CHANGE THE WORLD
Leaders who have made a mark in matters related to the environment, society and governance, and other fields that have become crucial to the future of humankind
AW KAH PENG Chairman, Shell Companies in Singapore
The chairman of Shell Companies in Singapore, Aw Kah Peng is helping to steer the conglomerate in its energy transition path, in keeping with its parent company Shell’s aim of eliminating net carbon emissions by 2050. The energy giant plans to achieve this goal by growing its renewables and low‑carbon businesses, including hydrogen and biofuels.
Closer to home, Shell and sustainable‑development agency JTC Corporation are planning to establish a solar farm the size of
112 football fields on Semakau Island, south of Singapore. If realised, the facility will produce enough energy to power up to 17,500 households. Prior to joining Shell in 2012 and appointed to her current role in 2019, Aw had a successful career in the Singapore public service, both in the Economic Development Board and as CEO of the Singapore Tourism Board.
GRACE FU
Asia’s Most Influential 2023, 2021
Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, Singapore Government
Minister Grace Fu is steering Singapore’s Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment’s path towards a clean and sustainable environment with resilient supplies of safe food and water. In her role, she oversees green initiatives such as the country’s $60 million Agri‑food Cluster Transformation Fund, which helps local farms improve their systems and adopt technology.
Fu worked in various senior positions at organisations such as PSA Corporation, Haw Par Group and the Overseas
Union Bank before entering politics in 2006. An advocate of women’s rights, she is the leading contributor to the Young Women’s Leadership Connection Council of Advisors, and was a past chairperson of the PAP’S Women’s Wing.
ANITA FAM President, National Council of Social Service
Anita Fam guides the National Council of Social Service, an umbrella body for more than 500 member social service agencies in Singapore, in its remit to provide direction and leadership in social services, seek out strategic partnerships for social services, and enhance the capabilities of social service agencies. The former lawyer has been involved in social services for more than two decades at both national and charitable levels, primarily in the areas of healthcare, mental health, palliative care and disability. She also sits on the boards of the Institute of Mental Health and the Lien Foundation, and is part of the SG Cares Steering Committee.
LAURENCE LIEN Co-founder and CEO, Asia Philanthropy Circle
Laurence Lien is the co‑founder and CEO of Asia Philanthropy Circle, a non‑profit membership platform for Asian philanthropists that fosters the exchange of ideas as well as coordination and collaboration. The grandson of late banker and philanthropist Lien Ying Chow is also the chairman of the Lien Foundation, a philanthropic house founded by his grandfather in 1980. Among various other initiatives, the Lien Foundation is focused on eldercare and early childhood development in Singapore. Lien also chairs Lien Aid, the foundation’s humanitarian arm.
In September 2023, Lien announced the launch of the new Asia Community Foundation (ACF), a philanthropic advisory poised to help new donors give more strategically and with greater impact to charities across Asia. “The number one primary target [for ACF],” he said, “is new givers—those who want to give more or give better. We see this as new private banking clients here, all the thousand‑plus new family offices that are [being] set up in Singapore.”