Asia's heroes of philanthropy

Individuals and families across Asia-Pacific making significant, personal contributions to various charitable causes

Last Updated: Jan 30, 2026, 17:01 IST10 min

From left: Yu Renrong, Hitesh Doshi, Solina Chau, Robi...

Our 19th edition of the annual list spotlights 10 individuals and families across Asia-Pacific making significant, personal contributions to various charitable causes. Access to education tends to be the primary focus of the region’s philanthropists and this cohort is no exception. In China, billionaire Yu Renrong gifted shares worth 4.9 billion yuan ($688 million) of his company OmniVision Integrated Circuits Group to the Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo, a university started by him in his hometown.

Supporting women aspiring for careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), is a big theme. Australian data centre entrepreneur Robin Khuda donated A$100 million ($66 million) to the University of Sydney to fund a 20-year STEM programme aimed at female students. Similarly, Hong Kong’s Solina Chau further demonstrated her dedication to women’s education with a A$30 million gift to her alma mater, the University of New South Wales in Sydney, to fund the construction of a residential college for women enrolled in STEM programmes.

In Southeast Asia, Malaysian billionaire Jeffrey Cheah committed 500 million ringgit ($121 million) over the next five years to create one of Malaysia’s largest education endowments at Sunway University, while in Singapore the Wee family’s foundation—represented by siblings Wee Ee Cheong and Wee Wei Ling—donated S$110 million ($86 million) to Nanyang Technological University.

The 10 entries on this unranked list were chosen based on their giving in the past two years. The list excludes corporate giving unless the company is privately owned and the individual or family owns a majority stake.

Yu RenrongFounder and chairman, OmniVision Integrated Circuits GroupAge: 59 • China

In 2024, Yu Renrong gifted shares of his Shanghai-listed chipmaker, OmniVision Integrated Circuits Group (formerly Will Semiconductor), worth 4.9 billion yuan ($688 million) to the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT), Ningbo, a university he helped set up in his hometown. The donation was made in three tranches between March and December last year, partly through his Yu Renrong Education Foundation. He reportedly plans to donate a total of 30 billion yuan to EIT over time.

The billionaire first announced his plan to establish EIT in 2020 and it broke ground in 2022. The school, which offers programmes in areas such as artificial intelligence, new materials and semiconductors, welcomed its first batch of about 200 students in August. It’s aiming for 10,000 students and 1,450 staff by 2035. Yu, whose $5.8 billion fortune is largely derived from his stake in OmniVision, a company he set up in 2007, was reportedly inspired by the late Chinese shipping magnate YK Pao, who gave $20 million to establish Ningbo University in 1984.

—Yue Wang

Jeffrey CheahExecutive chairman, Sunway Group Age: 80 • Malaysia

Malaysian billionaire Jeffrey Cheah pledged in November to create a 500 million ringgit ($121 million) endowment to be disbursed to Sunway University, started by him in 2004. The donation came on top of a 5 million ringgit grant he gave in August to set up the Tan Sri Sir Jeffrey Cheah Distinguished Chair at the Faculty of Medicine of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, a public university. Additionally, he gifted 7 million ringgit to two primary schools in the state of Selangor to upgrade their facilities.

The billionaire, who made his fortune in property development and health care, set up his education-focussed Jeffrey Cheah Foundation in 2010, which has so far disbursed close to 1 billion ringgit in scholarships and grants. “I have always believed that each and every one of us must have a higher purpose in life,” he says by email. “For me, this higher calling is a commitment to giving back to society in a meaningful and impactful manner for the benefit and well-being of our future generations.”

—Jessica Tan

Doshi BrothersWaaree EnergiesAges: Hitesh Doshi, 58; Pankaj Doshi, 63; Kirit Doshi, 60; Viren Doshi, 57 • India

At the October annual shareholders’ meeting of Waaree Energies—India’s largest solar power manufacturer by capacity—founder, chairman and managing director Hitesh Doshi announced he and his three brothers, Pankaj, Kirit and Viren, would donate a 1 percent stake in the company, worth over $100 million at the current stock price, to their Waaree Foundation over the next 12 to 18 months.

