GrowGreen Privilege Program

Achieving Zero Carbon Economy.

Educate. Endorse. Empower.

A Proposal by Empower
On the Behalf of CarbonCare Asia

Word Count: 1787

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY_____________________________________________________ 3
2. INTRODUCTION____________________________________________________________ 3
3. THE OPPORTUNITY AND INNOVATION______________________________________ 4
4. MARKET ANALYSIS ________________________________________________________ 4
4.1 INDUSTRY OUTLOOK ______________________________________________________ 4
4.2. TARGET MARKET __________________________________________________________ 4
4.3. COMPETITOR ANALYSIS ___________________________________________________ 5
5. EXECUTION AND MANAGEMENT ___________________________________________ 6
5.1. INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL SEMINAR _______________________________________ 6
5.2 THOUGHT LEADERSHIP ____________________________________________________ 6
5.3 DISCUSSION WORKSHOPS __________________________________________________ 7
6. TIMELINE AND FINANCIAL PLANS __________________________________________ 8
6.1 TIMELINE AND MILESTONES _______________________________________________ 8
6.2 REVENUES ________________________________________________________________ 9
6.3 EXPENSES _________________________________________________________________ 9
6.4 PROFITS _________________________________________________________________ 10
7. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS __________________________________ 11
8. REFERENCES _____________________________________________________________ 12
9. APPENDICES ______________________________________________________________ 14

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CarbonCare Asia is a social enterprise with an incredible idea of educating SMEs on sustainable
business practices. Hong Kong is no stranger to the long-standing issue of greenhouse emission.
Meanwhile, many SMEs are oblivious to the severity of the environmental damage of their business
and see environmental innovation as a financial burden. For this reason, we introduce our innovation
GrowGreen – a membership program that strives to educate SMEs on adopting sustainable solutions
into their business and recognize them with industry-leading green badges certification that will
support their applications when applying for green loans. We plan to financially sustain by charging
GrowGreen program membership fees and advising fees on successful green funding transactions
between SMEs and our existing bank partners. To push efforts towards a sustainable future for a
healthier environment and a zero-carbon economy, we require an investment of HKD$1.33 million to
embark on the sustainable journey.

2. INTRODUCTION

Greenhouse gas emission is a prevalent issue. According to the Environmental Protection Department,
Hong Kong recorded 40.1 million tonnes of Greenhouse Emissions with electricity generation and
waste management as major contributors in 2019 (HKSAR, 2019). Evidently, SMEs are one of the
biggest sources of greenhouse emitters, contributing to more than 98% of business establishments
(Trade and Industry Department Hong Kong, 2021). These statistics indicate that there is a grave need
in embracing sustainable business practices. Our idea is to educate SMEs on sustainable business
solutions they can adopt. In addition, we would recognize SME efforts towards sustainable change
with our green badges. The business plan will first elaborate on some of the problems faced by SMEs,
followed by a comprehensive market analysis of our target market. It will then proceed to our feasible
revenue model and costs breakdown alongside our conclusion to reiterate our enthusiasm for our
GrowGreen program success and the investment funds we require.

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3. THE OPPORTUNITY AND INNOVATION

Green finance has been a hot topic in recent times. According to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority,
US$160 billion worth of green bonds were issued globally and Hong Kong is one of the front-runners
as a leading green bond hub (Yue, 2018). Unfortunately, many SMEs are rejected when applying for
green loans as the application procedure often requires reputable green certifications as an effective
support mechanism to solidify application process (Trade and Industry Department, 2021).
CarbonCare Asia is thus determined to connect SMEs to these untapped green funding resources by
educating them on sustainable practices through industry professional seminars and discussion
workshops. SMEs can get first-hand advice from professionals who are running a successful
sustainable business. In addition, SMEs that enthusiastically incorporate sustainable practices, shall be
endorsed with our reputable green badges certification. Our purpose is to help as many SMEs to be
eligible for green funds in empowering them to invest and grow greenly. The aforementioned 3E:
Educating, Endorsing, Empowering, are 3 phases of our GrowGreen membership program.

