Grace Sai founded Unravel Carbon to help corporations track and reduce their carbon emissions. Here, get to know this member of the Robb Report Singapore Thought Leaders community and get inspired

“I am a risk-taker in general,” says Grace Sai. As an entrepreneur who has spent the last 15 years building startups and leading a venture capital fund, this is no doubt an accurate self-assessment. “Where others do not go, I see the opportunity to create, dream and make an impact without noise and distractions.”

In true risk-taker form, after identifying a gap in climate technology, Sai dove into the sector in January this year, despite not having any experience in it. She founded Unravel Carbon, which creates an enterprise software that helps corporations track and reduce their carbon emissions. It claims to be the first decarbonisation platform in Asia powered by artificial intelligence that can convert any corporation’s accounting data into a full supply chain carbon data in seconds.

“I was new to sustainability, but instead of discounting the newness, I turned it into an advantage – fresh eyes for an old, stubborn problem,” she declares confidently. Although the firm is only a few months old, Sai already has her next goals mapped out: to take Unravel Carbon to clients based in Australia and New Zealand.

More than pure ambition, she is driven by a sense of urgency. “Everyone believes someone else will solve climate change for them,” she says. “Eighty per cent of the planet we are living on will not be habitable in the next 80 years if we don’t bend the climate curve in the next eight. We need solutions that have the speed and scale to match the urgency and severity of the problem, and that’s what Unravel Carbon aims to be.”

Central to every climate change warrior’s fight is the wish to leave the world a better place for the next generation. Sai is no different. Her three-year-old daughter, Lea, is her everyday reminder of the impact her work could make. “I’m doing all I do for her and (I hope) that she will come to do even more than I ever could.”

Editor’s note: Get to know the full Thought Leaders community here.

Photography by Sayher Heffernan
Styling by Wei Lun Tok
Hair & Makeup by Angel Gwee
Credits: Chanel Beauty and L’Oréal Hair Professional; cotton shirt and linen pants by Ralph Lauren