The four brothers, who own a combined 64 percent stake in Waaree, broke into the ranks of India’s 100 richest in 2025 after taking their company public in 2024. They plan to support causes such as education, health care and community development. They also aim to build schools and hostels across India. “By investing in these vital areas, we hope to empower individuals and inspire lasting positive change,” Doshi said. “Together, we can build a more equitable and hopeful future.”

—Anuradha Raghunathan

Wee Wei LingExecutive director, Pan Pacific Hotels Group; director, Wee FoundationAge: 73 • Singapore

Wee Ee CheongDeputy chairman and CEO, United Overseas Bank; director, Wee FoundationAge: 72 • Singapore

In April, Wee Foundation, the Wee family’s charitable arm, represented by siblings Wee Ee Cheong and Wee Wei Ling, together with their family-controlled United Overseas Bank, donated S$110 million ($86 million) to Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU). With a matching grant from the government, the gift creates an endowment of up to S$275 million to provide financial aid to NTU students and offers tutoring and mentorship to children from disadvantaged families. The foundation made another donation of S$5.7 million in July to the Nursing Academic Fund, which it created in 2022 with a S$5 million contribution to support graduate studies and training to nurses at state-owned SingHealth hospitals.

The Wee Foundation was founded in 2009 by billionaire banker Wee Cho Yaw, who died last year. “We are proud to honour [his] legacy in supporting NTU to help young people realise their potential through education,” said Ee Cheong in a press statement.

—Jonathan Burgos

Robin KhudaFounder and CEO, AirTrunkAge: 46 • Australia

Two months after selling Sydney-based data centre operator AirTrunk to private equity giant Blackstone and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for A$24 billion ($16 billion) in December 2024, founder and CEO Robin Khuda donated A$100 million to the University of Sydney through his Khuda Family Foundation. The endowment, the largest in the university’s history, will fund a 20-year STEM programme for female students that includes offering bursaries in high school and providing scholarships for undergraduate studies at the university.

Bangladesh-born Khuda set up the foundation with his wife Melea Walker-Khuda in 2020 with the aim of achieving gender equality in the male-dominated tech industry. Khuda said in a press statement that he wanted to “make a long term positive societal impact” by promoting the importance of diversity in STEM fields. The programme, he later noted, “was really inspired by a deep belief that talent is everywhere, but the opportunities are not.”

—Zinnia Lee

Robert NgCo-founder and director, Ng Teng Fong Charitable FoundationAge: 73 • Hong Kong

Daryl NgChairman, Sino Group; director, Ng Teng Fong Charitable FoundationAge: 47 • Hong Kong

In March, billionaire Robert Ng and his son Daryl made a HK$200 million ($26 million) donation through the family’s Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation and Sino Group to support AI development in Hong Kong. It will help fund the Hong Kong Generative AI Research and Development Center (HKGAI) which operates under InnoHK, a government initiative that aims to promote the city as a hub for collaborative research. Working with education and research institutions led by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, HKGAI has already launched HKGAI V1, a locally developed large language model. Next up: HKChat, an AI chatbot that can support Cantonese, English and Mandarin Chinese.

The foundation was set up in 2010 by the elder Ng and his younger brother Philip, CEO of Singapore-based Far East Organization, in memory of their late father. Its areas of focus include education, health care, arts and culture across Hong Kong, mainland China and Singapore. In October, it donated 20 million yuan ($3 million) to support the conservation of over 3,000 ancient trees at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. Daryl became chairman of Hong Kong-based Sino Group in August, after his father retired.

—Catherine Wang

Archie HwangFounder and chairman, Hermes-EpitekAge: 73 • Taiwan

Hwang donated NT$1.2 billion ($39 million) worth of medical equipment to his alma mater, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, in October 2024 for accelerator-based Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (AB-BNCT), a type of radiotherapy that uses neutron beams to kill cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue. Developed by Heron Neutron Medical, a listed subsidiary of privately owned Hermes-Epitek, the equipment will be installed in a new BNCT facility at the university’s teaching and clinical partner, Taipei Veterans General Hospital.