4. MARKET ANALYSIS

4.1 Industry Outlook

CarbonCare Asia aims to encourage SMEs to cut their carbon footprint by revamping their existing
business operations into sustainable ones. We have identified a remarkable opportunity in the green
bond market. According to Asian Development Bank, an estimated US$1.7 trillion will be spent on
green finance in response to climate change in Asia (Hong Kong Information Services, 2019). In
addition, we also observed that over 35% SMEs had an interest on sustainable strategies (Chowdhury
& Shumon, 2021), but they found various Government Financial Schemes ineffective in helping their
business go-green (see Appendix 1).

4.2 Target Market

In our first year, we aim to target Hong Kong SME [Small-and-Medium Enterprises]. There are over
340,000 SMEs (see Appendix 2), 5% more than 5 years ago (Trade and Industry Department Hong
Kong, 2021). Meanwhile, Hong Kong businesses’ environmental performance is considered poor.
Based on a research study by the University of Hong Kong (Struder, 2009), revealed that a lot of SMEs
were unaware of the environmental impact of their business operations and see sustainable investment
as a financial burden. We believe this presents a serious situation where SMEs are simply not
encouraged nor educated about green practices. There is, thus, a grave need and equally is

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environmentally impactful for us to provide a platform to help SMEs gain knowledge on green
innovation and encourage them to cut down on their carbon footprint significantly.

4.3 Competitor Analysis

Figure 1 shows a comprehensive competitor analysis against other green consultancy firms. Unlike
enterprises like CKP and Dresden Green Consulting which provides advisory and assessment services
to large business corporates, we differentiate ourselves by taking the next step in providing green
certification specialized for SMEs. Furthermore, we have a first-mover advantage in green badge
certifications.

Figure 1: Competitor Analysis

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5. EXECUTION AND MANAGEMENT

Our GrowGreen Membership program is a semi-annual membership program that has 3 phases.

Phase I: Phase II: Phase III:

Educate Endorse Empower

Phase I: Providing Education on Green Innovation

Our membership program will provide SMEs monthly

access to various insightful events.

5.1 INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL SEMINAR

We will invite seasoned sustainable experts to facilitate

seminars monthly on topics such as the importance of
green business and running a sustainably profitable
business (see Figure 2). This will give SMEs a first-hand
experience and exposure to not only networking
opportunities, but empower them to learn and apply
green techniques.

Figure 2: Industry Professional Seminar

5.2 THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

We will provide SMEs with exclusive insights into

trendy sustainable strategies being adopted by industry
leaders (see Figure 3). Moreover, we will give them
reports on the green bonds market so they can learn more
about some of the latest green loans available in the
market.

Figure 3: Sustainable Reports

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 5.3 DISCUSSION WORKSHOPS

We will facilitate discussion workshops with SMEs at

the end of each month, to follow up with what they
have gained and learnt from professional seminars and
industry reports (see Figure 4). It will give them a
platform to raise their concerns and have them
answered on the spot by our professional consultants.

Figure 4: Discussion Workshops

Phase II: Endorsing Green Badges Certification

As SMEs are inspired to adopt eco-friendly techniques into their business operations. CarbonCare
Asia’s consultants will conduct a carbon footprint appraisal (see Appendix 3). For instance, helping
SMEs in measuring how much greenhouse gases is being emitted and are being cut down. We will
reward them with our well-respected green badges certification upon cutting down carbon footprint
(see Appendix 4). This certification will show their achievement in carbon reduction and be used as
a supporting document when applying for green loans.

Phase III: Empower SME to apply for Green Loans

We will help successfully endorse SMEs to locate green loan opportunities and match them with our
existing long-term partnerships with reputable banks like Bank of China, Blackrock, and AIA. Our
consultants will constantly negotiate for SMEs with them when applying for green loans.

