Kwek Leng Joo
Managing Director, City Developments Limited
Corporate Social Responsibility Advocate

Kwek has used his photographic talents for charity. In 2004, one of his works was auctioned for an unprecedented sum of S$300,000 during Ren Ci Hospital’s 10th Anniversary Charity Auction. The following year, at the request of President S R Nathan, Kwek also contributed 100 copies of his first limited edition photo art book, Heart Voyage. Sales of the book raised over S$100,000 for beneficiaries of the President’s Challenge. “There is no beginning and no end to philanthropy,” says Kwek Leng Joo, a firm believer in returning to society what one has benefited from it. “We cannot be living in this world for just ourselves and our loved ones,” he emphasises. “It is time Singaporeans look beyond the 5Cs and start doing things that money cannot buy,” says Kwek, who was inspired by his late father Kwek Hong Png. His two terms as president of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry, which has been helping the needy since its inception in 1906, also strengthened his resolve to help others. “Being involved in community work has been a very meaningful journey,” shares Kwek. “And I will continue doing what I have been doing, and encouraging others to give back to society.”

Dato’ Dr Jannie Tay
Vice Chairman & Co-founder, The Hour Glass Ltd
Fundraiser

“When I went into charity work, it was motivated by my experiences overcoming obstacles as a mother to two handicapped children. I wanted to contribute to society and I roped in my company and friends as well,” explains Dato’ Dr Jannie Tay. “Charity work has added balance and enhanced my overall sense of well-being,” she muses. Dato’ Dr Tay’s involvement in charity began in the late ’70s when she noticed a lack of facilities for the hearing-impaired. Together with Dr Ee Peng Liang, they set up a committee within the Canossian School for the Hearing Impaired to raise funds to attract well-trained teachers for the students. She advocated the use of hearing aids for children to help them assimilate into normalcy. As a fundraiser extraordinaire, Dato’ Dr Tay had no problems getting people to sponsor S$10,000 or S$20,000. “They knew the money went to a worthy cause,” she claims. “People need to be more compassionate and understanding towards the needs of the less privilege. Only then can you give them a chance to learn how to fish,” she adds.

Elim Chew
President and Founder, 77th Street
Champion of Youths

Chew is an advocate for social entrepreneurship — a movement that seeks to develop charitable organisations that are relevant, forward-looking and sustainable.
“Social entrepreneurship, to use an analogy, is not about giving a man fish or even teaching him how to fish,” she adds. “It’s really about revolutionising the whole fishing industry.” In Chew’s case, her work as social entrepreneur has led her to develop and champion the PATH (Pop and Talent Hub) initiative. Billed as Singapore’s first art and craft market and held on the first and last weekends of every month at Vivo City, PATH provides a platform for underprivileged or alienated youths to develop their talents and earn a sustainable income. “The focus in Singapore has, by and large, been about technology. It’s easy to forget we can and do create great things with our hands. What’s lacking is not talent, but the platform to showcase these talents,” shares Chew. Among the projects she is involved in is The Young Entrepreneur Mastery programme and the Action Community for Entrepreneurship.

Gerard Ee
Chairman, National Kidney Foundation
Welfare Policy Maker

“It is only by being involved in community service that you realise the blessings you have,” says the chairman of the National Kidney Foundation. Over the past 30 years, he has been actively involved with the disabled and with juvenile delinquents. “The more [charity work] I do, the more enthused I become as I realise I have a lot to be thankful for,” Ee affirms. Singaporeans need to learn to be less judgmental: “We are often so worried about being cheated by one person that we neglect the nine others who genuinely need our help.” Ee is currently hard at work on a new project. “If all goes well, the Council for the Third Age will be formed shortly,” he says. The Third Age will promote the idea of active ageing, and hopes to create a population of exciting, bustling seniors by 2030.

Tan Chee Koon
CEO, National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC)
Values Shaper

“Philanthropists are doing a lot for charities, but their approach tends to be ad hoc. The process of giving should be professionalised and run like business. With proper planning and strategising, charities will benefit more from it in the long run,” says Tan. She also hopes that with more people joining the ranks of millionaires in Singapore in recent years, they, too, would be moved to give back to the community. “The greatest reward for me, being in a profession that involves giving, is to see how people from all walks of life are giving back to the community,” says Tan Chee Koon. Giving has long been a part of Tan’s life although she never made a conscious decision to be involved in charity. “I have been blessed with much, and I am immensely grateful for what I have. It is this gratitude that shapes my belief,” Tan says. And she gives back unreservedly, not just to her church, but also as CEO of the NVPC, an organisation that is shaping the development of volunteerism and philanthropy in Singapore.
Among the challenges Tan has set out for NVPC are to educate people to give more and to shape the way philanthropists give. Tan is also the Deputy Chairman of the Singapore Youth Awards, and a member of the Tsunami Reconstruction F acilitation Committee, the ComCare F und Committee and the Advisory Committee of World Vision Singapore.