Group. Prior to this, Justin was with the UBS Optimus Foundation for 4 years, developing and structuring outcomes-based and blended finance projects, managing investments into social enterprises, and led the social finance team’s global work on climate and nature-based solutions. Before UBS, Justin worked for Prudential plc as part of its corporate foundation in Asia, as well as prior roles at Prudential including finance, strategy, and M&A. He started his working life with EY Australia, holds a Bachelor of Business with Distinction from the University of Technology, Sydney and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Winnie Chan, Director of Investments
Winnie oversees investments of the RS Group with focus on public investments. She has more than 20 years of experience in family office, asset management and investment banking industry. Prior to joining RS Group, Winnie was the Managing Director and Responsible Officer at both single and multi family offices, where she oversaw global wealth management across multiple asset classes. Previously she managed institutional and retail portfolios at I.G. Investment Management and Legg Mason as a portfolio manager. Prior to asset management, she worked at investment banking division at UBS and Goldman Sachs. She graduated from the University of Chicago with Phi Beta Kappa majoring in Economics.
Lehui Liang, Senior Manager of Philanthropy
Lehui focuses on the philanthropic work of RS Group. Prior to RS Group, Lehui was with Social Ventures Hong Kong, where she spent close to a decade designing new platforms to synthesise capital from partners across all sectors and enabling these resources to have a social impact in enriching Hong Kong’s communities. She was also with AVPN, overseeing their member network in Hong Kong. Lehui started her career in investment banking at Deutsche Bank. A native of Singapore, Lehui graduated from Wellesley College with a BA in Economics.
Our Advisors
Ivo Knoepfel – Senior Advisor
Ivo is the founder and managing director of onValues Ltd., a leading independent investment consulting firm with a focus on responsible and sustainable investment strategies. With assets under advice in the range of multiple billion USD, onValues supports a wide range of international clients including pension funds, family offices, foundations and HNWIs on aligning their investments to long-term sustainability trends. Based in Zurich, Ivo has in the past worked for pioneering institutions such as Swiss Re (head of group sustainability), SAM (head of research and indices) and responsAbility (microfinance and impact investments). He is a certified analyst/portfolio manager and environmental engineer (MSc and PhD) by training.
Our Alumni
Our work would not have been possible without the support and contribution of our “Alumni” — former team members and advisors who have since embarked on their respective impact journeys, but will always be part of the RS Group family.
Anna Wang
Bonny Landers
Jed Emerson
Joan Shang
Katy Yung
Leonie Kelly
Tze Wei Ng
Yuni Choi