Dorothy Lam of Dream Impact talks about going from art school to impact investing and the inner workings of the impact business in the latest episode of Gen.T’s Crazy Smart Asia podcast
In 2010, when award-winning artist Dorothy Lam left Hong Kong to study at New York University (NYU), she intended to come away with a degree in fine arts that would assist with her creative endeavours. But her time in New York left her with far more than just a framed diploma. Her experiences working with an art-promoting non-profit organisation located on Wall Street opened her eyes to new ways of leveraging capital for the greater good.
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Lam is now the co-founder and chief catalyst of Dream Impact, a Hong Kong-based network of social enterprises and impact ventures. Starting as a connecting platform for social enterprises and a workspace for ESG-based entrepreneurs and organisations, Dream Impact has evolved into an invaluable social impact resource.
In addition to networking, it offers consulting, training and fundraising opportunities to its members. It also runs the ESG Lab, a space for impact investment activities based in the heart of Central, Hong Kong’s finance epicentre.
In the latest episode of Gen.T’s Crazy Smart Asia podcast, Lam discusses her love for the arts, changing perceptions towards ethical investment and learning to adapt to the unexpected. Here are a few excerpts from the episode. To listen to the full episode, click the audio player below or subscribe via Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
On the ‘aha’ moment
“The moment came when I was studying my master’s in New York on art and technology. There was a class with Unicef’s office of innovation where we studied design thinking and how to use technology to solve social issues. In the summer between the two years when I returned to Hong Kong, we started talking about this idea of Dream Impact utilising our family’s warehouse to become this hub for innovation for social good.”
On her father’s leadership advice
“He always says, ‘I only give myself one day to be upset. The next day I wake up and it’s a whole new day and I keep going.’”