Our business model will hinge on:

- GrowGreen Privilege Membership Program

- Advising fees in locating green funding between SME and Banks

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The abovementioned revenue streams will allow us to run and maintain the operational expenditure
of the membership program and run marketing campaigns in promoting our membership program to
Hong Kong SMEs.

6. TIMELINE AND FINANCIAL PLANS

6.1 TIMELINE AND MILESTONES

Our planned timeline of membership program will run semi-annually (See Figure 5 and Figure 6).

We plan to run a mass marketing campaign 2 months before the beginning of the membership program
to increase application rates. We then will kickstart the membership program in January 2022 to be
operated semi-annually. We are confident in the participation rates for our membership program as
mentioned earlier that there are over 340,000 SMEs (Trade and Industry Department, 2021). In the
span of 5 years, we consider expanding our business model in our Singapore counterpart which has
very similar characteristics of the SME market to Hong Kong.

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6.2 REVENUES

CarbonCare Asia revenue mainly comes from membership program and advisory fees. The
membership fee will be $4000 (see Appendix 5 for Competitors Membership Price Comparison), and
advising consultancy fees to be $2000 per transaction. The quota for 1st round of membership is 120
and will continue doubling upon every new cycle. We, therefore, anticipate an annual revenue of
$600,000 in our first year. As aforementioned, there are over 35% SMEs interested in sustainable
strategies (Chowdhury & Shumon, 2021). With this in mind, we project our revenues for 2 years as
follows:

*See Appendix 6 for Revenue Graph*

6.3 EXPENSES

1. Salary

In the first year, we decide to hire 12 green consultants professionals to run the membership program
by helping in conducting carbon footprint assessments. A total amount of $864,000 is anticipated.

2. Marketing Expense

This is the second-largest expense, to be incurred twice a year. We predict a total amount of $230,000
to be used for transportation advertisements and billboard advertisements (see Appendix 7 For
Advertisement Cost Breakdown).

3. Recruiting Professionals

We plan to invite industry-leading experts with years of experience in sustainable business for our
industry seminar talks and approximately $120,000 is predicted.

4. Fixed Cost: Venue Rent and Material Cost

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It will cost approximately $12,000/day to rent a spacious venue to accommodate 200+ people in
Sheung Wan for our industry seminar talks and workshops, costing a total of $96,000 for a total of 8
events. A recurring material cost of $20,000 is also expected.

We anticipate a total expense of $1,130,000 in the first year, and the following years are as follows:

*See Appendix 8 for Cost Graph and Breakdown*

6.4 PROFITS

We aim to break-even in the end of our first year of operations (see Appendix 11). With a funding of
$1.33 million in our first year, we would guarantee an incremental profit rise from 13.4% in the 1 st
half of year 2 to impressive return of 50.9% at the end of second year of operations.

*See Appendix 9 for Profits Graph and Appendix 10 for Full Breakdown of Financial Model*

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7. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

CarbonCare Asia takes determination in curbing climate change together. We believe that our
innovation will be a gamechanger in the area of sustainability. We understand SMEs in Hong Kong
don’t only need financial resources, but a platform to gain knowledge about green practices in running
a profitable sustainable business. Therefore, our mission is to help as many SMEs to be eligible for
green funding such that they are empowered to embrace sustainable practices which would drastically
stabilize and reduce Hong Kong’s greenhouse gas emissions.

To make our innovation become reality and a huge success, we recommend the following actions to
you:

• Support and invest HKD1.33 million for our GrowGreen membership program expenses
• Provide strategic advice, feedback and direction on our innovation development
• Join our movement to curb climate change in making Hong Kong a happier, healthier, and safer
place to live and work

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REFERENCES

1. Adintime. (n.d.) OOH/DOOH Advertising in Hong Kong: Formats and Rates. [Appendix 7]
https://adintime.hk/en/blog/ooh-dooh-advertising-in-hong-kong-formats-and-rates-n95

2. Chowdhury, P. & Shumon, R. (2020, August 9). Minimizing the Gap Between Expectation and
Ability: Strategies for SMEs to Implement Social Sustainability Practices
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6408/pdf

