On August 5, 2025, Funding Societies partnered with the Centre for Impact Investing and Practices (CIIP) to host a roundtable workshop as part of the Amplifier Programme 2025. The workshop brought together over 40 people including SMEs and hotel representatives to deep dive into sustainable product sourcing and waste management challenges faced by hotels, and explore opportunities for SMEs to address these issues. 

Workshop Format and Participants

During the event, the Centre for Impact Investing and Practices opened the session by sharing key findings from their Supply Chain Sustainability Study. The CIIP team shared that particularly in Malaysia, meeting customer demand and strong company culture are key drivers of ESG adoption by Tourism sector SMEs. The survey also found that in Malaysia, 90% of MSMEs have not adopted any formal ESG policy or guidelines – whether firmwide or specific to certain departments/ areas.

The event featured a two-part structure designed to facilitate genuine business connections:

Part 1: Sharing Session by Hotels (60 minutes)

Representatives from Angsana Hotel, Ascott Group, Banyan Tree, Eastin Hotel, and Marriott Group shared their sustainability initiatives, key sustainability challenges specifically with suppliers, and their future project plans. This session provided SMEs with direct insights into hotel decision-making processes and current market needs.

Part 2: Breakout Discussion Session (90 minutes)

SMEs participated in breakout sessions with guided discussion prompts that explored

opportunities and barriers for SMEs to address hotels’ sustainability challenges. Facilitated by the Centre for Impact Investing and Practices, these discussions focused on matching SME capabilities with identified hotel requirements.

Key Market Insights

Approaches to improving collaboration between SMEs and hotels would include:

  • Understanding hotel procurement complexities and adapting to their criteria 
  • ⁠Providing clear, engaging product stories that resonate with hotel brand values
  • ⁠Maintaining transparency and innovations to stand out
  • ⁠Offering cost-efficient, quality products that meet operational needs
  • ⁠Maintaining transparency and openness with hotel partners 
  • ⁠Finding the right channels to connect with hotels

Fostering Ongoing Industry Dialogue

This workshop was designed to initiate meaningful dialogue between hotels and their potential SME partners – a conversation that we hope will continue long after the formal session ends. The connections formed during these discussions represent the foundation for stronger, more sustainable supply chains across Malaysia’s hospitality sector.

As a programme delivery partner in this initiative and a financing partner, Funding Societies recognises that bridging the gap between sustainability ambitions and practical implementation often requires appropriate funding solutions. Our role extends beyond traditional lending to supporting SMEs in scaling their sustainable innovations to meet the industry’s evolving needs. Through our diverse financing products and government partnership programs, we hope to help SMEs access the working capital, equipment financing, and growth funding they need. 

The Amplifier Programme, led by CIIP in partnership with Temasek Trust, exemplifies how collaborative initiatives can accelerate sustainable business development. By bringing together financing expertise, industry insights, and targeted networking opportunities, programs like these create the ecosystem support that both hotels and SMEs need to achieve their sustainability objectives.

We look forward to seeing these conversations translate into lasting partnerships and measurable impact across Malaysia’s tourism industry.

See highlights from our workshop in the photo gallery below and watch key moments in our latest reel here.

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About the Amplifier 2025 Programme

Amplifier is a 12-month mentorship programme supporting impact ventures to scale across Asia. It offers tailored mentorship, strategic advisory across business, finance, and legal areas, and catalytic funding of S$100K (for each mentee on the Tourism track). This track seeks to support small and medium enterprise (SME) suppliers and service providers that serve the hospitality industry, as well as enablers of these SMEs, in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. More information about the track can be found here.

About Centre for Impact Investing and Practices

The Centre for Impact Investing and Practices (“CIIP”) was established in 2022 as a non-profit entity by Temasek Trust to foster impact investing and practices in Asia and beyond by building and sharing knowledge, bringing together stakeholders in the community, and bringing about positive action that accelerates the adoption of impact investing principles and practices. CIIP is the anchor partner for the United Nation Development Programme’s Private Finance for the SDGs, providing Asia investors and businesses with clarity, insights and tools that support their contributions towards achieving the SDGs. Temasek and ABC Impact are CIIP’s strategic partners. For more information, please visit www.ciip.com.sg.