ASN Impact Mingle #2 - Demystifying ESG

​Calling Entrepreneurs and Corporates to join forces to help drive impact through collaboration!

​What is ESG and more importantly, Why ESG?

​We are honoured to partner with NVPC to kick off the event.

​Hear from the CEO of Torajamelo, and Founder of AHANA, Aparna, on how she leads her organisation and mentors impact enterprises to create a better world.

​We have also invited the Corporate Responsibility Director at EY, Kathleen Chin, and Head of Sustainability at Grab, Iris Chang, to join us in Demystifying ESG.

​There will be refreshments, and we are looking forward to meet you at our first Impact Mingle of 2025!

​Speakers

• ​The National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) is the national agency dedicated to driving a culture of volunteerism and philanthropy in Singapore. By engaging individuals, organisations, communities and leaders across the people, private and public sectors, NVPC seek to create a more caring, inclusive, and compassionate society.
  As part of its Company of Good strategy, NVPC engages organisations to adopt corporate purpose and demonstrate impact across the people, society, governance, environment and economic dimensions. NVPC will be sharing about the Company of Good Recognition System which aims to recognise the contributions of organisations in Singapore for their commitment at the national level to corporate purpose and impact.

• ​Aparna Bhatnagar Saxena is a feminist, a vegan, an environmentalist. She has lived and worked in 4 countries in Asia and is now an impact entrepreneur, and having previously worked in start-ups, SMEs, larger corporations and impact businesses.
  Under her leadership, TORAJAMELO has cemented its identity as a slow ethical lifestyle business, with a BCorp certification, PETA Vegan approved stamp, and Forum Fair Trade Indonesia membership. The organization has a strong ESG focus and works on environmental, social, and cultural sustainability of indigenous communities of Indonesia. Aparna also launched AHANA, a showcase of curated ethical brands that is a focused move towards making conscious consumerism mainstream.
  Aparna is also co-founder of Vriksh Impact Partners, a boutique impact investment and advisory firm in India that is focused on supporting early stage businesses especially women founded and plant-based businesses. As the Indonesia lead of Asia Start-up Network, Aparna’s role is to lead a thriving network that collaborates and supports entrepreneurs and businesses across the ASEAN region. Aparna regularly coaches and mentors Female entrepreneurs and social impact entrepreneurs across Asia Pacific on leadership development, running small businesses, ESG fundamentals, and managing during difficult times.

• ​Kathleen Chin leads the Corporate Responsibility Function at EY Singapore and EY's global flagship corporate responsibility program, EY Ripples, across the ASEAN Region. Prior to taking on the role as Corporate Responsibility Lead, she spent 8 years in business consulting, where she had led and supported teams to work with public and private organisations in a wide portfolio of industries both local and abroad.

• ​Iris Chang oversees ESG strategy and drives programmes across all of Grab's business segments - mobility, deliveries, financial services, as well as key subsidiaries towards being a triple bottom line company. Iris is best described as an Integrated Business and ESG Leader, adept at utilizing digital technology, reach and data to drive behavior change, multi-stakeholder partnerships and business transformation.

​About

​Asia Startup Network (ASN) launched our Impact Series in 2024, and at our 1st Impact Mingle, we showcased Impact businesses across the ASEAN region. In conjunction, we launched the Impact Channel (on Telegram) to foster collaboration and share information on the overarching topic of impact, and spotlight how entrepreneurs are driving positive change.