EXPANDING MINDS
These thought leaders work in diverse fields to shape the future by moulding today’s minds
AZRAN OSMAN-RANI CEO and co-founder, Naluri
Azran Osman-rani is an experienced business leader with over 20 years’ experience in building new, innovative, and disruptive businesses that challenge the conventional status quo. A proponent of holistic health, he started Naluri—a digital health company that provides affordable mental and physical health coaching. The inspiring business role model and sought-after speaker also wrote a book, 30 Days of Curiosity and 30 Years of Purposefulness, where he shares a fresh and unorthodox take on creating an entrepreneurial culture that can transform how businesses operate.
Formerly clinically overweight, he transformed into a passionate health and fitness enthusiast, eventually becoming an Ironman triathlete. His gruelling recovery from a
major road accident while training to rejoin Ironman in less than six months is recorded in an inspirational documentary, A Broken Crayon. Prior to Naluri, Azran was the founding CEO of Airasia X Berhad and led it from start-up to IPO in just six years, achieving annual revenues of over RM3 billion with a workforce of over 2,500.
DATO’ AMBIGA SREENEVASAN Founding partner, Sreenevasan Advocates & Solicitors
Dato’ Dr Ambiga Sreenevasan is a lawyer and human-rights advocate known for advocating judicial reform, clean and fair elections, women’s rights, as well as religious freedom. She was only the second woman to be elected as president of the Malaysian Bar Council and among one of eight recipients of the US State Department’s International Women of Courage Award in 2009.
Also known for her advocacy work in women’s rights and religious freedom, she successfully fought to amend the Federal Constitution to ensure that women’s testimonies carried equal weight to men’s in the Sharia courts.
Sreenevasan is currently a member of the executive committee of the Women’s Aid Organisation and remains an outspoken critic on issues concerning human rights and injustice. Last year, she was honoured with the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Medal of Honour 2023 from the World Jurist Association in recognition of her legal work and for breaking glass ceilings throughout her hard-fought and illustrious career.
IAN YEE Founder and editor, The Fourth
The role of media is undeniably important, given its impact and influence on many—a fact that Ian Yee knows full well. The award-winning journalist is known for heading the Peabodynominated investigative journalism team R.AGE at The Star newspaper, acclaimed for its documentaries addressing social justice and human rights. Recently, he co-founded The Fourth alongside the pioneering R.AGE team to tackle social injustices through documentaries and publicaction campaigns.
As a matter of fact, Yee wasn’t aiming for a career in journalism when he initially joined R.AGE as a cadet journalist. He was previously focused on the youth and lifestyle sections, mainly covering entertainment news, but upon being promoted to editor, he pushed for a new investigative journalism direction, to give the publication more heft. Leading a team of young journalists, Yee and his colleagues reported on everything, from the series of child deaths in an Orang Asli (indigenous people) village to conducting risky investigations on sexual predators who were targeting children, human trafficking, refugee rights, and violence in schools.
He is also the executive director of the Environmental Reporting Collective, a Unicef Malaysia national consultant, Human Rights Measurement Initiative ambassador, Acumen Fellow, and Obama Foundation Leader.