The hospital says it has treated more than 600 patients using BNCT since 2010, and the new equipment will allow it to treat even more. Construction started in August, and the new centre is scheduled to open in 2027. Hwang built his $2 billion fortune by developing optoelectronic devices used in chipmaking. A large part of his wealth comes from the 2016 sale of HMI (formerly Hermes Microvision), a Hermes-Epitek unit he founded in 1977 that makes chip-inspection systems, to Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML for $3.1 billion.

—Catherine Wang

Solina ChauCo-founder, Horizons VenturesAge: 64 • Hong Kong

Billionaire tech investor Solina Chau donated A$30 million ($19.5 million) in November to her alma mater, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, to build a residential college for female students enrolled in STEM courses. The gift made by her HS Chau Foundation will fund the construction of the Horizons Building—named after her Hong Kong-based venture capital firm Horizons Ventures—which is scheduled to open in 2030.

With a bachelor’s degree in commerce from UNSW, Chau scored big wins with early bets on Facebook, Spotify and Siri. She set up her foundation in 1996 and has since donated more than $200 million to support women’s education and health care causes.

“‘Pivotal’ is the word that always springs to mind when I think back to my days at UNSW,” Chau said at a university event in November, adding that the donation is “a token of my deep appreciation for the university that helped me find both my direction and, perhaps, myself”. The long-time companion of Hong Kong’s richest person Li Ka-shing, she’s also a director at the Li Ka Shing Foundation.

—Zinnia Lee

Low Tuck KwongFounder and president director, Bayan ResourcesAge: 77 • Indonesia

In March, coal billionaire Low Tuck Kwong pledged S$8 million ($6.1 million) to Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) through his eponymous Low Tuck Kwong Foundation, which focuses on education, health care and social welfare. NTU, where Low’s son David earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering in 2004, said the funds will be used for a new bursary for Singaporean undergrads needing financial support and to offer scholarships to Indonesian graduate students.

Low, who has made similar endowments back home, including to the Bandung Institute of Technology and the University of Indonesia, says his motivation is to secure a better future for younger generations. In 2023, his foundation made a record S$101 million grant to National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, his daughter Elaine’s alma mater, to fund leadership programmes for public officials from Asia as well as to provide scholarships for those majoring in public policy or international relations. The Singapore-born founder of coal mining giant Bayan Resources has a net worth of $25 billion.

—Ardian Wibisono

Cyrus PoonawallaFounder, chairman and managing director, Serum Institute of IndiaAge: 84 • IndiaAdar PoonawallaChief executive, Serum Institute of IndiaAge: 44 • India

Vaccine billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla and his son Adar gave £10 million ($13 million) in October through their privately held Serum Institute of India to the UK’s Science Museum, in what was the largest international donation it has ever received. The London museum will use the funds to transform its ‘Making of the Modern World’ gallery into the ‘Ages of Invention: The Serum Institute Gallery’, expected to open in 2028.

Covering more than 2,200 square metres, it will encapsulate 250 years of scientific innovations and feature objects like the world’s oldest surviving steam locomotive, the cathode ray tube used by British scientist JJ Thomson when he discovered the electron, and the telescope used by German astronomer Caroline Herschel. “With this contribution, which will help in bringing in a transformation to this iconic space, we strive to inspire the future generations and celebrate the incredible journey of science that shapes our world,” said Adar in a press statement.

—Anuradha Raghunathan

Research and reporting: Jonathan Burgos, Zinnia Lee, Anuradha Raghunathan, Jessica Tan, Catherine Wang, Yue Wang and Ardian Wibisono

Robert NG: photo by Jerome Favre/Bloomberg, Daryl Ng: photo by Sino Land, Robin Khuda: photo by JESSE-LEIGH ELFORD for Forbes Australia; Low Tuck Kwong: photo by Muhammad Fadli for Forbes Asia, Cyrus Poonawalla: Photo by Sanjit Das/Bloomberg, adar poonawalla: photo by Indranil Mukherjee/AFP via Getty ImagesIllustrations by Marco Lawrence For Forbes Asia

First Published: Jan 31, 2026, 10:00

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Asia's heroes of philanthropy

Individuals and families across Asia-Pacific making significant, personal contributions to various charitable causes

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