Big Bets Fellowship: Asia-Pacific/

2025 Asia-Pacific Big Bets Fellows

From the mountains of Nepal to the shores of Vanuatu, these 12 dynamic leaders are advancing bold, locally rooted solutions across 27 countries in the Asia-Pacific region — including Aitutaki, Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Viet Nam.

Meet the 2025 Big Bets Asia-Pacific Fellows and read more about their project’s big bet and their intended benefitting regions, below:

Meet the Fellows

Anusha Meher Bhargava
Tech4Good Community
Gaurav Godhwani
CivicDataLab
Bobuchi Ken-Opurum
Barefoot Story x Re-HOUSED
Alexia Hilbertidou
GirlBoss New Zealand
Yasser Naqvi
Center for Social and Economic Progress
Uttam Pudasaini
NAXA Pvt. Ltd.
Ristika Putri Istanti
Lingkar Temu Kabupaten Lestari
Aafreen Siddiqui
Our Common Air
Yumi Son
BOBLME II
Supatchaya Techachoochert
Mae Fah Luang Foundation
Eshrat Waris
British Asian Trust
Mustika Wijaya
Solar Chapter

Backed by The Rockefeller Foundation’s Convening and Networks team, supported by the Foundation’s Asia Regional Office, the Fellows are changemakers deeply embedded in the communities they serve. They’re driving scalable impact in climate adaptation, sustainable development, digital inclusion, and economic opportunity — guided by a shared commitment to the power of local leadership.

This inaugural Asia-Pacific cohort builds on the momentum of previous Big Bets Fellowships in Latin America and the Caribbean (2024) and the United States (2025), deepening the Foundation’s investment in community-led innovation that meets global challenges head-on.

Over a four-month fellowship, Fellows will engage in immersive learning, cross-regional collaboration, and global networking designed to amplify their impact — and help turn bold ideas into lasting, systemic change.

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