SIP Fellows

John Hope Bryant is an American financial literacy entrepreneur and businessman. Bryant is the founder, chairman and CEO of nonprofit Operation HOPE, member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability,co-founder of Global Dignity, co-founder of the Gallup-HOPE Index, He is an advisor to business and government and author of bestselling books on economics and leadership. He served as the vice chair on the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy and as the chairman of the Committee on the Underserved.

Melissa is a civic entrepreneur with over fifteen years of experience working with educational and community development initiatives, Melissa’s passion is to serve marginalised members of society and create win-win opportunities to empower them as valued and contributing members of the community. She founded different programs that inspire and equip young women to be catalysts for positive change and helps teenaged girls reintegrate into society.

Dea Sudarman is the President of Alun Alun, a modern retail space created not merely for enjoyment but also to support the development and marketing of Indonesia’s culture-based products such as handicrafts, food, drinks, and entertainment in Indonesia and abroad. The mission of Alun Alun Indonesia is to make a “Panggung Indonesia” (Stage of Indonesia) and make it the country’s pride and joy. The Panggung displays Indonesia at its best, showcasing its handicraft, culinary tradition and entertainment. It is also the place for education and fun learning about Indonesia’s cultural heritage. Ms Sudarman is an accomplished documentary film maker and anthropologist whose experience includes filming and study of the Korowai people of Southeastern Papua.

Claire Chiang, social activist, entrepreneur and author, was Singapore’s Woman of the Year and former Nominated Member of Parliament. She is the executive director of the Banyan Tree Gallery, a company that she conceptualised. Her business acumen led her to break the long-standing tradition of an all-male Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) in 1995 by becoming one of the first two women to be admitted to it. Despite her achievements, she has remained down-to-earth and is an active advocate for women’s rights, family life and the disadvantaged in society.

Trained as a medical doctor, Amit directs production and marketing for Eaton Laboratories, the only company that produces medicines in the conflict-torn region of Kashmir. Amit started a social responsibility division for the company to provide low cost medicines to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, also recently launched Radiant Green Company, focusing on conservation and assistance to poor farmers with new environmentally friendly techniques in the field of organic farming. He helped found Young Entrepreneur’s Forum Kashmir, which acts as a bridge between young budding entrepreneurs and established businesses.

Gregory F. Casagrande is an American businessman and the founder of South Pacific Business Development Microfinance Network, the leading microfinance institution in the Pacific Islands region. He is also the founder of MicroDreams, a microfinance acceleration fund working with emerging microfinance institutions in Latin America, Africa and the Pacific and Transformative Ventures LLC, a Microfinance advisory company.

Fadi Ghandour is a Jordanian business man and the Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of Aramex where he served for 30 years as the company’s CEO. He is the chairman of Wamda, an entrepreneurship enabling platform for the MENA region which he co-founded in 2010 and also the chairman and managing partner of Wamda Capital a Venture Capital fund investing in MENA growth stage technology companies.

Sriram Raghavan is a serial entrepreneur with a successful track record in building social businesses. He is the founder and CEO of InKlude Labs, a company set up to scale evidence-based solutions to social problems. Prior to this, he served as the Co-Founder and CEO of Comat Technologies, a leading information service provider to rural communities in India.

Anshu Gupta is an Indian social entrepreneur who founded Goonj, a Delhi-based non-governmental organisation that positions the under-utilised urban material as a development resource for the rural parts of India. He won the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2015, forhis creative vision in transforming the culture of giving in India, his enterprising leadership in treating cloth as a sustainable development resource for the poor, and in reminding the world that true giving always respects and preserves human dignity.

Dr Gillian Koh is a Director of the Social Enterprise Association in Singapore. The Association exists to foster a culture of social entrepreneurship nationally, develop the social enterprise sector, and build up the organisational capacity of individual organisations within it. She assisted in conducting the Survey on Social Enterprise (2010) by the Association, and has presented on the social enterprise sector in Singapore and other Asian cities. Dr Koh’s full-time employment is with the Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore where she is a Senior Research Fellow in its Politics and Governance cluster.

James Fierro is an international businessman and social entrepreneur. He is currently the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Recipco Holdings Ltd., the Company behind the Recipco Capacity Exchange, an alternative market and transaction mechanism for trade discovery and payments that helps organizations to profit by creating value from their unused and available capacity resulting in increased sales and reduced dependence on cash and credit.

Nadya Yuti Hutagalung is an Indonesian-Australian model and actress who was one of the first VJs on MTV Asia (1995), TV host, VJ for the USA MTV, MediaWorks artiste, painter and jewellery designer and founder of Green Kampong. She is in the midst of building a green home and is the ambassador for the World Wildlife Funds Earth Hour in Singapore, championing the green cause to make this truly a better world for everyone.

Patrick Liew is the Managing Partner of Global Enterprise Exchange Pte. Ltd.. He is also a founder of Success Resources, arguably the largest personal development seminar company in the world and a major shareholder of a publicly-listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Previously, he was the CEO and Chairman of HSR Global Ltd, a publicly-listed company on Singapore Exchange (SGX-ST). He has also held the Regional Director position at the Gartner Group, providing strategic advisory and planning services to governments, banks and MNCs.

Penny Burtt is Vice-President Government Affairs and Public Policy, Asia Pacific, with global payments company, Visa. She oversees the company’s engagement and partnerships with governments and regulators across the region, leading a group of government relations professionals, and serves on the company’s Asia Pacific executive management team. Penny was Director of Public Affairs, External Relations and Head of Client Service Risk, Asia, with global management consultancy, McKinsey & Company. She led McKinsey’s government relations, public affairs, reputation building, communications, and risk efforts across Asia.

Tim Jarvis is an environmental scientist, adventurer and author with Masters qualifications in environmental science and environmental law, and is a Senior Associate – Sustainability at Arup. His environmental work is mainly focused on sustainable aid provision in developing countries and improving corporate environmental sustainability. Jarvis says he is “committed to finding pragmatic solutions to global environmental sustainability issues” and as a public speaker he talks regularly about motivation and leadership to both individuals and organisations. On 20 November 2014 Tim Jarvis was announced as WWF-Australia Global Ambassador.

Caroline Casey is the Founder of Kanchi (formerly The Aisling Foundation) and the O2 Ability Awards and is also an international speaker and adventurer. Caroline Casey has dedicated the past decade of her life to changing how global society views people with disabilities. A social entrepreneur, Caroline sits on the board for several government, business and not-for-profit organisations. In 2000, she rode 1,000 kilometers across India on an elephant to raise funds for Sight Savers. As founding CEO of Kanchi in Dublin, she developed a set of best practices (based on ISO 9000 quality standards) for businesses, to help them see “disabled” workers as an asset as opposed to a liability. Hundreds of companies have adopted the standards, changing their policies and attitudes.

Dr Yeo Sze Ling is a Research Scientist at A*Star’s Institute for Infocomm and a Research Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Despite being diagnosed with glaucoma at the age of four and losing her sight, she persisted with her education. Through her hard work and tenacity, she entered the National University of Singapore, graduating as the top student in the Faculty of Science. She has earned three degrees in total, including a PhD in Mathematics, which she obtained while on an A*Star graduate scholarship. She is an ardent volunteer who has given back to society. While in university, she was part of a group of volunteers who flew to Beijing to learn Chinese Braille before teaching it to a visually handicapped student in Singapore – their efforts resulted in the student becoming the first blind student to pass Chinese O and A levels here. She also tutors and mentors visually impaired students in her free time. On August 2013, she was singled out as a role model by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during his National Day Rally speech, as he reminded those who have succeeded to contribute back to society.