Since both Steve and Tom live in Taiwan, we start our work here. We will leverage our learnings in Taiwan and gradually apply them to other Asian countries.

Flow pledges to invest at least US$3 million in the next three years in social enterprise start-ups. 

To create a deal flow, we hosted a social enterprise competition in Taiwan in 2007. The winner is a company called Dawn. Dawn hired native Taiwanese (a disadvantaged group) to do organic farming. 

Flow is constantly seeking for new start-up ideas. The ideas could come from anywhere but must have an Asia focus.

To create a new industry sector, we need the whole society to participate. Therefore, we organized the social enterprise competition. 

In addition, we create an organization structure to leverage the entire society’s talent and energy.

Our organization is like a globe. The core consists of five to 10 people, including Steve and Tom. The core’s job is to draw everybody in with “gravity” and “magnetism,” i.e., commitment and influences.

The second layer consists of contractors. We work with them on a project-by-project basis.

The third layer is our largest and most important part, consisting of “volunteers.” They have their own jobs, but are willing to help the companies Flow invests in on a part-time basis.

The third layer is what we call “social energy.” The more effectively we can leverage this energy, the faster the globe can spin.

To mobilize that energy, Flow is building a physical and a virtual platform so volunteers can interact with each other and Flow’s other stakeholders.