The « sustainability journey » may feel overwhelming sometimes, but you are not alone.
Our Buddies have tried, succeeded, failed to implement change in their companies. They share their experience so you can learn, take shortcuts, get inspired and ask questions.
Everybody can become a Buddy and give back to the community; if you are keen, get in touch with us.
I worked in Asia for 12 years (Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore) within the digital and technology space. I'm now the Europe Regional Managing Director at Palo IT.
I have founded and run several companies in different sectors such as IT Consulting, Education, and the F&B business.
I am passionate about how to use technology as a force for good.
In 2003, I joined International SOS, world leader of medical and security assistance services. I relocated to Singapore in 2008, where I have spent my life since. I have held different regional leadership roles and I am a founding member of the Sustainability Committee, initially leading the S (Social) part. I was also leading the Environment pillar, with a special focus on the Ecovadis certification.
I enrolled in SMU back in September 2020, and graduated from the Sustainability and Sustainable Business executive masterclass in December 2020. In July 2021, I joined a local Singaporean startup, H3Dynamics, with the ambition to decarbonize the aviation industry. Since May 2023, I have been the managing director AsiaPacific for Ecocert, pioneer world leader in certification for organic, fair trade and sustainable products in the food, textile and cosmetic industries. I am also the Singapore Ambassador (Volunteer) for Ecomatcher to help brands fight climate change, one tree at a time.
Finally, I am a French Trade Advisor and part of the Sustainability Committee aiming to strengthen bridges between France and Singapore for this crucial agenda.
Entrepreneurial by nature, Claire started ShiokFarm in 2015 when realising the high prices for organic fruit and vegetables in Singapore. Based on the French AMAP model, in which Farmers and a community create a partnership in order to reduce food waste and cost, ShiokFarm aims to provide families and offices in Singapore with affordable organic fruit and vegetables while reducing food waste.
Starting with a small Facebook group, Claire has succeeded in making ShiokFarm an outstanding organic business. ShiokFarm received its BCorp certification in 2023. As of 2025, it has launched B2B (business-to-business) operations in Hong Kong (Fruit@TheOffice).
On a mission to create positive impact in the world, I consider myself an accidental entrepreneur. I discovered this during the 2009 economic crisis and in 2010, embarked on my first people, planet, profit venture; at the time challenging the negative perception of plant-based diets; enabling reduced-carbon and responsible consumption through a (then) pioneering circularity, systems-thinking, and purpose-led business.
In 2015, relocating to Singapore with a more intentional move back to my innovation roots, I found few to no organisations combining both sustainability and innovation. It was this that seeded my vision for The Inceptery.
I am the founder of Sustainao, a sustainability consulting firm based in Singapore. With 10 years of experience in the field, I help businesses develop impactful sustainability and decarbonisation strategies, embed sustainable practices into operations, and report their performance to stakeholders in a meaningful way.
Previously, I worked as a sustainability auditor at KPMG France, where I conducted audits across 15 countries within Europe, Africa, and Asia.
I hold an MBA in Corporate Sustainability, a Master’s in Environmental Management, and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Biology.
Mun Wei is the founder and principal consultant of SustainableSG, which provides advisory and training services in sustainability, strategy, risk and entrepreneurship.
He has worked with corporate, government and non-profit clients on strategy and implementation, reviewing organizational programmes and targets related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, benchmarking and communicating sustainability and other corporate programmes and achievements, promoting inclusive hiring, developing compliance policies and reports, and formulating innovative business models.
He is also an Adjunct Lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.
Passionate about sustainability and technology, I have spent the last 12 years in Asia-Pacific working on Energy and Sustainability. I am passionate about both of those areas and dedicate some of my time to conducting trainings.
After working for several MNCs and startups, I have founded Qanopy Consulting, a Singapore-based company providing a suite of sustainability services. We use a tailored approach to assist companies at various stages of their sustainability journey.
As the Senior Programme Manager for Sustainability Validation and Verification at TÜV SÜD, Mei Yee helps organisations add credibility and assurance to their greenhouse gases (GHG) emission assertations and GRI reports by providing third-party verification reports to support organizational claims.
She has six years of experience in the standards development of ISO 30500 and ISO 31800, testing, and certification for non-sewered sanitation systems. Prior to that, Mei Yee spearheaded World Toilet Organization's Rainbow School Toilet projects in China and Sanishop in Cambodia. She is passionate about driving corporate social responsibility and sustainability and has spent more than 18 years in various fields working internationally across teams and cultural boundaries before turning her focus on Singapore to helping companies with their carbon reduction journey. She holds a Masters in Community Water and Sanitation and a Science Degree in Earth Science, majoring in geology and physical geography.
