Impact Safari: Brand New Approach to Impact Ecology

Francis Ngai is the Founder and CEO of Social Ventures Hong Kong. Since 2007, he’s been dedicated to impact design for the future urban city. His social innovation portfolio includes Hong Kong’s first venture philanthropy fund, Community Resilience Fund, Green Monday, Bottless, RunOurCity, LightBe affordable housing, Playtao Education, HATCH women empowerment initiative, COMM-ON co-caring space, Institute of Community Making, and COMSMOS impact consultancy, among others. Through impact strategy consulting and building collective platforms for corporates, family foundations, and government departments—including Airport Authority HK, Urban Renewal Authority HK, Swire Trust, Rosewood Hotel, Cathay Pacific, Standard Chartered, HK Management Association and Energizing Kowloon East Office—SVhk is committed to creating integrated impact solutions across all sectors in the city.

Sam, currently Interim Director of Jockey Club Design Institute for Social Innovation at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, specialises in strategic systems design thinking and innovation, shared value creation, public-private partnerships, branding and business development for public and non-profit organisations. Her career spans media, public affairs, investment, marketing, Art Tech, cultural tourism planning, social innovation, and design. She previously served as Business Development and Project Director at Hong Kong Design Centre and as a news reporter at Asia Television.

As an advisor in design thinking for multiple government innovation projects, she is committed to advancing community well‑being, cultural conservation, public space, placemaking, and creative tourism. Her collaborations include Housing Bureau, Sustainable Lantau Office, Architectural Services Department, Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency, Tourism Commission and more.

My Sustainability Goals for 2026:

1. Data-Driven Governance — Embedding Community-Level Evidence into Urban Planning and Policy Decision-Making
2. Nature Base and Culture -Informed Urban-rural Integration — Integrating Cultural and Nature DNA and Community Ownership into the Northern Metropolis Development Framework
3. Regenerative Economy as a Sustainability Pillar

Anna Iles is a strategic foresight practitioner and organisational transformation specialist who designs trauma‑aware, participatory processes to help organisations, youth platforms and communities navigate disruption and complexity with confidence. As Founder-Director of Flux Compass, she has led major transition and impact strategies with partners such as UNICEF Iraq, UNDP City Experiment Fund, World YMCA and the Global Green Growth Institute. She previously led foresight teams at BSR and Forum for the Future, facilitating multistakeholder dialogues for cross-sector collaborations in sectors ranging from food and retail to shipping and financial services, crystallising visions for holistic systems change. Anna is the author of The Innovation‑Friendly Organization (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), among other works on thriving in uncertainty, and a Professional Certified Coach (PCC, ICF). She holds a first‑class BA from Oxford and an MA in Gender Studies (Distinction) from SOAS, complemented by advanced training in conflict sensitivity, community‑based dialogue, positive peace and decolonial perspectives.

My Sustainability Goals for 2026:

• Goal 1: Community-led sustainability decisions

I hope to see sustainability and resilience decisions in Hong Kong shaped by communities themselves, with residents, NGOs and local actors co‑designing plans for mobility, housing, public spaces and climate adaptation. Through my facilitation work with neighbourhoods and civil society, I contribute by designing trauma‑aware, participatory dialogues and futures workshops that surface lived experience and local knowledge as a foundation for policy and planning.

• Goal 2: Youth shaping just and regenerative futures

I hope to see young people recognised as key architects of Hong Kong’s sustainability transition, actively shaping strategies on climate justice, wellbeing and inclusive economic change. By building foresight capacity with university partners such as HKU and HKBU, and collaborating with youth platforms, I help equip young leaders with futures tools, narrative skills and intergenerational dialogue spaces that enable them to contribute with confidence and creativity.

• Goal 3: Long-term, systemic thinking across sectors

I hope to see long‑term, systemic thinking embedded in decisions across business, government and civil society, with multi‑decade pathways guiding climate action, social cohesion and economic resilience. Through my strategic foresight practice with organisations and alliances, I support this shift by co‑creating scenarios, vision roadmaps and governance frameworks that help stakeholders move beyond short‑term metrics toward holistic impact ecologies for Hong Kong and the wider region.