Inclusive Business

Lingnan University is distinguished by its commitment to regional development, leveraging its liberal arts education and research capabilities to foster sustainable growth and community engagement. Riding on our success in the institutionalization of the Service-Learning Programme, where Humanitarian Technology (HT) was artfully infused into our liberal arts curriculum, the next step involves impact cascading in the space of Inclusive Business (IB).

Leveraging the IB Framework for Enhanced Project Success

The team was the forerunner to bring IB experts, BoP Innovation Centre (BoPInc) from the Netherlands to Asia. In a week-long capacity building programme hosted by us here in Hong Kong, more than 80 relevant stakeholders, including practitioners and academics from United Kingdom, Canada, the Philippines and Hong Kong were trained by subject matter experts and experienced fieldworkers. Topics included:

financial inclusion,
digital innovation,
women entrepreneurship, and
circular economy.

The training also looked into how the IB framework can augment existing community projects to contribute further to social impact.

Establishing an Asia Inclusive Business (AIB) Hub

Our commitment is evidenced by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with 9 state universities in the Philippines to set up the Asia Inclusive Business (AIB) Hub. The AIB Hub serves to build capabilities among academics, social innovators, and small business owners to learn and apply the IB framework to overcome scalability challenges thereby achieving financial sustainability. This partnership will also accelerate IB research, education, and implantation in Asia, and generate novel case studies enriching the global IB community.

Community Impact of AIB Hub

The Inclusive Business Accelerator Programme (IBAP) was also launched in 2023. In collaboration with the Philippines Association of State Universities & Colleges (PASUC), 120 practitioners with extensive experience in HT, from 55 universities across the 17 regions in the Philippines, participated in the programme to develop IB models to overcome scalability challenges and achieve financial sustainability. Held in Manila, participants walked away with practical, implementable IB plans for implementation back in their communities. They also reflected critically and gained valuable insights from the collective wisdom of peers from other SUCs, building network connections better to understand the challenges and opportunities in the Philippines. IBAP laid a critical foundation for building a community of practice (COP) around IB practitioners showcasing a pathway towards scaling IB in Asia.

Project Sustainability and Student Impact

Meanwhile, circling its impact on students, a flagship programme by the Office of Service Learning, the Joint Humanitarian Entrepreneurship Summer/Winter Academy, has also been hosted by the above partner institutions in the Philippines. This provides our students the outlet to integrate education with real-world applications, developing innovations to impact the community.

All in all, Lingnan has been working with partner institutions, businesses, government agencies, and NGOs on a wide variety of projects and topics. From AY 2016, more than 400 students have worked on more than 40 projects in different rural communities, collectively benefiting more than 14,000 beneficiaries. The programmes and projects have important implications and contribute to policy making at local, regional, national and global level to building robust economy, to enhance wellbeing of the community, and end poverty in all its dimensions.

With creating social impact via IB in mind, the following SDGs are also achieved:

SDG 1 No Poverty
SDG 17 Partnership for the Goals
SDG 4 Quality Education
SDG 5 Gender Equality
SDG 2, 6, 7, 9 (diverse project scopes through LU's Joint Humanitarian Entrepreneurship Academies)