Asia Leaders Fellowship (ALF)

Index

About Asia Leaders Fellowship (ALF)
Annual Gathering
Project Leaders / Secretariat

About Asia Leaders Fellowship (ALF)

ALF was established by Teruhide Sato and Lin Kobayashi, both board members of the International House of Japan (IHJ), along with 5 other founding members. Their awareness of the necessity for a dialogue platform among leaders of the current generation led to the creation of ALF, with the aim of passing on a hopeful Asia to future generations.

By creating a community that engages Movers and Shakers (people who actually take action and make change happen) who are active on the front lines of society, the goal is to foster innovation and curate collaboration that transcends national borders.

ALF places a strong emphasis on creating a space where action-oriented leaders can engage in open dialogue, share perspectives, and collaboratively seek solutions. Fellows are carefully selected by the seven founding members based on two key criteria: a leader position with decision-making authority, a proven track record, and the ability to take action, and a mindset that allows them to think in terms of “we,” not “I.”

*This initiative is promoted under the framework of Asia Pacific Initiative Forum (APIF).

Annual Gathering

The first annual meeting

ALF recently held its first annual meeting in Karuizawa and Tokyo, Japan, from December 14 to 16, 2023. For this meeting, we called on 24 people came from 10 countries and regions, who have proven their leadership in various fields, including entrepreneurs, investors, and top executives of major conglomerates.

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The second annual gathering

Thirty-two prominent leaders from across Asia, primarily entrepreneurs, investors, and executives from major conglomerates in their 40s and 50s, gathered in Seoul, South Korea. They came together to explore shared values that define Asia and to discuss future projects through dialogue about the challenges and aspirations of their respective countries.

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The third annual gathering

The third Asia Leaders Fellowship (ALF) Annual Gathering took place in Hangzhou from 31 October to 3 November 2025, followed by Shanghai from 3 to 4 November.

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Project Leaders / Secretariat

Director, IHJ / Chair of the Board, UWC ISAK Japan

Lin Kobayashi

Lin Kobayashi is a Co-founder and Chair of the Board of UWC ISAK Japan (formerly known as ISAK), a residential high school that opened in Karuizawa, Nagano in 2014. The mission of UWC ISAK Japan is to nurture transformational leaders who explore new frontiers and make a positive impact today and in the future. UWC is an international education organization founded in 1962 which aims to make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures and prides itself in deliberate diverse student body through working closely with national committees in more than 160 countries and territories worldwide.

Prior to UWC ISAK Japan, Lin had worked for UNICEF in the Philippines, where she conducted non-formal education projects for street children. She holds an MA in Education from Stanford University and a BA from the University of Tokyo. She was selected as “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum in 2012, “Change-maker of the Year 2013” by Nikkei Business, “Woman of the Year 2015” by Nikkei Woman, “Vale Greenberg World Fellow 2017”, “EV Entrepreneur of The Year 2019 Japan” and “Veuve Clicquot Bold Woman Award”. Lin also serves on the board of Asia Pacific Initiative since 2018, Japan Advisory Board for World Economic Forum since 2019, and UWC International Board since 2020.

Trustee, IHJ／Founder and CEO, BEENEXT Capital Management Pte. Ltd.

Teruhide Sato

Teruhide Sato is the Founder and CEO of BEENEXT, a venture capital firm investing in the continued growth and development of Asia. Since 2015, the fund has invested in a total of 230 startups in Southeast Asia, India and Japan. Prior to BEENEXT, Mr. Sato was the CEO of BEENOS, a global internet and e-commerce business incubator, which he co-founded in 1999 and took public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2004. Simultaneously, in 2011, Mr. Sato broke new ground and started supporting online businesses in Southeast Asia and India. Mr. Sato served on the board of Tokopedia and Midtrans as an early investor (the aforementioned companies merged with Gojek to become GoTo, which is now the largest technology platform in Indonesia). Outside of BEENEXT, Mr. Sato is an executive committee member of Silicon Valley Japan Platform, and a board member of Endeavor Japan. He was also selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2008.

Mr. Sato studied in Italy at the United World College of the Adriatic, with the scholarship support from Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) and received his B.A. from Keio University.

ALF Program Officer

Motoi Koike

Motoi KOIKE has a multidisciplinary background spanning education, international development, and academic collaboration. He began his career in academic administration at a private university in Japan, working on accreditation, policy formulation, and faculty/staff development. In 2013, he was selected for the Global Internship Program sponsored by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and dispatched to Open University Malaysia, where he gained practical experience in distance higher education. From 2017, he engaged in technical cooperation in higher education at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), serving as an expert in projects in Egypt and Vietnam. He contributed to establishing and managing a new faculty, implementing liberal arts education across the university, designing and delivering faculty and staff development programs, and collaborating on international accreditation processes.

He earned a Master’s degree in Higher and Professional Education from the UCL Institute of Education (UK), and completed an executive program on university leadership and the entrepreneurial university at the Maastricht School of Management (Netherlands). He also completed program assessor training under the ASEAN University Network–Quality Assurance (AUN-QA) framework. In 2023, he was awarded the Lauder-Kobayashi Scholarship by the Aspen Institute Japan and participated in the Socrates Seminar.