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Our Beliefs

Many of the biggest impact investment disasters come from excessive optimism and inadequate skepticism. If we recognize and manage impact risk and avoid the losers, the winners will take care of return and impact themselves.

There is a general perception that impact investing meant having to sacrifice returns in exchange for a “feel-good” outcome. At HighImpact Capital Advisors, we reject this myth that there is a fixed pie, that impact can gain only at the expense of return.

We believe many of the biggest impact investment disasters come from excessive optimism and inadequate skepticism. If we recognize and manage impact risk and avoid the losers, the winners will take care of return and impact themselves.

We focus our investments in areas where no subsidies are required and remain insufficiently served by traditional capital markets while enabling faster progress towards the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Impact investing is growing globally across all asset classes as the financial industry shifts towards a more meaningful objective of generating social and environmental impact alongside a financial return.

Since 2016, there has been a 6x increase in investors considering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. And ESG investing now accounts for one out of every four dollars under professional management in the world. The total is a stunning $2444 trillion in assets devoted to ESG investing. Moreover, growth in the ESG segment has been steadily trending upward for more than a decade.

So, we caution investors to recognize and do your homework on impact risks before putting money in ESG or impact investing.

The Challenges

The two of the greatest challenges of impact investing of our time are: returns and measurements.

First, uncertainty about whether impact investors can earn market rate of returns might limit non-impact investors’ appetite for impact investments. Impact investing first gained prominence among philanthropists who were willing to accept “sub-commercial” returns.Today, impact investors’ expectations vary; a growing segment of institutional investors seeks market rate of returns and has not been persuaded that impact investing can earn market rate of returns.

Second, the impact measurement has not yet evolved to the point at which a common standard has become widely accepted. Impact measurement does not yet have its equivalent of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). A lack of clarity about how investments are commonly measured gives rise to concerns about “impact washing” which deters potential investors, and about limited impact performance comparable across different investments which poses a challenge to investors who are trying to allocate capital to impact investments, and threatens the credibility of the industry.

Our Approach

As an active financial advisor, we aim to out perform market average. To this end, our investment strategy must maximize return and impact. We put return before impact in order to maximize both.

Our investment strategy is to maximize return and impact. Our experience taught us that an investor who puts impact before return will get neither. An investor who puts return before impact will get a high degree of both.

Many of the biggest impact investment disasters come from excessive optimism and inadequate skepticism. If we recognize and manage impact risk and avoid the losers, the winners will take care of return and impact themselves. Risk of impact investing comes from not knowing what we are doing. We never invest in any impact deal we cannot understand.

One of the great mistakes of impact investing is to judge it by its intentions rather than the results. We have three basic principles to help us focus on the results from day-one: the principle of intentionality, the principle of causality and the principle of measurability.

Intentionality implies that impact objectives have to be included initial identification of the investment. In other words, simply investing in assets with a positive impact is not enough for our impact investing. Explicit intent is to ensure that our investment will continue to produce impact over time.

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Intentionality

Our investments are chosen with the intent to achieve a social or environmental impact. Many investments can have a positive impact, be it through supporting job creation, or making better and cheaper products and services available. What sets us apart, however, is that we aim to deliver a specific and intentional impact outcome. The impact is not a side-effect; it becomes part of the intended investment objective. 

We establish intentionality through a dedicated mandate for impact and by integrating impact criteria in the decision process to select investments. 

Intentionality by design, targets a positive outcome, such as renewable energy generation, or enterprises to solve a specific social issue. 

It means we are proactive to focus on socially and environmentally oriented investments and have embedded them in our investing strategy.

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Causality requires us to demonstrate the desired effect is directly linked to the investment. Our investment has made a difference e.g., improvements in quantity or quality of impact compared with the situation prior to the investment

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Causality

Causality is the impact difference we make to the investment. We provide value addition to positively affect investments – quantitatively or qualitatively – in ways that cause a positive difference in social and environmental outcomes. 

We bring to the table our ability to make sense the unknowns when the market overvalues the risk of impact investments.

Impact investments are often based on new techniques/technologies, may be located in frontier markets, and frequently face the challenge of fragmented and asymmetric information. Traditional investors are rarely equipped to accurately analyze the risks and tend to overestimate them.

This is where we not only make it possible to bring investments alive, but also swing the market back to a reasonable assessment of the risks involved, paving the way to scale. Our presence as an impact investor makes it possible for investments to develop and become profitable.

