40 Under 40 2025: Michelle Mak, Dun & Bradstreet

Michelle Mak

Head of ESG and enterprise learning
Dun & Bradstreet
Hong Kong  

A global citizen with roots in the US, Belgium, and Singapore, Michelle Mak has emerged as one of Hong Kong’s foremost ESG experts and advocates. After co-founding an integrated creative agency as a President’s Challenge-winning social enterprise in Singapore and earning accolades such as ESG Matters Asia’s Person of the Year (2020) and Greater Bay Area Outstanding Women Entrepreneur (2021), Mak has only intensified her mission to democratise ESG for underserved businesses.

As head of ESG and enterprise learning at Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), Mak leverages the company’s extensive global dataset to address the critical issue of unaudited, infrequent ESG disclosures among SMEs and supply chains. Her education, including a Kellogg-HKUST EMBA with a scholarship in sustainability, equipped her to launch D&B’s ESG data solutions, providing private companies and brands with instant, actionable scores. 

Mak’s achievements include pioneering D&B’s ‘S-Factor’ scoring model, which evaluates companies on labor rights and governance, now adopted by major HK banks for SME lending decisions. She has also been recognised for her campaign linking supply chain financing to social equity, advocating for fair wage policies industry-wide. 

Michelle has been a pivotal driver of Dun & Bradstreet's global ESG data solutions, which cover over 80 million private companies across 185 countries. She expertly forged strategic partnerships with financial institutions to integrate this critical data into their sustainable financing frameworks. Furthermore, Michelle supported her clients in advancing sustainable procurement with ESG data analytics, an initiative now increasingly adopted by major corporate clients and government sectors to screen suppliers and ensure compliance with global governance standards.

Naturally, ESG compliance is front and center at Make the Change (MTC), the Singapore-based creative and design agency that the 2021 Campaign Greater China Woman to Watch co-founded. MTC is now a proud B-Corp which creates CSR campaigns and educational programmes for clients. 

Mak’s leadership is characterised by a commitment to equitable access and mentorship. She mentors HKUST students and volunteers in female prisons, striving to make ESG actionable for all businesses, not just Fortune 500s. At 40, she is focused on cementing her legacy by ensuring ESG is a practical reality for every business.

Mak’s impact is further demonstrated through her roles on various committees and boards, including the Technology Voucher Programme Committee and the Sensational Foundation, where she has championed sustainability, inclusion, equity and raised substantial funding for a worthy cause.