The UK bank says it is taking a central role in a project that focuses on investments with a social as well as a commercial payoff.

A Singapore-based project to encourage firms to develop profitable innovations that also have a beneficial social impact has pulled UK-listed banking group Barclays on board.

The bank is taking what it says is a central role in the inaugural Asia Intrapreneur Lab in Singapore, run by Leadership Laboratories, Accenture and Business Fights Poverty and hosted by INSEAD Business School.

The bank said it is also a key partner of the Intrapreneur Lab in the UK, US and South Africa.

The venture is part of a trend in what is sometimes called “impact investment” – which relates to putting money to work with the stated aim of generating a viable profit while also achieving some sort of non-commercial goal, such as reducing child poverty, protecting the environment and improving schooling.
 
The programme consists of a three-day workshop at INSEAD Singapore. Barclays employees will share ideas with figures from other global companies and academic experts. This stage will be followed by three months of support and coaching from Accenture and Leadership Laboratories to help to turn in-house entrepreneurs’ ideas into business initiatives within their companies.

Barclays has set aside £25 million ($37.2 million) through its Social Innovation Facility to support employees in developing innovative products or services that address social needs.
 
“The launch of the Intrapreneur Lab comes at a time when interest in socially beneficial investments is on the rise in Singapore, according to a new Barclays Wealth survey on impact investing. Social impact investments are investments made into companies, organisations, and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return,” Barclays said in a statement.
 
Impact investments can be made in both emerging and developed markets, and target a range of returns from below market to market rate, depending on the circumstances. The growing impact investment market provides capital to support solutions to the world's most pressing challenges in sectors such as sustainable agriculture, affordable housing, affordable and accessible healthcare, clean technology, and financial services.