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Convergence in Action 2025: An Overview of Vietnam’s Impact Investment Ecosystem

August 5, 2025 Blog, Publication

Convergence in Action 2025:
An Overview of Vietnam’s Impact Investment Ecosystem

In March 2025, the Global Impact Chapter (GIC) conference in Ho Chi Minh City convened more than 60 Vietnamese and Korean investors, entrepreneurs, and policy-makers to explore how blended finance can accelerate social innovation. The energy and insights from Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), venture capital firms, impact funds, and partners such as the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and the Dutch Fund for Climate & Development (DFCD), AVPN became the foundation for Convergence in Action 2025: An Overview of Vietnam’s Impact-Investment Ecosystem, a report co-authored by MYSC and IIX with support from KOICA. 

The report offers a comprehensive look into Vietnam’s thriving impact investing space, key trends shaping the nation’s future ecosystem, and case studies on impact enterprises that are shaping a more inclusive and sustainable future.

  • Vietnam is fast emerging as one of Asia’s innovation hubs, especially in the social impact space, where we see impact investing communities such as the Vietnam Impact Investing Network (VIIN) set up in the past few years. A UNDP-supported study counts over 27,000 social impact enterprises nationwide, reflecting strong momentum and interest in inclusive and sustainable transformation–especially driven from the grassroots level.
  • The World Bank estimates that Vietnam will require at least US$368 billion in financing by 2045 to achieve net-zero emissions and climate resilience. To fund change requires diverse supporters and types of capital, including venture capital, gender-lens finance, and blended finance.
  • Blended finance in particular is increasingly recognized as a mechanism to bridge the persistent financing gap in Vietnam. Such finance improves the risk-return profile of impact-oriented ventures by using concessional funding such as government or donor grants or soft loans to de-risk transactions and catalyze additional private sector investment in projects that may otherwise remain underserved. 
  • The report also shares case studies of how local impact enterprises such as agri-fintech platform TechCoop and climate-smart farming venture Con Trâu Eco, were able to benefit from blended finance in Vietnam’s rapidly maturing impact-investment ecosystem.

Convergence in Action 2025

An Overview of Vietnam’s Impact-Investment Ecosystem

Kết Nối Để Tạo Tác Động 2025

Tổng Quan Hệ Sinh Thái Đầu Tư Tác Động Tại Việt Nam

Issuance Framework for Indonesia Orange Bond and Sukuk (2025)

Screenshot-2025-07-25-at-14.47.02
July 25, 2025 Publication

Orange Bonds and Orange Sukuk introduce a unified, gender-intentional approach to thematic bond issuance in Indonesia. These frameworks are designed to align with international sustainable finance standards—including the ICMA Green, Social, Sustainability, and Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles (GSSS)—while integrating seamlessly with Indonesia’s national regulatory landscape, such as POJK regulations and the OJK Sustainable Finance Roadmap. At their core, they embed gender considerations across the entire capital market lifecycle, from design to impact reporting.

The Orange Bond Framework offers practical guidance for structuring, issuing, and verifying gender-smart fixed-income instruments. Built around the Orange Bond Principles™—Gender-Positive Capital Allocation, Gender-Lens Capacity and Leadership, and Transparency in Process and Reporting—this framework shows how Orange Bonds can enhance the impact of existing green, social, or sustainability bonds, without adding market complexity.

The Orange Sukuk Framework adapts these same principles for Shariah-compliant finance. It maps the Orange Bond approach onto sukuk structures in line with Maqasid al-Shariah, asset-backing requirements, and Indonesia’s Islamic finance regulations. The framework provides issuers with clear guidance on embedding gender and inclusion objectives into sukuk structuring, governance, and impact measurement.

Together, these frameworks offer a powerful tool to mobilize inclusive, gender-smart capital across a range of thematic priorities—from climate resilience and sustainable infrastructure to ocean health. Rather than replacing existing instruments, Orange Bonds and Sukuk complement and strengthen Indonesia’s broader thematic finance ecosystem, including green, blue, and SDG-linked bonds and sukuk.

Indonesia Orange Bond Framework

Comprehensive Guidelines for Orange Bonds in Indonesia for Inclusive, Climate-Resilient Sustainable Development

Indonesia Orange Sukuk Framework

Orange Sukuk Framework: Comprehensive Guidelines for Issuing Gender-Inclusive GSSS+ Shariah Finance Instruments in Indonesia

Want to learn how to apply the frameworks in practice?

Join the Indonesia Orange Bond Ecosystem Readiness Training — free for all participants, supported by IIX and the Ford Foundation.

Is White Liberalism Taking Over Impact Investing?

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December 3, 2019 Publication

by Durreen Shahnaz, Founder and CEO of IIX
December 3, 2019

After a decade of impact investing, how inclusive is the space? What is the report card on the space and its mission to build a more inclusive market? Our Founder and CEO, Durreen Shahnaz shares her thoughts.

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What’s the Big Risk?

August 27, 2018 Blog, Publication

Coming from a corporate fortune 500 setting, I will be the first to admit that I typically fall into the trap of looking at the same standard criteria when assessing the feasibility of a new social impact investment program [i]:  market need, market size, business model, financial model and strategic fit. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of effort and intelligence goes into developing each of the above.

However, after attending the IIX Impact Institute Executive Certificate Program: Financing the SDGs, I came to realize one large blind spot:  Risk.

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Women’s Livelihood Bond™: Unlocking Private Sector Capital for Social Good

July 21, 2017 Publication

IIX is excited to announce the closing of the $8 million Women’s Livelihood Bond (WLB)™ that will impact the lives of over 385,000 women across Southeast Asia. This innovative bond is the world’s first impact investing instrument with a dual focus on social and financial returns to be listed on a stock exchange. 

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