She is a certified WSQ Advanced Certificate in Learning and Performance (ACLP) Train-The-Trainer (TTT). Since then, she has facilitated many companies in the training for Green Compass – An environmental assessment framework targeted at SME/ manufacturing industries.
I am Naomi, currently co-founder & director of givvable. I started my career as an Australian diplomat with postings in East Timor, Thailand and Switzerland then moved into private banking where my interest in ESG and sustainability was seeded.
Today my company helps businesses screen and track the sustainability profile of their suppliers to help them achieve their goals and targets.
Zuzana is an experienced consultant specialized in enterprise-wide sustainability management and climate risk. With a strong foundation in risk management, she has worked with companies defining their sustainability strategies, implementing international frameworks and standards (e.g. TCFD/IFRS, GRI), and submitting their ESG assessments, such as EcoVadis.
She is Director at Tamotsu Institute, works as Sustainability Partner at Sustainao and volunteers as Programme Lead for corporate trainings at The Matcha Initiative.
She has studied Sustainability Leadership at the Imperial College of London and is certified in Sustainability and Climate Risk by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) and in Recommendations of the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosure by the TCFD.
Ching Hu is currently head of the Net Zero Transition Department at Singapore Business Federation, which objective is to drive initiatives to decarbonise Singapore and enterprises, including publishing the Singapore Emission Factors Registry and sector-specific decarbonisation programme for SMEs.
Previously, he worked at Terrascope, which offers an end-to-end decarbonisation SaaS platform enabling enterprises to measure and manage their emissions across operations, supply chains, and portfolios. Prior to Terrascope, he launched the Singapore office of EcoVadis - a global ESG ratings company - which served more than 800 companies within its first year of operations. The ratings include environmental, social, ethics and sustainable procurement metrics.
He started his career with the Singapore Government, spanning portfolios including manpower, education, transport and decarbonisation. Ching Hu graduated from the London School of Economics, SciencesPo Paris, and Oxford University. As an undergraduate at Oxford, he helped launch the inaugural Oxford Climate Forum - the UK's largest student-run climate change event.
Founder of Cultivating Wholeness, a network-based global coaching and advisory firm, Sarah is a PCC ICF certified Executive Coach and acts as a catalyst for personal, cultural and organizational transformation.
She supports leaders of purpose-led start-ups or organisations to bring forth a profound shift in their strategy through regenerative principles and empower them to role model the behaviors driven by their values and purpose. Enabling their business to be a life-affirming positive force in stewarding our planet on a regenerative path.
To do so, she leverages more than 10 years of experience coaching senior leaders in MNCs through their cultural transformations across Asia, Europe, and North America combined by her rich personal development through adversity.
Wearing the double hat of finance and sustainability, I support finance departments in their transformation towards sustainability. With a management degree from a top business school in France, I have a multi-faceted experience from complementary positions I have held in business finance: from auditor to consolidation accountant, project manager, management controller and finance director.
In addition to my background in financial business partnering, I am passionate about enabling change in companies, always looking after my teams and colleagues to create the conditions for collective success.
I am a social impact cum sustainability professional and a writer. I am driven by Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy that "the difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems". My work through my company Sustainpath is at the intersection of People, Planet and Profit – the Triple Bottom Line (TBL).
I have more than 20 years experience leading change and transformation in Europe, Africa and Asia. I have had the privilege of managing and contributing to diverse industries, organisation (Humanitarian and corporate) to secure engagement and impact. In my last role I worked in a large MNC supply chain environment engaging external partners to increase our impact in sustainability.
Marita has over 25 years of experience in transforming businesses in the Asia Pacific and internationally, across multiple industries. She combines her experience of starting, growing and running businesses with a passion for sustainability and technology solutions. Her approach to sustainability is a balanced blend of professional methodologies, cultural perspectives, and individual values that drive an organisation to its highest potential, all the while fostering sustainable outcomes for growing businesses.
Most recently, Marita has been helping business start their sustainability journey by understanding their existing carbon footprint and policy settings, and identifying the material categories of emissions and governance gaps. Accurately knowing where you are starting from helps map out an achievable way forward.
Leading business expansion across Australia and Asia has honed her 'startup' skills and further heightened her interest in boosting team capabilities for growth and sustainability. Marita’s technical background and passion for innovations can be leveraged to find new ways of working to generate sustainable outcomes.
Patchareeboon Mam has more than 16 years of experience on international development and sustainability projects, especially relating to business and human rights and corporate sustainability
I am a Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) humanitarian and development professional who worked for more than 20 years in Indonesia for International NGOs and UNICEF. I founded my consultancy firm 7 years ago to support private sector to develop their strategy, engage stakeholders and implement in the field their sustainability projects/programs. I have a extensive network in Indonesia, from the local community/NGOs to several ministries. I am also GRI copywriter.
