August 4, 2017 forbes india | 85who started a Manila trading
business in the early 1900s.singaporeAlbert Hong 82
PIONEERING ARCHITECT &
BUSINESSMAN
Bounced back from a life-
threatening bout of pneumonia
in 2013 and decided he
wanted to do more for the
community. Later that year,
he gave nearly $25 million
to the Singapore University
of Technology and Design,
helping to fund scholarships
and bursaries, as well as the
university’s research projects.
The university has since
named a lecture theatre and
lecture series after him.John Lim 61
CO-FOUNDER, ARA ASSET
MANAGEMENT
Set up the Lim Hoon
Foundation in 2008 in memory
of his schoolteacher-father,
Lim Hoon. The aim is to reach
out to “sandwich students”,
who are poor but have the
drive to excel academically.
It hands out community-
education awards each year
and funds up to 15 scholarships
annually with the Singapore
Management University.
His father taught at Tao
Nan School in the 1950s and
worked to develop Singapore’s
school system. The foundation
boasts an endowment runninginto the millions of dollars.south koreaKim Jeong-Ho 50
CO-FOUNDER, NAVER
After leaving Naver, he
launched the social enterprise
Bear Better. It aims to expand
employment for people with
developmental disabilities; 200
of its staffers—83 percent—
have such disabilities. It started
in 2013, and it produces,
sells or delivers items such
as flowers, coffee, cookies
and business cards. He’s also
been a steady contributor
to the international relief
group Food for the Hungry.
Since donating $110,000 in
2008 to help North Korean
children, his donations have
reached nearly $1.2 million.Kwon Oh-Seob 57
FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN,
L&P COSMETICS
Gave $10.4 million last
November to his alma mater,
Korea University, which will
use the money to finance a
new building for its College
of Science named after his
Mediheal brand. His company
produces skin care masks
made of gel sheets. Its popular
Mediheal line is among
the country’s top sellers.Lee Young-Lim 76
FOUNDER & DIRECTOR,
YOUNGLIM ORIENTALMEDICINE HOSPITAL
Pledged $110 million in
December to Kyunghee
University, her alma mater.
She called on the university
to continue making advances
in Oriental medicine and take
a step toward becoming a
world-class university. With
her donation, it plans to create
a research-and-development
centre focussed on Oriental
medicine and renewable
energy. She originally majored
in Western medicine but
switched to Oriental medicine
after suffering from liver
parasites. After spending much
of her career in Iran, working
as a doctor for top government
officials and also starting a
construction company, she
returned to South Korea
and started Younglim
hospital in Seoul in 1994.taiWanChang Hui-mei 44
POP SINGER
Best known by her stage name,
A-mei, she donated $66,000
to Taitung County in eastern
Taiwan for disaster relief and
reconstruction after Typhoon
Nepartak wreaked havoc
on her hometown last July.
Before that, she had donated
some $273,000—proceeds
from one of her concerts in
2012—to St Mary’s Hospital
in Taitung. Long a supporter
of same-sex marriage, sheprofit that collects excess cooked food
from hotels, discarded fresh produce,
items with a near-expiration date and
packaged goods from trading companies,
supermarkets and individuals. It
distributes the items to almost 200
charitable groups across the island.
Other initiatives include food
drives and placing boxes in more than
70 locations around Singapore so
the public can donate unwanted food.
“Nicholas and I managed the Food
Bank on our own for the first 12 months,
until we realised this animal was
growing too fast,” says Nichol, a mother
of three. As cash donations began tostream in two years ago, the Food Bank
hired two full-time staffers and bought
a van and a truck. “Today we have 1,000
volunteers, and I give talks regularly
to corporates and schools to spread the
message of what we are trying to do.” She
says next year they plan to start helping
neighbouring countries set up food banks.the 2017 list