Thank you for the ride — The Mills Fabrica.
By: Alexander Chan. 陳浩揚.
Tags: Esg, Nanfung, Themillsfabrica

Fabrica Team — Sep 2021. From left: Pecky, Daniel, Angus, Maggie, Verena, Janice, Philip, Sherin, Tim, me, Cindy, Jenna, Tramy, Duckie, Carine. You guys rock!

After 4 amazing years at The Mills Fabrica, I will be headed to new adventures. Overall, the past few years have been a really memorable journey and I am super thankful to have been part of this really special project. When you think about the heart & soul of different cities around the world, the places and buildings are often key landmarks & establishments that you recall of each city. Yet beyond the iconic physical buildings itself, it’s often the spirit of what each place represents that gives its meaning & significance. Whether it’s the history or heritage it preserves, the cultural & artistic depth or a vision & purpose that the place inspires, it is these deep-seated values & spirit of a place that stand the test of time. When I think about The Mills, I am always inspired by Vanessa’s vision to build not just a revitalized building but really to become a place that serves as an inspiration for heritage & community engagement and also an innovation platform for sustainability & ESG.

To that end, I am truly grateful to Vanessa for giving me the opportunity to build something so unique from idea to conception. Originally starting as an innovation incubator, in the past 4 years Fabrica has evolved into a global platform with a mission to accelerate innovations for sustainability & impact. From putting up our first large scale StartmeupHK conference in 2018, to the grand opening of The Mills & Fabrica in Hong Kong followed by the opening of Fabrica in London, to making our first investments to having our first IPO portfolio, each of these milestones all became fond memories for our team to look back on and a reminder at how far Fabrica has come. I am thankful to the Nan Fung/ Fabrica wider team (Billy and Carine in particular), The Mills/ CHAT team as well as every Fabrica team member I have worked with (Cindy/ Amy T/ Cherry/ Mauricio/ Chelsea/ Sherin/ Ryan/ Pecky / Jessie / Janice / Pinky/ Stephy/ Amy L/ Morris/ Tim/ Maggie / Melody/ Angus / Jenna / Janice / Trista / Tramy/ Christian/ Daniel/ Verena/ Duckie/ Jeremy/ Xenia/ Carol/ Venus/ Sara/ Natalie/ Ellen)- thank you for all your ever-dedicated hardwork, patience & passion always. In addition, biggest of appreciation to our startup founders many of which who always inspires us with their moral compass & vision, mentors & advisors (including Antony, Edwin, Janice) and ever supportive partners (like Jeff/ Anita/ Joyce from NTX, Dan & David from Bolt Threads, David/ Cem from Idea Farm, William/ Po/ Parikshit from SOSV, Rogier from Fashion for Good, Erik from H&M Foundation/ GCA, Michael/ Rob from Agfunder, Jo/ Matilda from Bits x Bites, Charles/ Jayne/ CY/ Stanley & the InvestHK team, Anson & Pat from KPMG and so many more), without which the journey would be incomplete.

What’s next then? The world today is a very different place from when Fabrica first started a few years ago. In particular, 3 key trends & lessons stand out:

1] Sustainability has gone mainstream

Coming out from 2020, sustainability has emerged as front and center as a top agenda, no longer just a topic on the sidelines. Governments are now prioritizing it as a national priority (like China’s carbon neutrality by 2060 goals) and actively setting in place new regulations & policies (be it banning single-use plastics, regulating green labels or defining a green taxonomy). In consumer markets, demand for sustainability has never been stronger especially in the food space with the boom of plant based meats & dairy products. In the financial markets, ESG and sustainability has become a mainstream investment opportunity, whether it’s in public markets esp. with sustainability tech IPOs/ SPACs or the explosion of climate tech private funds. Sustainability is here and now.

2] Scaling innovations is key for sustainability

If sustainability is becoming top of mind, addressing challenges of sustainability requires the adoption of new technology and innovation. Yet the reality is many new disruptive technologies would require time to reach commercial scale, consumer adoption and favourable economics. These challenges are not new (many similar to the climate tech boom a decade ago); the difference is that the generation of innovators are more cognizant of the risks (whether it’s high capex, competition against commodity prices) and actively innovating with a new playbook involving pilot collaborations with industry players or capturing consumer brand premium to offset costs & improve margins in the short term. What we need next is continued support for the commercialization of these technologies, whether it’s capital for scale or for setting up of production facilities, or continued activity in industry partnerships & brand collaborations with these innovators to bring products to market.

3] Building platforms & communities

Getting to that end goal will require the building of platforms & communities to help provide knowledge sharing & capacity building while also creating a space & network to foster collaborations. Take launching a new innovative product in consumer space like fashion or food, chances are an innovator will need to work with a brand partner on product development, develop supply chain partnerships, set up production & manufacturing, build consumer awareness and also raise a variety of capital (whether equity, debt or grants) to fund all that. To be able to create a platform that can bring together that wide myriad of partners and help facilitate such innovation initiatives will go a long way to scaling technologies for impact. Collective action is never easy, but the beauty is in the creativity and shared vision to get something done.

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And so as I head out after these 4 years, I am deeply optimistic about what lies ahead. These 4 years have been an exhilarating ride; everyday I feel immensely blessed to meet & learn from experts & advocates in sustainability/ tech/ ESG and more importantly just deeply inspired by many of our portfolio founders. Many of them have very different personal stories and backgrounds yet an aligned belief, clarity of purpose and remarkable resilience to drive for the impact they believe in.

Thank you to Vanessa & my team, thank you to our founders, thank you to our partners. You have made this a memorable ride and I look forward to seeing your continued impact ahead.

Thanks for the ride, The Mills Fabrica.

I think of this job as a relay runner. You take the baton, you run the best race, and hopefully by the time you hand it off, you’re a little further ahead. You’ve made a little progress. — Barack Obama