DBS Group Holdings has launched the second edition of its DBS Regenerative Festival, specially curated to help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore adopt regenerative business practices to advance their own sustainability journeys.
Over 300 business owners and industry partners joined the half-day event on Sept 17, headlined by a fireside chat between Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State for Education, and Sustainability and the Environment; and Tan Su Shan, DBS CEO.
In conjunction with the event, the bank officially opened the doors to its new DBS Asia Gateway (DAG) office at Perennial Business City (PBC). DAG houses about 1,000 employees from the bank’s operations group.
Originally located at Toh Guan Road, the bank says DAG was designed to operate as a “live parallel site” under the bank’s business continuity plan to reinforce its operational resiliency and uninterrupted delivery of its global operations.
Formerly the site of the retail warehouse Big Box, Perennial Real Estate Holdings acquired the property in 2020 and launched PBC progressively from late-2022. PBC is the first BCA Green Mark Platinum Super Low Energy Business Park in Jurong Lake District. The new business park development has a fully sheltered walkway to Jurong East MRT and Bus Interchange.
Derrick Goh, DBS’s group chief operating officer, says: “We are pleased to announce our new alternate office at DBS Asia Gateway, which enhances our operational resiliency and ability to maintain high levels of reliability for our customers globally. Being in Jurong also allows us to better serve our customers in the western part of Singapore.”
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Goh adds: “As part of our support for the Singapore Green Plan 2030, we have been partnering SMEs on their sustainability journeys and have launched several initiatives to support businesses on this front. We are hosting the DBS Regenerative Festival at DAG today as a continuation of these efforts.”
At the DBS Regenerative Festival, SMEs had the opportunity to connect with over 20 exhibitors showcasing innovative regenerative products and solutions. Among them were MYCL, which develops mycelium-based leather for everyday goods such as book covers, bags and building composites; and AlterPacks, which upcycles spent wheat into certified, high-performance compostable materials.
Both MYCL and AlterPacks are DBS customers and previously received the DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant to help scale their operations.
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Launched in 2024, the first edition of the DBS Regenerative Festival brought together procurement managers from members of the National Sustainable Procurement Roundtable (NSPR) to drive awareness of regenerative procurement practices and to connect procurement managers with businesses that offer regenerative products and solutions.
NSPR currently counts over 30 corporates as its members including founding members DBS, Mandai Wildlife Group, Singtel and StarHub.
