Leave a Nest Singapore Appoints New Managing Director and Director
Leave a Nest Singapore Pte. Ltd. is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Shohei Michael Maekawa as Managing Director and Dr. Takumi Jindo as Director, effective 1 December 2025. This leadership transition marks a generational renewal of the Singapore executive team and aims to accelerate the company’s “Global Knowledge Hub” initiative. Leveraging Singapore’s strategic position, the new appointees will play a key role in strengthening connections among innovators, enterprises, and researchers across borders.
Background of Appointment
Leave a Nest Singapore, established in 2010, was the company’s first Southeast Asia subsidiary. Dr. Kihoko Tokue, who has served as Managing Director of Leave a Nest Singapore since 2016, laid the foundation for the company’s locally driven operations by initiating local hiring and establishing trusted partnerships with the local partners. Over the past decade, she has been working to connect science and technology ecosystems between Asia and the world. These new appointments underscore the company’s commitment to further accelerating such initiatives. With this new leadership team, Leave a Nest Singapore aims to energize its operations and strengthen programs like the Global Knowledge Hub Forum that facilitate cross-border knowledge exchange.
(Mr. Maekawa succeeds Dr. Kihoko Tokue, who had led Leave a Nest Singapore since 2016 and recently transitioned to a global role as head of the company’s Education Research Institute.)
Mr. Shohei Michael Maekawa – Managing Director, Leave a Nest Singapore
Born in the United States and raised in Europe, Mr. Maekawa earned a B.Sc. in Zoology and an M.Sc. in Human Evolution and Behaviour from University College London (UCL). Driven by a passion for advancing science and its societal applications, he joined Leave a Nest in 2013 and played a key role in launching the TECH PLANTER startup platform across the UK, India, and Southeast Asia. In 2016, he went on to establish Leave a Nest United Kingdom Ltd., working to bridge innovation ecosystems between the UK and Asia.
Since May 2019, Mr. Maekawa has also served as a Director of Leave a Nest Singapore, during which he led several Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) programs in partnership with Enterprise Singapore to facilitate market entry for Singaporean and Japanese startups. As Managing Director, he will steer the company’s Singapore team, strengthen its innovation platforms, and expand its network of collaborators in academia, industry, and government to further solidify Singapore’s role as a Global Knowledge Hub.
Dr. Takumi Jindo – Director, Leave a Nest Singapore
Born and raised in Japan. In 2016 Dr. Jindo earned Ph.D. degree in Engineering from Yokohama National University, Japan, especially majoring in organic dyes and pigments chemistry, and crystallography. During his Ph.D. course, he did research in KU Lenven, Belgium as an International Scholar. Since 2017, he also worked as a postdoc in Tokyo Institute of Technology and an assistant professor in Yokohama National University.
He joined Leave a Nest Co., Ltd. in 2019. From 2022, he belongs to the Group Creation Department to strengthen the network of the subsidiaries mainly in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. He is leading the “Global Bridge Program” to bridge knowledge beyond borders in Asia and the other countries. He contributed a lot to the Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) program to build a pathway of business expansion for startups between Singapore and Japan. He also led some programs supported by Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to apply Japanese startups and corporate technology across ASEAN 6 countries. He also conducted a lot of international human resource training programs. In 2023, he also became an visiting associate professor in Deep-Tech Serial Innovation Center of Nagoya University. As a new Director, he will increase the “Cross-Border” opportunity to exchange knowledge of various countries centered on Singapore as a Global Knowledge Hub.
With this new structure, Leave a Nest Singapore will operate under a three-person leadership team consisting of Mr. Maekawa, Dr. Jindo, and Dr. Yuko Ueno. The company will continue working to realize Singapore’s potential as a Global Knowledge Hub—building bridges between countries and disciplines to ensure that advancements in science and technology contribute to global happiness.
For Enquiries:
Leave a Nest Singapore Pte. Ltd.
Shohei Michael Maekawa and Takumi Jindo
Email: [email protected]