I founded Liberty Society, a social enterprise of eco & impactful B2B merchandise & hampers that empowers marginalized women. Because of my passion to combine profit and purpose, my previous experiences in the intersection of corporations and nonprofits include being Head of Acquisition at Yuna&Co, Partnership manager at Digitaraya, a Google for Startup Accelerator, and Director of Second Chance, a non profit initiative focusing on child sponsorship & micro financing poor households.
I graduated from Biola University, double majoring in Sociology (Social Justice emphasis) and Communication Studies. I also mentor & consult for youth-led NGOs and social projects working for refugee groups, disaster relief, and rural community development.
Liberty Society was named #1 winner of Women Empowerment Principles award 2021. Most recently, i was one of the 14 Global Young Leaders for Generation 17, a program by Samsung & UNDP to advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals.
I am a change management practitioner with more than 12 years of experience in this field. In this context I have accompanied various initiatives to drive operational excellence, to improve cross-silo collaboration, and strengthen leadership qualities. In addition, I accompanied companies to establish new strategies, values and behaviours with the result to nudge cultures.
With Hive17, I focus on supporting companies along their sustainability journey. Key questions are how are the targets & strategies implemented across the organisation? And how can we create a culture that leads to success in sustainability.
I am on a mission to drive change, by nurturing a sustainable mindset around me, engaging positively with stakeholders, building bridges for collaboration, and taking initiative.
After many years of a commercial career in Beauty and Travel Retail, I found a renewed purpose and inspiration in Sustainability. Realizing the transformational power and responsibility of companies towards a more sustainable future, I have since dedicated my energy to becoming a change agent within the corporate space. Today, I drive my company’s Sustainability Strategy, in parallel of my role as Business Strategy Director at Shiseido Group.
I also launched a network for Sustainability professionals in the Beauty and Luxury sectors, and I am an active member of various communities including The Matcha Initiative. I am a trained Climate Fresk facilitator, and completed various Sustainability certifications by SMU and CISL.
Raised in the Middle East by Eastern European parents, I was surrounded by layers of diversity. Extensive traveling throughout my childhood stimulated a fascination for cultures, languages and geopolitics, and I continued living a pseudo-nomadic life as an adult. While I began my career on the trading floor in NYC, I later worked in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America in diverse roles (investments, micro-finance, communications, and business development). Fluent in five languages, I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and later completed a Masters in International Affairs from Fletcher (Tufts), and have a number of Sustainability related certificates.
I am the Managing Director and also lead the Strategy and Sustainability Communications offer at DIA Brands. I have been a brand consultant and a communications expert for over two decades. My role enables me to see how brands drive their sustainability efforts, and if they view it as an investment or a cost. I work closely with several organisations to infuse purpose led branding and ESG focused brand messaging and communications into their strategic agenda.
My personal interest in Sustainability has only grown in the past few years and I am committed to collaborating with both the corporate sector and the larger community to create better awareness around Sustainability and make knowledge around it easy, accessible and actionable.
With 9+ years of experience at Procter & Gamble, I am a leader with a proven track record of working with C-suite and upper management to create and execute sustainability strategies for multimillion-dollar & billion-dollar business. I have experience in cross-cultural collaboration with people in different countries, with internal as well as external (vendors, retailers, etc) partners.
I have been recognised for identifying projects, creating, and leading teams to execute and enable value creation while continuing to decarbonise.
I have certification in SCR (Sustainability and Climate Risk) and GRI standards. I studied my Masters in Conservation Biology.
I grow the profitability of companies, leveraging data and sustainability.
Harnessing 20+ years’ experience, I’ve grown businesses ranging from local start-ups to $4b/100k-employee corporations. I’ve lived in USA, Australia, Singapore, China, Indonesia and worked with industries ranging from software to non-profit to consumer electronics. This diversity provides practical yet inspirational ideation to my work.
As a systems-thinking expert, I drive sustainability improvements to help sales, product development, supply chain, compliance, and ultimately the bottom line. I thrive when empowering and collaborating with others.
My achievements driving results-driven change through marketing, sustainability, and strategic leadership have been awarded locally and internationally. I am also GRI Certified for Sustainability Reporting, and am a member of the International Advertising Association's Sustainability Board.
I'm a French sustainability changemaker based in Tokyo. After 15 years in public policy for the French government, I moved to Japan in 2016. Initially at the French Embassy, I then joined the private sector to accelerate corporate sustainability mindsets.
In 2024, I launched Ichigo Bloom, a collective of freelance facilitators offering sustainability education in Japan.