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Measurability is to what extent a desired effect of our investment can be measured and reported on the basis of defined performance outcomes.

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Measurability

Measuring impact is an important way for us to assess our progress in carrying out our mission, identify opportunities for improvement, and understand the social and environmental returns on our investments. The better we can measure our impact, the better we can maximize it.

We are fully compliant with the Operating Principles for Impact Management, a framework spearheaded at the IFC and adopted by more than 90 leading global impact investors. The Principles aim to ensure that impact considerations are integrated into the entire investment lifecycle, from deal sourcing to exit or repayment, and that lessons learned are continuously incorporated into portfolio management. To this end, we commit to disclosing our impact management practices and their alignment to the Principles on an annual basis starting in 2020.

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The Expertise

We acquired a wealth of proprietary knowledge base, local expertise, and international networks to differentiate itself.

Our unique expertise includes:
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Open Business Architecture - Dedicated to focus exclusively on impact investing that allows us to partner with traditional financial institutions for complementary impact investments offerings.

Information Edge - Through technical consulting and rating services, we have acquired intimate insight into many private companies, and can capitalize on this unique information advantage to invest in the best suitable companies.

Value Added Networks - Proprietary cross sector networks — public, private and philanthropy to provide value add to portfolio companies through knowledge sharing on best practices, training, and technical assistances.

Local Expertise - Engage a cross section of private and public investors on creating the best possible solutions to navigate complexChinese market.

Analytics - Accumulated global value-added network, local expertise and a proprietary knowledge base comprised of over tens thousandsNBFI entities including their financials which we can model and assess their risk rating and credit quality.

Long Game Oriented - privately owned which enable us to take the long view and not be affected by the short-term fluctuations.

Our Team

Decades of professional experience with elite firms have helped mold our firm’s value and culture. We are guided by core value. This means that we always put client interest ahead of our own and deliver more for clients than expected, uphold absolute integrity, and focus on making our investments successful.

Steven Ying

Steven Ying

Mr. Steven YING is the Managing Partner of High Impact Capital Advisors. With BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering and an MBA in Finance all from NYU, Steven has worked in the private sector for more than 25 years since he began his career, first as a research scientist at IBM in upstate New York. After business school, Steven worked for McKinsey & Co in Hong Kong as a management consultant, advising multinational corporations. After that, as the Managing Director of Cisco Systems, Steven was responsible for its Asia Pacific telecom businesses.‍

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Steven Ying

Mr. Steven YING is the Managing Partner of High Impact Capital Advisors. With BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering and an MBA in Finance all from NYU, Steven has worked in the private sector for more than 25 years since he began his career, first as a research scientist at IBM in upstate New York. After business school, Steven worked for McKinsey & Co in Hong Kong as a management consultant, advising multinational corporations. After that, as the Managing Director of Cisco Systems, Steven was responsible for its Asia Pacific telecom businesses. Subsequently, Steven joined Microsoft as the General Manager of ‘Unlimited Potential Group’ for the Greater China. 

In 2008, with his global and China connections and track record, Steven made his long-desired transition to impact investing. He founded ‘High Impact Capital Advisors” and has pioneered impact investments in China including a landmark deal for investing in shares in CFPA Microfinance, the largest microfinance company in China. The story of his impact investments has been featured in the China Philanthropists magazine in the November 2017 issue. At the same time, he continues to serve on several corporate Boards and, with his love of music, the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Steven also chairs the Foundation for Amazing Potentials, a Hong Kong charity dedicated to equality in education and to helping people at the middle and bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid to realize their full potential. The Foundation supports organizations such as The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Arts for India, and the China Youth Development Foundation. In November of 2014 in the Great Hall of People, the China Youth Development Foundation honored Steven by presenting him with Project Hope’s 25th Anniversary Award for Outstanding Contribution. In 2016, Steven received Dayawati Modi Award for his outstanding contribution in the field of philanthropy and eradication of education inequality.

