Cover Bill Gates. (Photo: Getty Images)
Bill Gates. (Photo: Getty Images)
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Announced by Bill Gates at the Philanthropy Asia Summit 2025, the Gates Foundation’s new Singapore office marks a strategic shift towards deeper regional engagement—positioning the city-state as a hub for innovation in health, climate, and development across Southeast Asia
In a moment that marked a turning point for global philanthropy, Bill Gates announced that the Gates Foundation (where he serves as chair and founder) will open a new office in Singapore—its first in Southeast Asia. The declaration came midway through a plenary dialogue with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, patron of the Philanthropy Asia Alliance (PAA), at the Philanthropy Asia Summit (PAS) 2025.
“The Gates Foundation is putting an office here in Singapore to access the science, to partner with the philanthropic community; to partner with philanthropists; to partner with the research being done here,” Gates announced.
The timing is significant. Established in 2000 by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, the Foundation marks its 25th anniversary this year—two and a half decades of work focused on reducing poverty, disease, and inequality worldwide. Its efforts centre on four core pillars: global health, gender equality, education and economic empowerment, spanning everything from combating infectious diseases and improving maternal health to strengthening food systems and expanding access to digital learning. The Singapore office will be the Gates Foundation’s 11th globally, and it’s poised to become a regional anchor. It will be set up with the backing of the Economic Development Board (EDB).
While global in scope, much of that work has long held relevance for Asia and with the opening of its Singapore office, more of it will now be shaped from within the region. It’s a testing ground for new models of giving, governance and collaboration.
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Above Plenary dialogue between President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Bill Gates and Jennifer Lewis from Temasek Trust
Plenary dialogue between President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Bill Gates and Jennifer Lewis from Temasek Trust
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Throughout the session, Gates and President Tharman returned to a recurring theme: innovation, whether in health, climate or agriculture, will define the next phase of impact. And increasingly, that innovation is coming from Asia.
Gates pointed to Breakthrough Energy, the climate organisation he founded, which has teamed up with Temasek and Enterprise Singapore to launch Breakthrough Energy Fellows – Southeast Asia, a first-of-its-kind regional hub for early-stage climate tech innovation. Based in Singapore, the programme will fund and support deep-tech solutions aimed at closing the innovation gap and accelerating Southeast Asia’s path to net zero.
“I would say that Asian innovation is a part of why I’m so excited about progress we can make in health. Initially, when we thought of Asian innovation, we mostly thought about low cost, which is a great thing. The lowest cost vaccines in the world are made in India, Indonesia ... but more and more, the innovation is about cutting edge or genomics data that, when you combine it with the AI, will help us understand disease prevalence [and the differences] across all the diverse populations [in this region],” Gates said.
Above Bill Gates speaking at the Philanthropy Asia Summit
Bill Gates speaking at the Philanthropy Asia Summit
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That same focus carried through to the wider PAS programme. This year, the Philanthropy Asia Alliance launched two new Communities of Action: one tackling non-communicable diseases, the other advancing a just energy transition in Asia.
The health-focused initiative, Health for Healthy People (HHP), brings together regional partners to address preventable deaths in Southeast Asia, particularly in maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition (MNCHN), alongside infectious disease. The Gates Foundation is among the founding leads.
It’s a move that reinforces the Foundation’s decision to open an office in Singapore. Alongside partners like the Institute of Philanthropy, Quantedge Advancement Initiative, Tanoto Foundation, and Temasek Foundation, it is helping to shape a coordinated regional approach to healthcare grounded in shared infrastructure, pooled resources, and scalable impact.
Director for South & Southeast Asia at the Foundation Hari Menon said: “As the Gates Foundation marks 25 years of working to advance health and equity around the world, we are reminded that lasting progress is only possible through strong partnerships.”
The takeaway was clear: Singapore, and the region around it, isn’t just where solutions are being applied but also where they’re being built.
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Credits
Images: Getty Images
Nafeesa Saini is the Features Editor at Tatler Singapore, where she shapes long-form stories on culture, business, philanthropy, wellness, and the people driving change in Asia. With a deep interest in storytelling that intersects meaningfully with identity and impact, she has profiled a diverse range of visionaries, from scientific pioneers in AI and health to creative trailblazers and literary minds.
Nafeesa’s writing includes cover stories and profiles that spotlight influential voices, alongside commentary on the trends reshaping our world.
Off the clock, Nafeesa unwinds with fiction, a good thrift hunt, and ‘brainrot’ TikTok scroll—while always keeping one eye on her next cultural getaway, usually to Indonesia.
