SINGAPORE – Twenty-five companies whose projects tackle environmental and social challenges while growing profitably will be honoured on Oct 28 at Hilton Singapore Orchard.
The winners make up 2026’s Steward Leadership 25 (SL25) list, which is now in its fifth year.
The annual award recognises 25 financially viable projects by organisations in Asia and the Pacific that demonstrate steward leadership and achieve profitable growth by addressing environmental and social challenges.
It is curated by the Steward Leadership Institute (SLI), the Insead Hoffmann Institute, global advisory firm WTW and The Straits Times.
While the first cohort in 2022 was largely concentrated in South-east Asia, four editions and 100 winners later, that footprint has more than doubled from 11 impact geographies to 27, stretching from Mongolia and Japan to Nepal, Sri Lanka and Iraq.
SL25 does not classify winners by nationality or company. Instead, it recognises each project by the impact it creates and the places it serves, which it calls impact geographies.
Winners are recognised in five impact focus areas: climate and nature; waste and circularity; empowering communities; health; and digital well-being and access.
Climate and nature has been the largest category every year, with nine or 10 winners each time. Projects have ranged from sand-based energy storage in Vietnam to restoring grazing land to protect the Great Barrier Reef.
The number of winners focused on waste and circularity has risen every year, from two in 2022 to five in 2025. Past winners have turned discarded materials into upcycled safety footwear, recovered critical minerals from electronic waste, and converted farm produce into nutritious powders that reduce food loss.
Modelling by global professional services firm PwC suggests that extending the lifespan of materials to create a fully circular economy in the Asia-Pacific could add US$340 billion (S$435 billion) to gross domestic product and create 15 million net new jobs over a one-year period, based on 2022 economic data.
Health has also gained ground, with five winners in 2025, compared with one in 2022. Their solutions ranged from on-site preventive care for workers in India to evidence-based standards that make childbirth safer.
Technology is increasingly part of the picture. In 2025, more than half the winners described their projects as technology-based. These included hydrogen-powered rural clinics and digital platforms that bring financial services to smallholder farmers, and a growing number of projects used artificial intelligence.
Organisers say the award reflects a shift in how businesses in the region view problems such as climate change: not only as risks, but also as opportunities to build profitable enterprises around cleaner energy, less waste and more resilient communities.
The trend reflects wider changes in the region. In PwC’s 29th Global CEO Survey, 39% of Asia-Pacific chief executives said AI had generated additional revenue in the past year, compared with 30 per cent globally.
A report on South-east Asia’s green economy by global management consulting firm Bain & Company and its partners estimates that three high-impact solutions could create US$120 billion in new economic value and up to 900,000 jobs by 2030, even though the region remains off track on its climate pledges.
Several organisations have been recognised more than once at the SL25 awards.
Singapore-headquartered healthcare social enterprise reach52 has won four times, and local bank OCBC has won three times. Singapore bank DBS, Indian social enterprise and healthcare provider Last Mile Care and Thai digital and mobile telecommunications operator Advanced Info Service have each won twice.
Also among past winners is Project Dignity, whose founder Koh Seng Choon was named The Straits Times’ Singaporean of the Year 2024. The enterprise operates Dignity Kitchen, Singapore’s first hawker training school and food court run by individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities, as well as mental or social health challenges.
SLI chief executive Rajeev Peshawaria said: “Purpose is not a cost of doing business. It is a driver of growth.
“Over five years, SL25 winners have shown that when companies solve real problems for people and the planet, they open new markets, earn deeper trust and build businesses that last.”