Quentin has over 15 years experience in Responsible Value Chain. He started as a Sustainable material experts to slowly cover the entire Value chain and life cycle of products. In Singapore, Quentin worked for Accenture in Sustainable Value Chain Strategy. On the side, Quentin created LoSiam - Le Laboratoire Olfactif du Siam - and chairs now its board.
Over the past ten years, I have gradually developed my expertise to put my convictions into action, focusing my energy in increasing circularity.
I have been passionately involved in collaborating with private companies and public authorities to advance circular economy initiatives and implement Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Schemes. I played instrumental roles in developing and implementing strategic roadmaps to establish EPR schemes dedicated to industrial and commercial packaging in France. My motivation is to work among various stakeholders and to help shift an industry as a whole, and to re-invent economy with more re-use and more re-cycling.
I am French, recently arrived in Singapore after 14 years of international experience across Europe and Canada. I spent 14 years in the aeronautical industry before joining a start up offering reusable packaging for the Food & Beverage industry. Passionate by nature, I am always enthusiast to meet new people, share and learn also more.
I am a sustainability advisor and purpose-driven leader with over a decade of experience supporting organisations through sustainability transformation. My work spans sustainability strategy and reporting, stakeholder engagement, impact investing, and climate action — all grounded in a deep commitment to driving meaningful change.
My career journey cuts across consulting, the built environment, and now the media and marketing sector at Dentsu.
I lead Dentsu Good, Dentsu’s global sustainability accelerator in the Asia Pacific. I am focused on helping brands embed sustainability into their strategies and communications, transforming them into a powerful engine for innovation and impact.
I'm a scientist who is passionate about creating, proliferating, and assessing sustainable technologies. My team and I develop tools that enable companies and governments to make data-driven choices on sustainability initiatives. Our expertise includes maturity assessments, business model innovation, energy modelling, industrial symbiosis, and life cycle assessments.
We also train companies to use these tools effectively. I’ve personally guided several companies to perform a holistic sustainability assessment of their organisation and create targeted action plans.
I lead ESG and Impact Strategy at Quadria Capital, a healthcare-focused private equity firm managing US$3.5 billion AUM across South and Southeast Asia. As part of the value creation team, I integrate ESG and impact principles across the investment lifecycle — origination, execution, ownership, and exit. Collaborating with the investment team, I work with leading healthcare businesses to achieve strong performance and meaningful social impact. Before joining Quadria, I provided sustainability consulting services across ASEAN, Hong Kong, and Mainland China, leveraging extensive expertise in sustainable strategies and growth across various sectors.
I am a sustainability professional with a focus on carbon markets since 2004. I was fortunate to work in various roles in this field, giving me multiple perspectives: project development (Ecosecurities, Malaysia), origination (Perenia Carbon, Indonesia), investment structuring (Mitsui, Japan), validation and verification (TUV Rheinland, China & Singapore), and recently Nature-based Solutions (PUR, Singapore).
I am currently the Regional Commercial Director for Asia for PUR, an impact company that develops projects within our clients’ value chains to regenerate landscapes and protect vital ecosystems. By implementing nature-based solutions, we help companies to reduce their environmental footprint while increasing the resilience of their supply chain to climate change.
I am an independent consultant specializing in the non-profit sector, mostly in green policies. With 15 years of experience in international NGOs, I have an in-depth understanding of climate and energy issues in Europe and the Global South. I also have experience teaching at French universities, focusing on climate and development policies.
Having worked in a fast-paced and multicultural environment, I have managed teams and complex projects, as well as developed solid skills in advocacy, policy, research, media, and communications.
I developed simulation exercises such as COP (Conference of Parties) negotiations to equip young people with the necessary skills for environmental advocacy.
I am a seasoned leader and strategist with over 20 years of experience in the Singapore Army, where I tackled complex challenges, led high-performing teams, and delivered tangible outcomes in various crises, disasters, and conflicts.
I am also a certified sustainability professional with qualifications in integrating ESG, sustainable finance, and ESG reporting standards. I am a Futures Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Executive Education, Affiliate Faculty of the Singapore Management University and an SID Accredited Director.
At V-Plus Agritech, a circular agriculture company that aims to reduce food waste, carbon emissions, and water consumption, I am on a mission to drive climate action and create environmental and social impact. I combine my deep expertise in strategy and communications with a passion for and knowledge in sustainability, to scale circular agriculture and educate executives on ESG. I am always on the lookout for new opportunities and partnerships to further my vision of a green economy.
Hi! I am from Germany, and am married with two grown-up boys. I live in Thailand and work across the region on innovation, sustainability and corporate development. Additionally, I provide strategy, policy, and training support. I am a licensed facilitator in different activities and tools' usage. Having lived in Asia for most of my adult life, I organised TEDxChiangMai and chaired the Sustainable Development Committee of the JFCCT (Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand).