Melvin Poh

Melvin Poh FRSA is a Malaysian entrepreneur, barrister, investor, public intellectual and author. He is known for his work in crowdsourcing knowledge in Asia , public philosophy and his efforts to widen access to knowledge in the region. Poh is a public proponent of the access to knowledge movement in Southeast Asia and advocates for the democratization of knowledge.

Early life and education Poh was born in Malaysia but had emigrated and spent most of his years living in New Zealand, Australia, United States and United Kingdom. He later pursued studies at Harvard University, Imperial College London and University of Cambridge. Poh subsequently became a barrister in the United Kingdom and was admitted as a member of The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn. The Asian Entrepreneur began in the United States as a print publication documenting business knowledge in Asia. The print publication was later developed by Poh into a digital crowdpublishing platform that allowed users to participate in the production of content and the editorial process through an open collaboration model. The Asian Entrepreneur then became an open access platform for accessing, exchanging and publishing business knowledge across Asia. The organization had worked with Southeast Asian governments on various startup initiatives for open access knowledge and education. In 2021 after raising funds, The Asian Entrepreneur was further expanded and officially rebranded to Empirics Asia. Empirics Asia was launched as an open access knowledge platform modeled on empiricism that incorporated social journalism, open publishing and crowdsourcing from Asia to publish direct insights on social scientific fields. Through the expanded publishing coverage, Empirics Asia worked with authors and experts to crowdsource knowledge and publish topics ranging from technology, psychology, philosophy, sociology, business, literature, economics, science and arts. Without operating a conventional paywall, content sponsorship and advertising, the platform aims to contribute to the democratization of knowledge. The organization also established a publishing and distribution operation for sourcing original titles and books from authors in Asia. It launched Empirics Podcast, an open access knowledge podcast produced and hosted by a machine learning artificial intelligence that was developed to study knowledge trends. As of September 2021, the organization has crowdsourced and published 1 million open access knowledge content in the social sciences from its network of writers and volunteers.

Public Philosophy Poh publicly shares his insights and reflections on philosophy and the value of intellectual discourse through his platforms. He has advocated for the democratization of knowledge in official public forums. Poh was invited to speak about the importance of collective knowledge at The Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations Conference organised by Harvard University in 2018. He spoke at TEDxSUTD in Singapore on knowledge creation through digital media and advocated for democratization of media. Poh delivered a speech on the evolution of entrepreneurship at TEDxUMSKK and was also a keynote speaker at TEDxHeriotWatt sharing views on sustainable economic developments. The Securities Commission Malaysia has admitted Poh on the panel at the Securities Industry Development Corporation where he has advocated for the need of open access media. In 2021, Poh shared views on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on knowledge discourse at the Enterprise Asia Center Of Entrepreneurship. He delivered a keynote on human existentialism in the digital age at TEDxAIMST and advocated for the importance of wider knowledge. During the British Council's 75th Year Anniversary Conference, Poh delivered a keynote on the knowledge gap facing young people in Malaysia. Poh was invited by Malaysia's Ministry Of International Trade And Investment to share his views on empowering youth through intellectual discourse at the ASEAN Business Forum hosted in Malaysia in 2024. Poh founded The Philosophy Club, a public social network platform designed to foster collective introspection and philosophical dialogue between philosophers.

Investments Poh has been an active private equity investor. He later joined other investors in the development of several real estate in Singapore and co-founded a property development firm specializing in Singaporean real estate development. In 2021, it was revealed that Poh had an invested stake in a textile manufacturing plant based in Malaysia that specialized in interior building materials. Poh was reported to have made acquisitions of several significant cultural works in China in 2024. He is a co-founder of a Singaporean investment firm that engages in private equity investments in Southeast Asia. through digital crowdpublishing he subsequently was the recipient of the Business & Innovation Award from the British Council for his work in improving accessibility to knowledge in Asia. Poh was officially made Fellow Of The Royal Society Of Arts (FRSA) of the United Kingdom in recognition for his work. In 2025, he was recognized by Wiki Impact 100 for promoting public philosophy and making social-scientific knowledge more accessible, particularly among younger audiences.