Temasek's US$290 billion fund helping make tiny Singapore an agricultural powerhouse

Bandung-based eFishery, a startup so small it only accounts for 0.01% of Temasek’s portfolio, are emblematic of its quiet zeal for the business of food. - Bloomberg

SINGAPORE, July 26 (Bloomberg): Temasek Holdings Chief Executive Officer Dilhan Pillay runs a US$290 billion state-owned investment empire. But every quarter he spends up to two hours chatting to a man in Indonesia about fish.

Those lengthy calls with Bandung-based eFishery, a startup so small it only accounts for 0.01% of Temasek’s portfolio, are emblematic of its quiet zeal for the business of food. The precarious state of the world’s food supply, highlighted by sizzling heatwaves that are wilting crops in Europe, China and the US, has found an unlikely crusader in Singapore, a small island with hardly any agriculture at all.