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MA Weihua

MA Weihua

Mr. MA Weihua is former CEO and Governor of China Merchants Bank, the most important private bank in China, and also former President of Wing Lung Bank (Hong Kong) Limited. Mr. Ma is seen as the leading innovator on the China banking scene. Mr. Ma is President of the renowned China Entrepreneurs Club (its members are the most prominent leaders of Chinese largest private enterprises e.g. Alibaba, Fosun, Lonovo, Geely Motors, Taikang Life Insurance, Minsheng Bank and etc.); Chairman of China Global Philanthropy Institute (among the five founders are Bill Gates and‍

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MA Weihua

Mr. MA Weihua is former CEO and Governor of China Merchants Bank, the most important private bank in China, and also former President of Wing Lung Bank (Hong Kong) Limited. Mr. Ma is seen as the leading innovator on the China banking scene. Mr. Ma is President of the renowned China Entrepreneurs Club (its members are the most prominent leaders of Chinese largest private enterprises e.g. Alibaba, Fosun, Lonovo, Geely Motors, Taikang Life Insurance, Minsheng Bank and etc.); Chairman of China Global Philanthropy Institute (among the five founders are Bill Gates and Ray Dalio); and Chairman of One Foundation (founded by Mr. Jet Li, a fame movie star); and visiting professor of Perking University and Tsinghua University. He is also the Council Chairman of China Enterprises Research Center at Columbia University, and a member of Consultative Committee of the City of London. Earlier in his career, Mr. Ma was the President of People’s Bank of China Hainan branch and the President of Hainan’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

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Teresa Lin

Teresa Lin

Ms. Teresa Lin as extensive experience in the banking and financial industry in the region. Prior to joining DBS Bank, Teresa held senior positions at financial institutions including Dao Heng Bank, Dah Sing Bank, Citibank and Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. In June 2011, she was appointed Honorary Advisor of The Hong Kong Institute of Bankers. Recently she turned to philanthropy and is the Executive Director of L plus H Community Interest Company Ltd. to create jobs in Hong Kong and We R Family Foundation Ltd., a charity foundation to support the‍

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Teresa Lin

Ms. Teresa LIN has extensive experience in the banking and financial industry in the region. Prior to joining DBS Bank, Teresa held senior positions at financial institutions including Dao Heng Bank, Dah Sing Bank, Citibank and Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. In June 2011, she was appointed Honorary Advisor of The Hong Kong Institute of Bankers. Recently she turned to philanthropy and is the Executive Director of L plus H Community Interest Company Ltd. to create jobs in Hong Kong and We R Family Foundation Ltd., a charity foundation to support the under-privileged children. For the support of music, she is the Honorable Treasurer and Director of Opera Hong Kong.

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Elliott Donnelley

Elliott Donnelley

Mr. Elliott DONNELLEY II is founding general partner of the White Sand Investor Group, LP. Outside of his work in investments, Mr. Donnelley serves on the board of Stanford’s Global Project Center, the LGT Venture Philanthropy Foundation, the World Affairs Council of Northern California, and as Chairman Emeritus of the Philanthropy Workshop West. From 1989 to 1991 Mr. Donnelley lived and worked in Beijing; he now travels to China 6-12 times a year where in addition to managing investments he has been working to promote best models and practices in corporate social responsibility, philanthropy and impact investing. He has appeared as featured speaker at numerous‍

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Elliott Donnelley

Mr. Elliott DONNELLEY II is founding general partner of the White Sand Investor Group, LP. Outside of his work in investments, Mr. Donnelley serves on the board of Stanford’s Global Project Center, the LGT Venture Philanthropy Foundation, the World Affairs Council of Northern California, and as Chairman Emeritus of the Philanthropy Workshop West. From 1989 to 1991 Mr. Donnelley lived and worked in Beijing; he now travels to China 6-12 times a year where in addition to managing investments he has been working to promote best models and practices in corporate social responsibility, philanthropy and impact investing. He has appeared as featured speaker at numerous conferences in China and East Asia, and currently serves as Executive Vice Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the China Philanthropy Forum, a founding member of the China Impact Investing Working Group, Co-founder of Phoenix Global Impact, LLC, and as a formal and informal advisor to a number of China based organizations and businesses.

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Career Seekers

Come to High Impact Capital Advisors to do the best work, with the best team and truly be at your best.

Problem solvers and creative thinkers. Engineers and bankers. Put your talents to use where opportunities are limitless and every day makes a difference. Whether you’re an experienced professional ora recent graduate, working with us could be a challenging and rewarding next step in your career.

The current job vacancies are listed below:

Vice President for Credit Risk
Senior Associates for Impact Investment