2026 ASEAN Inclusive Growth Summit

Southeast Asia has emerged as one of the world’s most dynamic regions for investment and digital growth, its rise built on decades of openness and economic pragmatism. This scene-setting discussion convenes leaders from government, business, and diplomacy to consider ASEAN’s course in an era of disruption. What do its growth ambitions require? What can the region’s partners contribute to a more resilient, inclusive future?

Southeast Asia has made real progress on financial inclusion. Millions more people and small businesses now have access to digital payments, credit, savings, and insurance. But access alone does not guarantee security. AI-powered guidance, embedded finance, and new approaches to consumer protection could reshape what financial health means. What turns inclusion into resilience?

Trust is the foundation of the digital economy. That foundation is being tested. Fraudsters and scammers continue to proliferate, exploiting AI and other tools to target consumers, businesses, and the public sector. Critical infrastructure is also threatened: hospitals, financial networks, and government systems have all been targets of cyberattacks. The adversaries differ, but the underlying challenge does not. How does the region build resilience and turn shared risk into shared defense?

On August 26, flash floods triggered by a glacier collapse near Nepal’s border with China claimed nearly 1,500 lives and left thousands missing. When disaster strikes, who responds matters. So, too, does their capacity to move resources fast enough to the people hardest hit. In this conversation, leaders in philanthropy, humanitarian response, and digital finance come together around one question: what does it take when it matters most?

Funders across Asia face growing pressure to account for what their giving achieves. From grants and programs to impact investing, the same questions apply: what difference did the funding make, and how do we know? Answers are often hard to come by, and harder to compare. How can shared frameworks help companies and philanthropic organizations measure results credibly and consistently? Drawing on their own experiences, panelists share practical lessons in what works and what does not.

DEFA, the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement, is due to be signed this month. It sets common rules for digital trade, data, and payments. The ASEAN Power Grid would let countries share electricity across borders, but projects must be ready before investors commit. Two regional leaders discuss how to turn both commitments into results for the people of ASEAN. How can more investment reach the grid? How will DEFA reach small businesses?

Few houses embody Southeast Asia’s family-business legacy like Ayala, among the region’s oldest and most enduring conglomerates. In this on-stage exchange, two generations of the Ayala family reflect on how leadership, values, and ownership pass from one era to the next. What does succession look like when the aim is not just continuity but renewal? What can the region’s family firms learn from a business built to last for centuries?

Tourism is one of Southeast Asia’s great growth engines. As airlines, destinations, and platforms chart the next era of travel, how can digital tools and new models spread the benefits to small operators, local communities, and indigenous peoples? This conversation explores what it takes to make travel, hospitality, and tourism work for everyone it touches.

Tony Award winner Lea Salonga’s career, from Manila to Broadway and beyond, traces the rise of Filipino talent on the world’s biggest stages. What does her story reveal? In conversation and song, she explores what it will take for Southeast Asia’s creativity and culture to be not only a source of pride but a livelihood for many more of the region’s artists.

From carefree daywear to elegant evening looks, the HABLONUEVO collection captures the adaptability of the modern Filipino: rooted in heritage, yet evolving with the times. Through handwoven Cebuano textiles and contemporary design, Dexter Alazas reimagines tradition for a new generation. The collection celebrates cultural identity and the Filipino capacity to turn challenges into opportunities.

The fashion show will be graced by the presence of Her Excellency Louise Araneta-Marcos, First Lady of the Republic of the Philippines.

Filipino creativity travels well. Design, craft, and heritage textiles carry the country’s story into markets far beyond it. As Filipino design gains value abroad, who captures it? What would it take for more of that value to stay with the designers, makers, and communities behind it?

Today, Kylie Verzosa is an entrepreneur as well as a model and actress. She launched the shapewear brand SOLÁ in 2024 and co-founded &you, a Manila-based telehealth company that Emil Eriksen leads as chief executive. She and Emil are partners in work and in life. In this fireside chat, they talk about how they make decisions and build a company together.

Creators are not just entertaining audiences. They are creating jobs, building businesses, and unlocking real economic opportunities. New research from TikTok and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth is measuring the creator economy’s economic weight. What is the evidence beginning to show? How does an audience become a business? And what can policy do to support that shift across the region?

José Ignacio Latorre has spent his career at the frontier of quantum science, and he insists the most important questions it raises are ultimately human ones. As director of the Centre for Quantum Technologies at the National University of Singapore, he is building what he calls a Quantum Temple: a vision of quantum progress rooted in generosity, openness, and inclusion. In this fireside chat, Professor Latorre offers an account of where quantum stands today, and a deeper provocation: what kind of future are we building, and for whom?

Micro and small businesses make up 97 percent of ASEAN’s enterprises and employ 7 in 10 of the region’s workers, yet access to capital remains one of the biggest brakes on growth. The gap is widest for women-led firms and rural entrepreneurs furthest from the formal financial system. What will it take to connect capital with the businesses that need it?

From the wholesale platform to the AI assistant, technology promises to change how small businesses operate, reach customers, and compete. Digital infrastructure is expanding rapidly across Southeast Asia, though not every MSME is benefiting. How does the promise of these tools become a reality for every business, regardless of size?

In 1958, Henry Sy opened ShoeMart, a small shoe store on Carriedo Street in Manila. His eldest daughter, Tessie, was working in the family business by 13 and running SM’s first department store at 22. Today she is vice chairperson of SM Investments and chairperson of BDO, the Philippines’ largest bank. Small and mid-sized businesses run nearly 70% of the more than 22,000 stores in SM’s malls. Through more than 12,000 sari-sari stores and other small shops acting as its agents, BDO now reaches towns with few or no bank branches. In this fireside chat, she reflects on what a family store taught her about people and money, and on what it takes for growth to reach every community.

Cambodia has rebuilt itself through resilience, creativity, and the determination of its own people. Few partnerships show what that kind of change takes as clearly as the one between Angelina Jolie and Rithy Panh. Rithy, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge years, has devoted his life to making sure Cambodia’s story is told by Cambodians. Angelina arrived as a visitor more than 20 years ago and chose to stay, building a lasting commitment to the country’s communities. Their collaboration, which reached a milestone in First They Killed My Father, rests on listening, trust, and a willingness to stay for the long term. Their story is rooted in Cambodia, but its lessons are universal: lasting change is built alongside communities rather than for them; the people closest to a problem are best placed to lead its solution; and real progress for women and families is measured in decades, not project or funding cycles. Those lessons matter well beyond Cambodia: for every economy in ASEAN and for anyone who wants growth to be inclusive, sustainable, and resilient.