3. HKSAR: The Environmental Protection Department. (2021, July 21). Hong Kong Greenhouse
Gas Inventory for 2019 Released.
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202107/14/P2021071400363.htm

4. Studer, S. (2009, March). SMEs and Voluntary Environmental Initiatives: A study of

Stakeholders Perspectives in Hong Kong.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24084599_SMEs_and_voluntary_environmental_initiat
ives_A_study_of_stakeholders%27_perspectives_in_Hong_Kong

5. Support and Consultation Centre for SMEs, “Small and Medium Enterprises”.
https://www.success.tid.gov.hk/english/aboutus/sme/service_detail_6863.html

6. The American Chamber of Commerce. “Categories & How to Join”. [Appendix 5]

https://www.amcham.org.hk/categories-how-join

7. The Economist Group. (2019). Hong Kong: Asia’s Green Finance Hub
https://hkglobalconnections.economist.com/wp-content/uploads/Green-Finance-Hong-Kong.pdf

8. The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. “Membership: Full Member”. [Appendix 5]
https://www.chamber.org.hk/en/membership/join-us_full.aspx

9. The Hong Kong General Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs. “Join Us: Membership Fee”.
[Appendix 5] https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.hkgcye.org.hk/join-
us/&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1638501248196000&usg=AOvVaw0J4S83GcKph9MdbPMJejx
q

10. Trade and Industry Department HKSAR. (2011, August). The Road to Sustainable Development
of Hong Kong SMEs – The Present and Future
https://www.smefund.tid.gov.hk/english/sdf/deliverables/Sustainabledev_SMEs_research_report
_eng.pdf

11. Trade and Industry Department HKSAR. (2021, August 16). A Report on Support Measures for
Small and Medium Enterprises.
https://www.tid.gov.hk/english/aboutus/publications/smes/smes04_chapter3.html

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12. Yue, E. (2018, Jun 20). Fast Growing Green Finance Market. Issued by Hong Kong Monetary
Authority. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/insight/2018/06/20180620/

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APPENDICES

1. Lack of Awareness of HKSAR Government Schemes for SMEs (Overall)

2. Number of SMEs – Totalling to over 340,000

3. Carbon Footprint Appraisal

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4. CarbonCare Asia Green Badges Certification

5. Industry-wide Membership Price Comparison

Competitors Entrepreneurship Membership In HKD

Fees

HK General Chamber of Young $2000

Entrepreneurships

American Chamber $7650/12 months

Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce $6,500/12 months

6. Revenue Graph

Revenue
2,500,000
1,920,000
2,000,000
1,520,000
1,500,000
1,100,000
1,000,000

500,000

0
2022 First Half 2022 Last Half 2023 First Half 2023 Last Half
-600,000
-500,000

-1,000,000

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 7. Advertisement Cost Breakdown

Source: https://adintime.hk/en/blog/ooh-dooh-advertising-in-hong-kong-formats-and-rates-n95

Outdoor Buildings Banners/Billboard $60,000

MTR Advertisement $79,000 [3.4 million users]

Hong Kong Bus (KMB) Advertisement $91,000

Total $230,000

8. Cost Graph and Breakdown

Cost Structure
1,600,000
1,400,000 1,340,000
1,200,000 1,130,000
1,272,000
1,000,000 1,110,000
800,000
600,000
400,000
200,000
0
2022 First Half 2022 Last Half 2023 First Half 2023 Last Half

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9. Profits Graph

Profit
800,000 648,000
600,000

400,000

200,000
180,000

0 0
2022 First Half 2022 Last Half 2023 First Half 2023 Last Half
-200,000

-400,000

-600,000 -530,000

10. Full Financial Model Breakdown

11. Breakeven Point

Breakeven
3,000,000

2,000,000

1,000,000

0
2022 First Half 2022 Last Half 2023 First Half 2023 Last Half
-1,000,000

Revenue Cost Profit

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