emirates7 - Naina Subberwal Batra, CEO of AVPN, Asia’s largest network of social investors, said the organisation’s decision to establish its first hub outside Singapore in Abu Dhabi reflects the growing importance of the UAE as a centre for philanthropy and social investment across West Asia and the wider region.
She added that the decision reflects the strong spirit of service, philanthropy and generosity demonstrated by the emirate and the UAE. She made the remarks in an interview with the Emirates News Agency (WAM) following the inauguration of the AVPN West Asia Hub in Abu Dhabi.
Batra recalled AVPN’s global conference held in Abu Dhabi in April 2024, which brought together more than one thousand five hundred delegates from across the world. “All of us left that conference completely blown away by the spirit of service and the spirit of philanthropy and generosity that Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates actually showed to the rest of the world,” she said.
CEO of AVPN added that, as the largest network focused on directing capital toward impact, “it made a lot of sense for us to actually be here where we can bring different communities from across Asia to this region who can contribute but more importantly also learn from what this region has developed in terms of its own ethos and behaviour of giving and generosity and service to the rest of the world.”
Batra said this was why AVPN chose Abu Dhabi for its first hub outside Singapore. “Our interest is being a bridge between West Asia and the rest of Asia,” she said.
She added that cultures across Asia share many similarities with those of West Asia, creating opportunities for collaboration and knowledge sharing. “We feel that there is a lot of opportunity for collaboration, a lot of opportunity for knowledge sharing,” she said. Batra also noted that AVPN is creating a training academy in Abu Dhabi that “will bring best practices from across the globe to this region,” adding that the office will also help share developments in Africa with partners across Asia.
Batra noted a significant part of earlier commitments made by the UAE at the AVPN Global Conference 2024 has already been delivered. “A fairly significant portion of it has already been materialised and delivered, both in terms of humanitarian assistance, in terms of climate projects in Indonesia,” she said. She highlighted work underway on mangroves and the support of mangrove forests along Indonesia’s coastline, along with knowledge exchange.
She remarked that AVPN is “probably the only network of its kind that connects philanthropic capital to opportunities for investment, for deployment of that capital.” She added that the organisation aims to work with Emirates Foundation and Ma’an “to actually showcase social enterprises, social entrepreneurs here in the UAE,” encouraging investment from within the country and abroad.
She said the new hub enables Asian philanthropists “to come and deploy their capital in the UAE,” while also allowing UAE philanthropists to learn best practices from across Asia.
Batra said the social investment agenda “looks really at how you can deploy capital from the capital markets towards investment that is not just financially viable but is actually looking at creating impact,” adding that it seeks “a financial return, a social return, and a community based return.”
She added that the decision reflects the strong spirit of service, philanthropy and generosity demonstrated by the emirate and the UAE. She made the remarks in an interview with the Emirates News Agency (WAM) following the inauguration of the AVPN West Asia Hub in Abu Dhabi.
Batra recalled AVPN’s global conference held in Abu Dhabi in April 2024, which brought together more than one thousand five hundred delegates from across the world. “All of us left that conference completely blown away by the spirit of service and the spirit of philanthropy and generosity that Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates actually showed to the rest of the world,” she said.
CEO of AVPN added that, as the largest network focused on directing capital toward impact, “it made a lot of sense for us to actually be here where we can bring different communities from across Asia to this region who can contribute but more importantly also learn from what this region has developed in terms of its own ethos and behaviour of giving and generosity and service to the rest of the world.”
Batra said this was why AVPN chose Abu Dhabi for its first hub outside Singapore. “Our interest is being a bridge between West Asia and the rest of Asia,” she said.
She added that cultures across Asia share many similarities with those of West Asia, creating opportunities for collaboration and knowledge sharing. “We feel that there is a lot of opportunity for collaboration, a lot of opportunity for knowledge sharing,” she said. Batra also noted that AVPN is creating a training academy in Abu Dhabi that “will bring best practices from across the globe to this region,” adding that the office will also help share developments in Africa with partners across Asia.
Batra noted a significant part of earlier commitments made by the UAE at the AVPN Global Conference 2024 has already been delivered. “A fairly significant portion of it has already been materialised and delivered, both in terms of humanitarian assistance, in terms of climate projects in Indonesia,” she said. She highlighted work underway on mangroves and the support of mangrove forests along Indonesia’s coastline, along with knowledge exchange.
She remarked that AVPN is “probably the only network of its kind that connects philanthropic capital to opportunities for investment, for deployment of that capital.” She added that the organisation aims to work with Emirates Foundation and Ma’an “to actually showcase social enterprises, social entrepreneurs here in the UAE,” encouraging investment from within the country and abroad.
She said the new hub enables Asian philanthropists “to come and deploy their capital in the UAE,” while also allowing UAE philanthropists to learn best practices from across Asia.
Batra said the social investment agenda “looks really at how you can deploy capital from the capital markets towards investment that is not just financially viable but is actually looking at creating impact,” adding that it seeks “a financial return, a social return, and a community based return.”