2020 List Highlights 300 Young Entrepreneurs, Leaders And Changemakers Who Are Changing The World
Forbes announced today its fifth annual “30 Under 30 Asia” list, featuring 300 young entrepreneurs, leaders and changemakers across Asia, all under the age of 30, who are challenging conventional wisdom and rewriting the rules for the next generation. Amidst challenging times and global uncertainty, the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia Class of 2020 features bright and innovative leaders who are ready and equipped to adapt to whatever the future may hold, with 30 honorees selected for each of the 10 categories.
The categories are The Arts (Art & Style, Food & Drink); Entertainment & Sports; Finance & Venture Capital; Media, Marketing & Advertising; Retail & E-Commerce; Enterprise Technology; Industry, Manufacturing & Energy; Healthcare & Science; Social Entrepreneurs and Consumer Technology.
Among those featured on this year’s list are K-pop girl group Twice and actress So-dam Park—best known for her role in Oscar-winning film Parasite—from South Korea; the current world No. 1 female tennis player Ashleigh Barty and the founder of MyraSwim Bianca Anstiss from Australia; 14-year-old racing prodigy Juju Noda from Japan; Francis Plaza, Founder and CEO of PayMongo from the Philippines; Bain Wu, CEO of AI startup, INFIMIND, from China; Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Kyaw Soe Oo from Myanmar; Justin Lim, Cofounder of Fish & Chicks from Singapore; Ajeesh Achuthan, Cofounder of Open from India and sisters Isabel and Melati Wijsen, Cofounders of Bye Bye Plastic Bags from Indonesia.
Rana Wehbe, Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia Editor, said: “This year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list-makers inspire optimism in what is promising to be a tough year ahead. They are a resilient and energetic bunch who are facing challenges head-on and actively working for a future that matches their aspirations.”
Wehbe added: “Young women under 21 especially stand out in our 2020 list: From Malaysia’s hijab-wearing wrestler to Bangladesh’s first female comedian and a social entrepreneur helping farmers in the Philippines improve their livelihoods – these fierce game-changers are shattering gender, age and cultural stereotypes across industries.”
Featured highlights on the “30 Under 30 Asia” list include:
- The Arts (Art & Style, Food & Drink): Latesha Randall, 29, New Zealand, Cofounder, Raglan Coconut Yoghurt
- Entertainment & Sports: Nor “Phoenix” Diana, 20, Malaysia, Professional wrestler
- Finance & Venture Capital: Aditya Prasad, Harsh Pokharna and Gaurav Kumar, 26, 28 and 28, India, Cofounders, OkCredit
- Media, Marketing & Advertising: Raba Khan, 20, Bangladesh, Entertainer, The Jhakanaka Project
- Retail & E-Commerce: Donald Kng and Nico Li, 29 and 28, China, Cofounders, Vetreska
- Enterprise Technology: Hyunsoo Kim, 29, South Korea, Cofounder and CEO, Superb AI
- Industry, Manufacturing & Energy: Marius Suntanu, 29, Indonesia, Cofounder, Yummy Corp
- Healthcare & Science: Milad Mohammadzadeh and Sadaf Monajemi, both 29, Singapore, Cofounders, See-Mode
- Social Entrepreneurs: Louise Mabulo, 21, The Philippines, Founder, The Cacao Project
- Consumer Technology: Shota Iwasaki, 24, Japan, Founder, Shukatsunet
The 2020 list features a diverse set of 30 Under 30 honorees, with 22 countries and territories represented across the Asia-Pacific region. India leads the region with the highest number of honorees of 69 on this year’s list, followed by China with 41. Japan came in third with 31 honorees while South Korea took the fourth place with 25. Australia, Indonesia and Singapore are tied in fifth place with 22 honorees each.
On the Above Cover (Clockwise):
- South Korean Hyunsoo Kim’s machine-learning startup Superb AI, helps to streamline the process of creating deep-learning algorithms, in some cases at speeds ten times faster than conventional methods
- Louise Mabulo founded The Cacao Project to encourage local farmers in her hometown in the Philippines to plant cacao trees, which she found were typhoon-resistant trees following 2016’s Typhoon Nock-ten
- Marius Suntanu’s online catering service Yummy Corp in Indonesia serves up 14,000 meals a day in Jakarta and the nearby city of Tangerang
- Raba Khan, a multitalented celebrity in her native Bangladesh, has her own fashion brand, JKNK, and is regarded as the country’s first female comedian through her amusing YouTube videos
- Shota Iwasaki’s Shukatsunet site has established a flourishing business selling low-cost, easy-to-understand funeral plans in Japan
- Nor “Phoenix” Diana, who at 20, is Malaysia’s first hijab-wearing female pro wrestler
For the complete Forbes 2020 30 Under 30 Asia package, visit https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2020/asia
